Customer Reviews

Alchemy: G.S.T. Reloaded

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ultra Nate has been around in the dance music biz for a while now and still knows how to deliver the goods. She always looks incredible and sounds just the same. This 2 disc set is broken up into her latest album re-released with the remixed versions and then the other CD with Ultra as the DJ mixing her favorite remixes of her own songs. I like the 2nd disc best as I think she did a great job manning the turntables and the choice of remixes she used.

If your a Ultra Nate fan, love diva club music or want something cutting edge that you haven't heard before then this a great choice....ohh and the photos and artwork of the packaging it fantastic! Something you don't get to see and enjoy these days with mp3's

This release probably seemed like a sure-fire, can't-miss idea on paper. Once executed, however, it seems like somebody didn't listen to the finished product.

Disc 1 is blistering hot! The remixes are full of energy and keep Ultra's terrific vocals upfront where they belong. The best part is that each song sounds completely different from the others so you end up with a very varied-sounding disc. These tracks *will* make you get up and dance.

Disc 2 falls flat on its face. While I recognize that Ultra selected the tracks and mixed them herself, I can't help but wonder why she selected some of the most boring and lifeless mixes for her project. Compared to the mixes on the first disc, these just seem to drone on pointlessly. In all honesty, I can't imagine anyone wanting to dance to this stuff. I know this is an extreme comparison but, when compared to the high-energy dance/pounding beat level of the first disc, this one seems like easy listening.

So, is this album worth the money? Absolutely! It's worth the purchase for disc 1 alone. Think of disc 2 as a freebie.

This is yet another party NYC style CD! Love it, and my all time favorite song is Twisted! You have to hear the first version on the Stranger than Fiction CD. Still love the first version, for the music alone!

If you're not familiar with the consistent high quality of Ultra's 20-year output across a variety of musical genres (but, emphatically, monster dance hits), try not to let her incarnation as a drag queen performing a tribute to L'il Kim on the front of the CD jacket put you off, as fabulous as it is.

Disc 1 is full of cutting-edge remixes that often turn good songs into great ones - kicking off with my favourite of the many versions I've heard of Love's The Only Drug (which, in fairness, would be a GREAT track in anyone's back catalogue). There are none of the lazy "circuit"-style mixes we've come to expect from lesser artists. Even the closest this CD skates to that line (the "Tribal" remix of Automatic) is an unqualified success.

But, as much as I like this disc, I think the second, mixed (by Ultra, wearing her DJ hat) CD is even more satisfying, starting off all deep house and loungey on a remix of Twisted (actually from Stranger Than Fiction, originally - not GST - but let's not split hairs).This melds seamlessly into Getaway, reimagined here as a late-Eighties Chicago garage stomper, and into a series of cunningly selected remixes that take you through a series of moods, like a good DJ set should be. It makes great use of the rebooted version of Scandal from GST, and adds heaps more interest to the strange, minor-key curiosity of This House, which here turns into a weird and wonderful, brooding deep house cut. Ultra reminds you how well she knows her dance music history, because she was always out there making it. Even Feel Love, my favourite Ultra track ever, still sounds as good as before, despite being souped up more than you'd think was wise, for what's essentially a jazz number.

Both CDs are amazing value, but I think you'll find you get more out of them the more you listen - especially the more soulful second one, "The Sugar Sessions".

Now I just wish someone could bring together some of the timeless remixes of tracks from thoughout Ultra's career: Satoshi Tomiie's take on Party Girl, and Leftfield's devastating reworking of Deeper Love still sound as fresh as ever, and - against my better judgment - make me nostalgic for 'back in the day'.

I became an instant fan in the early nineties, and have been ever since. Disc one is pretty good, but disc two is money well spent. The DJ mix of "Scandal" is blazing! You will repeat this track over and over. The artwork is amazing, as well.

this remix project wont surprise u....
if u r not a hard-core fan,
stick to her albums...
no real outstanding re-mixes, just
booom-chackcka-booom-plus-vocoder...

well, I don't regret having bought this
double CD, but then again, I'm stupid
(sometimes) (and a long time fan)...
Cheers,
Cars10

Nate brings it clean; great 2 CD set and photos of her are off the hook. Dream it. Do it. Go Girl !!!

O o ohh, this album's got me going round & round & round in circles. A variety of mixes ranging from Deep House, Rock to Electro. Disc 1 is dominantly Electro with the best songs being Track 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 while Disc 2 is all Deep House with Track 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 being best. Most of the mixes are rare, valuable songs unavailable on any Single CD release.

PS: An overdose of Scandal is added to the already sizzling Craig C. GST Mix, in the form of a Hard Rock fusion (Zoned Outed Mix)!