lunes, junio 16, 2025

Rocktrospectiva: The Remix Album "The History Mix Volume 1" Turns 45

 
Released on June 1985 "The History Mix Volume 1" was the sixth studio album by the English duo Godley & Creme. The album was a remix of songs spanning the career of Godley & Creme and their earlier bands, 10cc, Doctor Father and Hotlegs.

The album was originally released in a number of variants depending on the format and territory. The core version of the album consists of 3 tracks which was released as a UK LP. For the international release the second side of the LP was replaced with previously released songs. For the CD release the original UK track listing was combined with the international version tracks. The first two tracks on CD were also combines as one.

A decade after Kevin Godley and Lol Creme walked out on 10cc and took half of that band's magic with them, the pair convened a reunion of sorts with The History Mix, Vol. 1, the ultimate ideal of all that the then-infant industry of remixing had to offer. The utterly gorgeous and surprisingly successful "Cry" notwithstanding, the basic premise of the album was to assemble a batch of the duo's past triumphs 11 in all, with only four pre- or postdating the 10cc era, and then recycle them into five separate cuts that fall somewhere between Frank Zappa and a deranged interpretation of an early Residents album. 

All of these made a collection that is alternately infuriating ten minutes of the hook line from "Business Is Business" spliced with the "humdrum" intro from "The Dean and I", intriguing the combination of key elements from "How Dare You" and "Neanderthal Man", and plain compulsive the gentle drift from "I'm Not in Love"'s whispered "big boys don't cry" into "Cry" itself is a masterpiece in its own right. 

With producer Trevor Horn at the helm, the overall sound of the album is very much a child of its age -- however, the only moment that has truly dated is the insertion of a reference to Hill Street Blues into a fragmented "Rubber Bullets." Nevertheless, it's was album that was best recommended only to fans who knew the original songs, and who'll appreciated the fresh landscapes into which they've been spliced.

Critics deemed the record as the oddest concoction ever heard; it's as if video wizards Godley and Creme were trying to do a pop video without the visuals." They highlighted the "disconcerting medleys" that comprise the album, which they said "seems like the world's first successful audio collage. 
 
The History Mix Volume 1 Track List:
 
1. Wet Rubber Soup Recycled From: Rubber Bullets/ Minestrone/ I'm Not in Love/ Cry
2. Expanding the Business - the 'Dare You' Man - Hum Drum Boys in Paris - Mountain Tension Recycled From: Business is Business/ ow Dare You/ Neanderthal Man/ This Sporting Life/ One Night in Paris
3. Light Me Up
4. An Englishman In New York
5. Save A Mountain For Me
6. Golden Boy
7. Cry
8. Snack Attack

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