Pavement Cracks The Remixes [Single, Import]

Annie Lennox | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single, Import
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B0000C237C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #237,534 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Annie Lennox's best CD single?, August 9, 2004

By 

hou_music (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pavement Cracks The Remixes (Audio CD)

"Pavement Cracks" was the first release off Annie Lennox's "Bare" LP, and the track became one of the top dance/club hits for 2003 - topping the chart in August of that year. The CD single includes a bevy of excellent mixes, all with top-rate production.

What really stands out is the song itself. Beautiful, haunting, and deeply sad - not the easiest material to work with on the dance floor. The remixers did an amazing job turning this haunting song into a dance floor smash.

My favorite mix on the CD is the Mac Quayle Extended Mix. It's the most simplistic of all the mixes, but has all the makings of a summer groove, and probably was the most popular of all the mixes when this song peaked in summer 2003. Despite the sad lyrics, this mix definitely has a party and togetherness vibe. The remix kind of says "well, life isn't going all that great right now but you know what, i'm gonna dance and party anyway". We can all relate to that from time to time!

The Shanghai Surprise mix is also a standout on this single. I was skeptical at first (hadn't heard of the production team before), but this mix turned out to be excellent. It's the most "anthemic" of all the mixes on this release: uplifting and tribal sounding, and containing some interesting vocal effects with Annie's voice.

The Goldtrix and Gabriel & Dresden mixes are both excellent - and unlike the other mixes they keep the darker vibe of the song. Both are good "after-hours" type mixes - and great for listening to in the car. The Scumfrog mix is the only one on here that was disappointing to me. Similar to some of their mixes, its more of a dub and doesn't have all the vocals. A good mix, but I wouldn't rank it as one of their best.

All in all, this is easily one of the best collections of remixes for any track to come out in 2003. Maxi-singles are becoming harder and harder to find, and it's rare to find such a great collection of mixes on one CD anymore.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good year for Annie, September 9, 2003

By 

J. Ahern "jkahern" (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pavement Cracks The Remixes (Audio CD)

First, a fantastic full length album 'Bare' released June, and now this marvel!!! I think it was a smart idea for J Records to release this single AFTER the full length album...since sales were high on 'Bare', they could easily finance the production of the first maxi-single 'Pavement Cracks'.

I would have never thought that a somber song like 'Pavement Cracks' could be remixed into a dance anthem, and actually sound GOOD!! The remixes are great, and they don't all sound the same, lots of variety with this one!! My personal favorite (the one I've heard MANY times on XM radio, but was not available to the public) is track 3 (Scumfrog Mix)- a very trancy mix, good stuff!! Track 6 is cool, too (Shanghai Surprise Mix). I only wish that there were more photos and artwork, but that's a maxi-single for you, kind of low budget and light packaging...but otherwise, I love it.

Bottom line- a fabulous maxi-single, one that younger Annie fans will love I'm sure. Annie has really outdone herself this year, and I hope this one will sell right off the shelves just like 'Bare' did.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite Annie Lennox Remixes CD so far!, December 31, 2003

By 

Anthony Morelli "Woofbear" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pavement Cracks The Remixes (Audio CD)

I bought this one as a pre-christmas present for myself. I'm loving it over and over again.

Rarely does a remix CD come out full of excellent, well-mixed remixes.
I've been so disappointed by other big name artists and their remixed versions of their own, previously released music. Sometimes it can be really tacky & cheap, when an artist remixes stuff that's already fine as an "original version".

Annie Lennox's soulful voice matches the smooth, liquid sounds of all 6 versions of "Pavement Cracks" remixes.
I'm really happy to have bought this CD before Christmas. It helped me through a really bad slump, and it will bring you out of any slumps too, with all the ultra-dancy, vibrant beats and sounds.

For about 3 months, I've been anticipating on getting hold of the "official" remixes of Pavement Cracks, and now the time has finally come.

Primarily, what pleases me is the fact that the original melody, body of the original version and Annie's voice, are all left pretty much intact, instead of tearing the song apart to make a whole, new, noisy and ultra "soul-less" song.

This is the tracklist:

Mac Quail Extended Mix - 6:30
Goldtrix Club Mix - 6:26
The Scumfrog Club Mix - 8:21
Gabriel & Dresden Club Mix - 9:56
The Scumfrog Knob Dub - 6:45
Shanghai Surprise Vocal Mix - 6:59
Original Version (album) - 5:09

I don't have any complaints about the CD, nor do I have any "least favourite" tracks.
You must remember, that with a producer & songwriter such as Stephen Lipson, teamed up with Annie...anything by Annie will not be a waste of money.

A thought just popped into my head:
(The one thing i like about having the original version at the end of the CD...is because it's a great way to slow down from the excitement from all the dance versions, rather than starting out with the excitement, and then "BANG", right into beats & rythms.)

Does this make sense? I think it does!

The cover artwork is really simple and keeps all the excitement for the music you'll hear on the CD.
Oh, and the slimline jewel case is the exact kind that should be on every CD single. There are some places and some artists that release singles in CD-R cases, and that goes to show just how cheap some artists & their music companies can be! But not Annie! No, she's always released stuff that's pleasing to the eye, the ears and the wallet too!

I don't have much else to say. Go buy yourself a copy of this CD single now. You won't regret it!