Do you like present day dance remixes of Motown classics?

[temptationsfan500]

Question: do you like Motown classics getting a remix treatement from present day producers and djs? I know Diana Ross fans who hate team sports are all excited about how well the Ain't No Mountain High Enough remix is doing on the dance chart. But do you like it when a classic Motown song like this or others get a generic computer beat put over it? I really don't. I get it can be a gateway for younger people, but it's very difficult to improve on near perfection and computer generated beats substituting for the original rhythm by real instruments is just souless in my opinion. I played the remix of Ain't no Mountain High Enough. At least the melody is intact, but the new beat over it is just mechanical, but good for ingesting club drugs I guess. Give me classic Motown grooves anyday!

[PeaceNHarmony]

Absolutely. New life to old standards. Don't like? Don't listen.

[marv2]

Not particularly.....no! I will not even listen to that clip you posted. LOL

[jbpintus]

I hate them. Period!
I listen to them because they make me go back to the originals and appreciate then even more.

Now there are some extended mixes that are very clever. I’m not thinking about them.

But the ones where there’s a loop of a 5 seconds vocal put behind a so called dance groove are unbearable to me. C’mon... when we’ll know by heart everything ever released by Motown / Universal on Hitsville artists, maybe I’ll consider going back to Motown Blend, Remixes, Soul Source and the current remixes.

I’m much happier to listen to Underdogs thacks that never made it off the vaults till now than to anything Diana-Ross-destroyed-material done in the name of almighty remixers.
... and that would be the same if Stevie was the one concerned by those atrocious wizzardo thingies ...

And that’s just MY point of view ;-)

[Boogiedown]

that is such a lame [[generic) generated drum beat , but dance music in general has been lame for about twenty plus years .

If I were twenty-two years old and clubbing I might get excited about hearing this obscure song from a time long long ago from even before disco or dance\club music existed.

And compared to the repetitive predictable EDM music of today, I bet AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN really does stand out in the club as something worth noticing. [[ what's making those sounds?? 'musical instruments'? 'horn sections'? 'violins'?? and who is that singing? what a passionate yet controlled voice and what's that she's singing? what? --- 'lyrics'? ?????)

[milven]

No, I tend to listen to them once or twice and then that's it. Even the Motown remixed CDs.

I do like the Motown extended versions that are on You Tube by
mosogotam.

And while the above Aint No Mountain is okay, I think this one is clever and can be listened to much more than just a few times. In fact, many times

Ultimate classical rendition of Diana Ross' Ain't No Mountain High Enough with the London Symphony Orchestra. Original vocal

[PeaceNHarmony]

I particularly love any remixes by Almighty - here's a favorite -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtBWIWBEkj4

[thommg]

I like when a remix is done with great care and thought. Sometimes it can bring a new meaning to the song. Like all mixes, though, there are good ones and bad ones. The bad ones just chug and repeat until finished. I hate those as they provide nothing new to the music. A great remix will [[i.e., most of the Almighty remixes or anything by Tom Moulton) gives the song a new slant or boost. These would never replace the originals, but they are fun to hear and I enjoy them quite often.

[gman]

Everything seems to gallop along at the same generic pace...I don't generally like any dance music past the freestyle era...but I am 59
and the much younger horses love it. I also like a lot of the extended mixes where they isolate and repeat and rebalance portions of the original. I would rather have a complete re-recording
[[a la Ian Levine's work) than have a galloping sounds like everything else beat placed over an original track.

I remember years ago my nephew took me to see Cher's big time extravaganza at MSG. With few exceptions, to me it sounded like she was singing the same song over and over. But she did whip the GM/NYC crowd into a tizzy. At one point I felt like the only person sitting down in the place....I have to admit, she spent big $ on the show and remains the only performer I ever saw that production wise was in the same league as Pink Floyd. I may not have liked all Cher's music...but it was NOT boring.

[bradsupremes]

The only remixes I like are the ones that use the original vocals and instrumental tracks. Example would be the ones MidnightJohnny creates and Andy & George do on the expanded editions. All that added drum beats, sound effects, etc. for clubs add nothing to the tracks. Why add all that fluff when the Funk Brothers have it locked down?

[Roberta75]

Question: do you like Motown classics getting a remix treatement from present day producers and djs? I know Diana Ross fans who hate team sports are all excited about how well the Ain't No Mountain High Enough remix is doing on the dance chart. But do you like it when a classic Motown song like this or others get a generic computer beat put over it? I really don't. I get it can be a gateway for younger people, but it's very difficult to improve on near perfection and computer generated beats substituting for the original rhythm by real instruments is just souless in my opinion. I played the remix of Ain't no Mountain High Enough. At least the melody is intact, but the new beat over it is just mechanical, but good for ingesting club drugs I guess. Give me classic Motown grooves anyday!

"Ingesting club drugs" whats that supposed to mean. Theres many many many people that go to clubs that dont drink or do drugs.

[kenneth]

I don't much care for these "up to date" remixes myself. But I take a similar view to them as I do to old black and white movies getting colorized, that if it brings attention to the originals they wouldn't get otherwise, then it's still a good thing. I'm not such a purist that I believe the original is the only acceptable version.

And if you think about it, I'm sure there are lots of Bible readers who bristled at the NIV version when it came out. But even the King James version isn't the original, after all!

[Roberta75]

I don't much care for these "up to date" remixes myself. But I take a similar view to them as I do to old black and white movies getting colorized, that if it brings attention to the originals they wouldn't get otherwise, then it's still a good thing. I'm not such a purist that I believe the original is the only acceptable version.

