Customer Reviews

Serve the Ego

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jewel's 2001 #1 Dance Chart hit, "Serve The Ego" is a huge departure from Jewel's usual road down Music Lane. The song itself, in my opinion, makes no sense at all, but this single, is pure goodness for the club-goer and/or DJ. The remixes themselves bring new vibes and grooves to the dance floor and a new style as well. This single is well worth the buy, 8 tracks of pure dance hits. Here's the tracks, step-by-step :

1. 1 . Hani Num Club Mix (9:12) - I like this remix very much. It's not my favorite, by far, but it's still enjoyable. Hani cut the vocals by much and the mix is mostly based on the vocal effects and back beats behind them. It's a long mix, and it doesn't really seem like it's a drag, but it's just too long. Enjoyable, but way too long for the style of it. - 4/5 - B+

2 . Mike Rizzo Club Mix (8:17) - This is better. It's got a very tribal-sound to it yet still enjoyable. The bassline is killer kicking in at exactly 0:30 seconds. This mix features full vocals but the chorus for some reason seems changed, or resung for some odd reason. The entire mix is great, the synths are killer and overall, well done by Mike Rizzo. - 5/5 - A

3 . Wayne Rodriguez Club Mix (8:20) - Now this is classic dance music. Great music and Wayne Rodriguez definitely turned it out on this remix. He didn't use any backing vocals only Jewel's lone vocals, but hell they're good too. The beat is incredible and would get any club going. The percussion and synths are insane and the vocal effects ate even better. It's definitely one of the top remixes on the single. - 5/5 - A+

4 . Gabriel & Dresden Club Mix (9:05) - Although only 7 seconds shorter than the Hani Num Club Mix, this long, very long remix doesn't seem to drag the listener, at all! Gabriel & Dresden turned it out! The remix has an incredible beat non-stop. It's got almost a retro-vibe to it and the mix in it's entirety seems very mysterious and out-there. Full vocals again, and it's a fabulous remix. One of the best on the single! - 5/5 - A+

Now, I usually HATE dub remixes of songs but in this case, this single changed my mind about them almost. The music is great in all the remixes and I usually try to stay away from dubs, but I was proven wrong in this case...Read On :

5 . Hani Num Dub (8:50) - This is almost an exact instrumental of the "semi-vocal" remix before it by Hani. Hani left the vocal effects and one line of vocals for the listener, but this I think, is better than the Club Mix. - 5/5 - A-

6 . Wayne Rodriguez Dub Mix (6:55)- Best dub on the single. Completely different from his Club Mix, Wayne Rodriguez does it again on this single! The synths are wild and this is definitely the best dub on the single! Absolutely great! - 5/5 -A+

7 . Mike Rizzo Dub Mix (6:33) - I don't like this at all. The only bad one on the CD. It's an exact replica of the Club Mix without the vocals, only it's shorter. Complete laziness on Rizzo's part, but hey, what can you do about it? It's OK I guess, but I would've like more originality. - 3/5 - B-

8 . Gabriel & Dresden Flashback (9:25) - I love, I mean LOVE this remix. It's definitely not a dub! Full Vocal Remix! It's a variation on the club mix, but it's so much better. More of a retro vibe and it's definitely better. Best remix on the CD! Absolutely - 5/5 - A++

Jewel has definitely turned over a new leaf. And her newest single, "Intuition", is following in the same direction as "Serve The Ego". This is an awesome single and definitely worth the buy!

Average Track Rating : 4.6
Overall CD Rating : A-

This cd single of Jewel's latest single "Serve The Ego" finds Atlantic records following their joining of non dance acts and remixers to once again excellent results. Like Bette Midler,Tori Amos ,Duncan Shiek and Linda Eder Atlantic records dance GURU Johnny DeMario takes a track and puts some of the best remixers on the job. The first remixes are by Hani for track 1 the Hani Num Club Mix (9:12) and track 5 the Hani Num Dub Mix(8:50). The Club Mix features Jewel as an electro queen with computerized vocals and it takes about 4 1/2 minutes to start singing. Track 2 the Mike Rizzo Club Mix(8:17) and track 7 the Mike Rizzo Dub Mix(6:33) are flat out house mixes and with the kicking percussion and keyboards --it makes for the mainstream clubs a welcome inclusion to the dancefloors. Track 3 the Wayne Rodriguez Club Mix(8:20) and track 6 the Wayne Rodriguez Dub Mix (6:55) are more hard house and aggressive in style. The mixes suit the coldness of the vocals quite well. But for me the best mixes on this single are the Gabriel & Dresden Club(9:05) and Flashback(9:25) mixes. These mixes begin with retro keyboards and is very guitar and bass driven . Not unlike Madonna's "Ray Of Light" in the energy level. The lyrics of the song are about female power and each vocal mix puts Jewels vocals upfront and center. Very well for a folk artist doing the club remixes route.

"Serve the Ego" is an all-out club/dance single released in 2002, from Jewel's decidely *non-dance* 2001 album "This Way". Not sure exactly what prompted the club refinements served onto this track to be made, but I must say that the end result is quite satisfying.

