Customer Reviews

Newsboys Remixed

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Newsboys now join the ranks of such artists as Jennifer Lopez, Linkin Park, and P. Diddy in that they have released a "Remix Album." What sets them apart is that they are only the second Christian artist to do this (Avalon was the first).

The Newsboys could have easily coasted through 2002 on the fumes of their excellent "Thrive," album - released earlier this year, but instead, they release "Newsboys Remixed," and a book - "Shine: Make Them Wonder What You've Got"; thus establishing them as one of the hardest working Christian bands... or any type of band.

What you get with "Newsboys Remixed" is 13 songs: 12 new versions of several of their hits and other tracks from previous albums, and one "mega-mix" which cleverly blends snippets from many Newsboys tunes.

The remixes feature techo/dance beats, and different atmospheres & tempos from their original versions. The problem - as with most remix albums - is that these reinterpretations do not improve on the original recordings. In fact, some tracks, such as "Joy" are rather formless and bland, while others, i.e. the remix of "Lord (I Don't Know) - differ only slightly from their original. Others seem overly long and could benefit from having a minute or two trimmed off.

However, their are several highlights: Fans of Moby will enjoy the trance-beats and gospel-vocal sampling of "It Is You." Elsewhere, the break-beats and slinky guitars make "A Million Pieces" a worthwhile listen, and the slow-mo take on "Entertaining Angels" brings to the surface a sense of longing not heard in the original.

Overall, an interesting and good album, but this will appeal mainly to hard-core Newsboys fans. If you're looking for a place to start with this band, try their 'Best of' album, "Shine: The Hits," or two of their best studio albums, the wildly eclectic "Take Me to Your Leader," or the flawless "Thrive."

I've read several reviews, and perhaps my tastes aren't the norm, but I have found this album to be one of my MOST favorites for worship. To be fair, my wife can't stand this album... but then she can't stand TobyMac, rock, and the like, either. I want songs to jump out and connect with my worship attitude, and I feel right at home with this album. A little bit eccentric, but Newsboys through and through, and just right for rocking/funking out at the office when your body has to sit still but your spirit wants to rock. I say darn the torpedoes: add this to your list of worship albums and just enjoy it!

Why didn't they think of this in the first place? The remixes are all better than the originals. Basically, this contains every Newsboys hit with a remix touch to make it sound better. Buy it!!!

Newsboys remixed is not necessarily a new thing for this band. In many of their singles, they have mixes, but also in Shine: The Hits they have the awesome MegaMix. The remix of It is Y
ou is basically unrecognizable, it starts really weird. If you like remixes, this CD is for you! They don't have any new songs, but this CD is pretty good, compared to all the other great Newsboys CDs. NEWSBOYS RULE!!!!

I love this CD! I bust it out every Fall. It compliments the season well. Whether on my drive to work as the sun is coming up over the horizon, or on long trips late on into the night. I am a huge fan of Newsboys and equally a fan of this type of music. Must buy for the collection.

This album rocks. I love it. I have bought it and given it away five times now. Everyone who I play it for loves the music.

I suppose I should start this review by telling you what Newsboys Remixed is not. It's not an album full of new songs--in fact, there's not a single new song on the album, which consists entirely of remixes of Newsboys songs. Likewise, this isn't a typical pop-rock album by Newsboys. If anything, it sounds more like techno. What this album is, then, is a series of new takes on well-known Newboys singles, each one of them well-crafted and thoroughly listenable.

These aren't subtle changes either. The remix of "It Is You" begins with a deep-voiced man singing, "Lord is my shepherd...he restores my soul". Not exactly what you heard on the original version of the track. In fact, you won't hear anything from the original "It Is You" until a minute and a half has passed. The entire album feels less like remakes of old songs than new songs which happen to borrow material from older songs. This is hardly a bad thing, though--as Newsboys broke from their old styles in albums like Love Liberty Disco and Step Up to the Microphone, so they do here, and the results are fascinating. Carefully interweaved synth parts, samples, and elements from the original songs produce tracks with excellent scope, equally entertaining when listening at rapt attention and when just popping the album in as background music.

The remixes hit a few bumps, unfortunately--in particular, the remixes of "Shine" and "Entertaining Angels", both famous songs that deserved better treatment. The remix of "Shine" makes use of a static-filled, almost dissonant sound, an interesting idea that unfortunately doesn't mesh at all with the original track. Maybe others will enjoy it, but I certainly didn't. "Entertaining Angels" is much more pleasing, but not bold enough. It sounds too much like the original track, without really adding anything.

This isn't an album to go to if you just want to get introduced to the Newsboys' sound--it's far too different from their other works--and it certainly isn't ideal for someone just looking for a typical pop-rock album, since the album's sound is far closer too techno than pop. But in Remixed the Newsboys have delivered an album full of great tracks, not only fun to listen to but really interesting in their variety of sounds. In my opinion, this is some of the Newsboys' best work.

This is a great CD but I suggest that you purchase Thrive along with it if you don't already own that. This is a great accompaniment to it. There were the odd couple of tracks that were a little disappointing, but the Newsboys always manage to produce great work. The remix that they did to some of their material is so drastic that it sounds nothing like the original and then some of them have just a little bit of a twist. Anyone who is a fan of songs like "Lord" and "It Is You" will be thrilled with the new renditions! Other good mentions go to "Fad of the Land", "Million Pieces", and "Thrive". Great CD!

I was really surprised back in the day when this came out. Newsboys just didn't strike me as the kind of group to put out a remix album. Seeing that it included a handful of songs from LOVE LIBERTY DISCO (my fav newboys album), I figured they put it out somewhat with a guilty conscience in light of the total absence of any LLD on Shine the Hits.
A most pleasant surprise to me was the creative electronic spin the songs took (because at the time Tobymac's remix albums were the standard of what constituted a good remix). Some work better (Beautiful Sound, Million Pieces, Shine, Rescue) than others (Joy, It Is You, Thrive). The "Love Liberty Disco" remix blew my mind with how creative it was, while "Good Stuff" was just enough weird to keep me fascinated. An eccentric, but a bit inconsistent, electronic remix album that is definitely a rewarding listen. Not disappointing at all. A very interesting and creative audio journey the Newsboys presented us with.

Take the top rock hits of the Newsboys, add electronic beats and you are left with pure gold.