STYLE: Dance/Electronic RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 86475-16075 LABEL: e-a-r Music 0195882ERE FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 2
Reviewed by Tony Cummings
Having in the past enjoyed some of the Elvis Presley remixes which have seen chart action in years passed, I approached this album where The Man In Black's master tapes were passed over to a bunch of modern dance re-mixers with some level of expectation after all, I reasoned, I actually enjoy a lot of techno and house and have long thought that though Johnny has, unquestionably ones of the great voices in the music of the last few decades and has recorded more than his share of classic songs, he has often been let down by shoddy production and saccharine-country arrangements corny enough to make many modern music listeners wince. So it is with disappointment that I must report that the practitioners of the mixers art here - Philip Steir, Sonny J, Midnight Juggernauts, Troublemaker, Machine Drum and others - in the main doing an abysmal job. There are a few high points, The Heavy Remix of "Doin' My Time" and parts of Philip Steir's "Get Rhythm" remix sounds good enough to fill a dance floor but, in most cases Johnny's gruffly expressive voice is left to meander in monotonous swathes of poorly though through electro. The absolute nadir of this disastrous experiment is the ODT Muzic Remix of "I Walk The Line" which features a disinterested rap from Snoop Dogg on which Cash's vocal is allowed to fall out of time with all the electronic juddering. Disc two of this package is a documentary telling the story of this project, though after listening to the lame results, I suspect few modern dance fans or Cash devotees will be slotting the DVD into their machines.
The opinions expressed in this article are
not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed
views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may
not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a
later date.
Interested in reviewing music? Find out
more here.
Best left to The Alabama 3, me thinks.