First, it must be made clear that the original version of "Serve the Ego" is not available on this single. There are eight tracks, and all of them are definite dance floor stompers. If you are a fan of Jewel's music, and *not* a fan of club music, then this is not the CD for you. That having been said, if you happen to like both Jewel's style, as well as club anthems, or simply just club anthems, then you will not go wrong with the "Serve the Ego" single.

There are four remixing talents utilized for turning Jewel's original song into a clubland stomper. One of the remixers (Gabriel & Dresden) have the pleasure of seeing two remixes included. The other three remixers have one remix each included, and then three dubs of each of their mixes fill-out the remaining tracks. All of the mixes have a slightly similar sound, due mainly to the fact that they each kept a lot of the original song intact (Personally, I would have included the original). The music for the Hani Num Club Mix (track 1) is the most "deep club" sounding, with a really cool bass line, but it doesn't feature enough of the vocals to suit my tastes. My favorite would probably have to be the Gabriel & Dresden Flashback Mix (track 8). The other mixes, however, are still of estimable quality and production.

You can't really go wrong with "Serve the Ego". As a club single, it succeeds admirably. And the remixers have kept enough of the original song and melody together that I am now tempted to go and get the album from which the original song comes from. Surely, for the people that put together the single, that is a sign of a job well done?

I was very disappointed with this, but gave it 3 stars because it's probably my fault for not listening to the samples or reading the description closely enough. I don't know what I was expecting when I got this, but am a Jewel fan and thought it was just different versions of her "Serve the Ego" single. It is, but they're dance club mixes, and I can't see why anyone would enjoy listening to this CD unless they're on the dancefloor or at a club. The tracks are all repetitive and pretty much all sound the same to me. All drum beats with her lyrics every couple of minutes.

I don't want to fault the CD since I'm not a fan of dance mixes and can't judge whether this is a good one or not since I don't know what constitutes a "good" dance mix, but buyer beware, this CD will likely appeal more to the techno dance crowd than to Jewel fans.

I was at a dance club at Pleasure Island (Orlando)when this really great mix started playing. It was almost hypnotic. Even people that weren't dancing were moving in their seats to the beat. I liked it so much I went upstairs to ask the DJs what it was. It was the Gabriel and Dresden mix of Serve the Ego. I walked over to Virgin records the next day and bought it.
If you like club music buy it!

I think we can all agree that out of so many artists working in the music industry today, Jewel would be last(or close to it)on our list of vocalists to crossover to clubland. Well, get ready to be surprised--she's done it, and who on earth would have thought it would've sounded so good? The pop-folk siren's 'Serve the Ego' gets several very fine reworkings, the best being the Mike Rozzo Club Mix--imagine someone like Tori Amos(or,uh,Jewel)doing trance and you get the picture. Even more surprising is the ease of transition--Jewel's voice melds beautifully with the music here. The last four tracks are all dubs, which I could easily have lived without, but that aside this makes a pretty good case for further club-leaning offerings from this talented artist.

I received my copy Friday, April 18, 2003. I really like this maxi single. It's full length is 66:40. That's like an album! The remixes of Serve The Ego are all very good. I would like to see Jewel do a remix album like Sarah McLachlan did on Remixed. That would be very cool. I am very happy I ordered this CD and highly recommend it to those who like the dance remixes of songs. Bravo!

Has anyone listened to this yet? It just stuck in my head, subtly. You don't want that if you are in a conference or class trying to pay attention. I was like after a day's drive to places listening to the CD over and over again, I should be contented without it at home. But I kept hearing "the ego, the ego" echoing in my head, almost calling out to me. Laughingly, I have to give in, serve my damn ego already! Who knows... the next thing might be me waking up in middle of night with cold sweat, trying to find the CD :)

CD contains 8 mixes:

Hani num club mix
Mike Rizzo club mix
Wayne Rodriguez club mix
Gabriel & Dresden club mix
Hani num dub
Wayne Rodriguez dub mix
Mike Rizzo dub mix
Gabriel & Dresden flashback

As I said in my title, this is a really great CD. It is a maxi-single, with nine versions of the same song on it. It is really a lot of fun to listen to but can take awhile to get used to. The first time I heard it, I thought that all the mixes sounded the same. But now, I can hear the distinctions between the bass and drum lines, here where Jewel's voice is echoed and where it isn't.

The caution part comes in because you should fill each one of these categories before picking up a copy of Serve the Ego:
1)You are a die-hard Jewel fan (or close to it)
2)You like to experiment with different styles of music
3)You feel comfortable dishing out nine bucks for one song
4)You have heard the original version of Serve the Ego, off of Jewel's third album "This Way"

So, sit back and get ready to enjoy!

I love all of these remixes. Usually on remix albums I can only pick one or two to keep on my ipod. But these remixes just TURN IT OUT! I'm not a fan of dubs but even the dubs on this album make you want to just replay and replay. I just bought the mp3 album of this and also Jewel's Stand remixes. She needs to keep sending her singles to dance charts because I love all the work they do!