HE DID WHAT?

If you look hard enough you can find a remix of just about anything and, let's be honest here, most remixes suck. You can imagine the original artist hearing a remix of their song, rolling their eyes thinking "Why the fuck would they do this?" I'm not even an original artist and I think that all the time. Remixers, and anyone taking advantage of any technological advances, should be reminded of your Granny's cautionary advice: just because you can doesn't mean you should. (Think about that next time you follow your GPS into a bog.) 

What I really can't understand out is why someone would remix a song and take out, or greatly diminish, the very part of the song that gives it its oomph. Todays reminder is from DJ Spooky who chose to remix Public Enemy's "By the Time I Get To Arizona". The meat of the song is a sample of Mandrill's  "Two Sisters of Mystery", a massive riff of fuzz, wah-wah, bass and clavinet. A whopper. You could freestyle Henny Youngman jokes over it and it would still sound badass. A insanely good choice by someone in the Public Enemy camp. And DJ Spooky took it out. Think you could do better? DJ Spooky did, and he was wrong.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Public Enemy - By the Time I Get to Arizona mp3 at Skydaddy
Public Enemy - By the Time I Get to Arizona (DJ Spooky remix) mp3 at DJ Spooky
Mandrill - Two Sisters of Mystery (streaming) at YouTube
Public Enemy - By the Time I Get to Arizona (isolated vocal) mp3 at Herbie
Video:
Public Enemy - By the Time I get to Arizona at YouTube