Reich Remixed

Various Artists (Composer), DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid (Composer), Ken Ishii (Composer), Michael Kandel (Composer), Mantronik (Composer), Darin / Cooke, Gervase McFadyen (Composer), Andrea Parker (Composer), Nobukazu Takemura (Composer), Matt Winn (Composer), Bradley Lubman (Conductor), Michael Tilson Thomas (Conductor), Paul Hillier (Conductor), Bang On A Can (Performer), Double Edge (Performer), Manhattan Marimba Quartet (Performer), Steve Reich Ensemble (Performer), Steve Reich and Musicians (Performer), Pat Metheny (Performer), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)

Product Details

• Performer: Bang On A Can, Double Edge, Manhattan Marimba Quartet, Steve Reich Ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, et al.
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Bradley Lubman, Michael Tilson Thomas, Paul Hillier
• Composer: Various Artists, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, Ken Ishii, Michael Kandel, Mantronik, et al.
• Audio CD (March 2, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B00000I5LV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #214,531 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The beauty of Steve Reich's minimalist compositions can be found not in their repetition but in their evolution. Listening to the Kronos Quartet perform Different Trains, the listener quickly gets over the camp value of the conductor samples to discover an unfolding theme that harks back not only to bustling industrialism but also to the horror of the Nazi concentration-camp trains. Reich is a master of such subtle changes in sonics, and his impeccable timing turns simple phrases into musical tapestries. On Reich Remixed, some of dance music's more innovative artists pay homage to the composer in the way they know best: by sampling his works and remixing them into their own. Coldcut's take on Music for 18 Musicians adds a fast-paced techno flair to the classic composition, Howie B's Eight Lines respectfully keeps the integrity of the original piece, and Tranquility Bass peppers "Megamix" with voices and (eventually) beats. There are some misses here, and, most unfortunate, DJ Spooky's schizophrenic treatment of City Life lobotomizes a previously fine composition. No, you still can't dance to Reich, but you can see how others use him for source material. But after hearing these condensed and diced versions, you might find it's worth delving back into Reich's originals to hear what the fuss is all about. --Jason Verlinde

Entertainment Weekly

This anthology, on which techno DJs overhaul Reich's recordings, makes clear their debt yet is a remixed blessing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good techno, mediocre as a "tribute", September 20, 1999

By	Jeremy York "-beanish-" (Bothell, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A few of the remixers do a decent job of understanding Reich's music and translating it to a technobeat, but none of them really "get it" I think. Nobody works with rhythms that gradually go in and out of phase with each other, nobody works with songs that very gradually evolve and change...

If you like both Reich and techno, you'll probably enjoy trying to identify the sources of the sounds, and there are sometimes some surprising and pleasing results from juxtaposition of Reich recordings. If you like techno, it's a good techno cd, but you won't really learn anything about Reich. If you're expecting something where the remixers are reaching artistically, trying to elaborate upon and learn from Reich's compositions, I think you'll be disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Children of Reich Create Loving Homage, April 15, 2005

By	Huntley Russell "Hunts" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The entrancing hobby of looping gave birth to essencially all forms of techno in existence today, and all followers should be thankful Steve Reich's cassette tapes messed up one day to create a looping effect. He soon became obsessed with overlapping sounds and varying tempos, a basic foundation for modern day electronic music. Such is the reason why a wide variety of artists came together to create a tribute album to this obscure classical composer, and the end result is a diamond in the rough.

If "Reich Remixed" has any style permeating through the whole album, it is the esoteric sounds of trance. Each track brings in a sentimental mourning, but also sings out hosannas of joy, hailing the appreciation of the father of techno. Tranquility Bass's "Megamix", succeeding fully in painting a mural of Reich's repertoire, Coldcut's loving recreation of "Music for 18 Musicians", and Howie B's "Eight Lines" tribute will draw you in with their joyful melodies. Yet darkness lies ahead as well. Andrea Parker brings in a creepy Trip-Hop version of "The Four Sections", perfect for committing a bank robbery if you get off on that. The bonus track from freQ Nasty & B.L.I.M. has the rough sound of Drum n' Bass without corrupting the original message, although it sounds a bit out of place on this album. The masterpiece is Nobukazu Takemura's "Proverb", which stacks the voices in one loop, which will make one double check the CD for scratches. It not only holds true to what Reich was attempting, but re-interprets.

To those who were already die-hard Reich fans, a word of caution. This CD will sound repititive, perhaps even like cheap rip-offs of the original tracks, as they cannot possibly recreate the massive pieces Reich composed in six or seven minutes of CD time. As well, there are slip-ups. "City Life" is butchered to pieces and essentially impossible to enjoy, and "Come Out" only highlights the limitations of techno's possibilities to create as compared to pen, paper, and a symphony orchestra.

The album explores techno's creative possibilities to new levels, and is an aural treat. Consider it Reich's first DJing experience, changing the world of music in the same way his originals shook the ear drums.

Highs: Techno symphony, with the same variety as an orchestra, skillfully mixed, loving and appropriate recreations of Reich's original masterpieces.
Lows: Reich's originals are better, sometimes butchered here, same repitive downfall of techno at times.
The Score: A-, Reich not Lost in Techno Translation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Proxy for a Reich's Greatest Hits CD?, June 15, 2001

By	Gavin Wilson - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Of all modern classical composers, Steve Reich is the one whose music is most likely to attract the rock-oriented ear. 'Music for 18 Musicians' was a ground-breaking album which closed out the 1970s, and it took much of the audience that had been nurtured on Tangerine Dream's 'Ricochet' and, before that, Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells'. It was only to be expected that other artists would start sampling Reich's works.

I can't get enough of 'Music for 18 Musicians' -- I bought it on LP in 1979, and two versions on CD. It is my No. 1 self-hypnosis album. So I was intrigued to discover how it would be re-worked for this album. I was disappointed, frankly. The Coldcut Remix provides no evidence that the DJ has listened beyond the first five minutes of the original.

But there's no heresy in modifying Reich's music. I welcome every effort to do so. I knew about half of the pieces selected here, so, for me, it's partly a Reich sampler. The great thing about the album is that not only did it get me buying more of Reich's output, but it also got me listening more to the originals.

For me, the stand-out track here is 'Piano Phase', which applies prog-rock values to a piece I didn't know at all well. It could so easily be Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson playing the synth lines over the piano loop!

The opening track has grown on me over the years. At first listen, the Megamix seemed to have too many different samples crowded in; it seemed too ambitious in searching for common musical themes between no fewer than nine of Reich's albums. But now it flows nicely.

The closing track, supposedly based on the Desert Music, is a straightforward techno track, almost Prodigy-like, whose relationship to Reich's music seems entirely tangential.

I believe every Reich fan should hear this album, even though a few will find perhaps nothing to like. And I'd recommend anyone who buys this album without knowing Reich to listen also to 'Different Trains', 'Electric Counterpoint', and of course, 'Music for 18 Musicians'.

Until Nonesuch releases in the US the greatest hits CD compiled in Japan, we will have to rely on this as the only single-CD tour through Reich's works, however oblique and re-shaped these may be.