And if you think about it, I'm sure there are lots of Bible readers who bristled at the NIV version when it came out. But even the King James version isn't the original, after all!

isnt that the truth and the Gideons version is still the best read around.

fondly,

Roberta

[jobeterob]

I like Midnight Johnny’s remixes; beyond that I don’t know many

[thanxal]

I like Midnight Johnny’s remixes; beyond that I don’t know many

I second that emotion. His are about the only ones I like. Other remixes tend to all have the 22 minutes of thumping dance music beat, which gets old real quick.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

You just had to stir it up again, temptationsfan500! First of all, we weren't criticizing "team sports", as you so inaccurately put it. We were referring to the violent fans of team sports who bully and, oftentimes, seriously injure fellow fans who are innocently cheering for the opposing team. [[One poor guy -- a husband and father of two kids -- was beaten and left in a coma after the game while on his way to the parking lot just for wearing a hat symbolizing his favorite team.) You see nothing wrong with such dangerous, uncivil behavior? Incredible! And the only reason we commented on such bullying psycho fans is because YOU were bullying our fellow Motown Forum fans for being enthusiastic about Motown music making a comeback on the charts. After all, this IS a Motown FAN site. And that's what fan sites are for! If you can't understand that, then you're in the wrong place.

As for remixes of earlier Motown hits, it depends on the mix. Like thommg said above, any remixes by Tom Moulton or the Almighty Remixes are almost always the best because they utilize the instrumentation and vocals from the original recording. If I get a CD with 5 or 6 varied mixes of the same song, there are usually two mixes that I'll like -- the long version and the shorter, edited version of the mix that is truest to the original hit. The mixes that don't even sound like the original, but, rather, just incessant computerized beats over and over with an occasional hint of the artist's voice thrown in for good measure [[dub mixes), I have no use for. To me, those are garbage. But, then, again, one man's garbage is another man's treasure. Go figure!

[jobucats]

No [[my opinion)

[kenneth]

I guess I missed the obtuse reference to team sports in the original post. Not sure what it's supposed to signify.

[jobeterob]

I guess I missed the obtuse reference to team sports in the original post. Not sure what it's supposed to signify.

How about the simplistic notion that all Diana Ross fans are gay men that don’t like team sports?

It’s so stupid it was hard to write it

[paul_nixon]

How about the simplistic notion that all Diana Ross fans are gay men that don’t like team sports?

It’s so stupid it was hard to write it

Tom Moulton is my go to remixer he's are the only remixes I would want to listen to - he should have been given far more prominence in the remix packages....

[kenneth]

How about the simplistic notion that all Diana Ross fans are gay men that don’t like team sports?

It’s so stupid it was hard to write it

Oh, I see. Nice to know that some stereotypes never die, isn't it?

[PeaceNHarmony]

Oh, I see. Nice to know that some stereotypes never die, isn't it?

WELL! I'm gay, and I currently clutch my pearls at this simply heinous assault on my people. Many of us LOVE figure skating: GO TEAM USA!

[jobeterob]

WELL! I'm gay, and I currently clutch my pearls at this simply heinous assault on my people. Many of us LOVE figure skating: GO TEAM USA!

Did the strand stay together or did it break and they went all over the place?

Stereotypes are for old people and I they the stereotypes should die instead of the old people.

[PeaceNHarmony]

Did the strand stay together or did it break and they went all over the place?

Stereotypes are for old people and I they the stereotypes should die instead of the old people.

I don't know The Strand, so I don't know if they broke up or not. I agree that The Stereotypes are really out of date and for old people, but I don't think they should die; that's rather harsh. I do, though, like dance remixes more than team sports.

[DJMoch]

Seeing as I like to create my own remixes [[and have done my fair share of more modern-sounding creations as well as vintage stuff using multitracks and whatnot) I definitely don't mind a modern take on a classic song, Motown or otherwise. However, having said that, I'm definitely one who prefers a mix that is sensitive to the original versions, just with a more modern interpretation, one that keeps the heart and soul of the original. I don't like mixes where only bits and pieces of a song/lyric are mashed up and turned into something completely unrecognizable -- all beat and no substance.

I, for example, am more than fine with Eric Kupper's recent reinterpretation of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". But then again, his mixes have always appealed to me. And of course, guys like Tom Moulton and John Morales are like gods to me. They take classic songs and raise them to a whole other level entirely. They treat their source material with love and care and come up with some really dazzling reworkings.

I'm jealous, I admit, I enjoy creating mixes so much, but I don't think I'd ever reach levels of these guys. I envy their enormous talent.

[Motown Eddie]

I don't care for Contemporary Dance Remixes of Motown Classics. However, it is a matter of taste and for the people who enjoy them I won't stand in their way. And I feel the dance remix of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" has brought new recognition [[and new fans) to Diana Ross.

[PeaceNHarmony]

At last year's Gay Pride Parade in NYC one of the floats had a great remix of 'Too Many Fish In The Sea' that had the crowd going wild! The remixer had greater separation of the lead and background vocals, a slightly exaggerated stop-and-go of the staccato beat and featured mostly the percussion track - it was a killer and wish I could find it on YT -

[kenneth]

Is it possible this is it?

[PeaceNHarmony]

Is it possible this is it?

Could be; love it! Thanks for finding this one, Kenneth@!

[thanxal]

Could be; love it! Thanks for finding this one, Kenneth@!

PNH, if you aren't familiar with John Perrone's "My Extended Version" remixes you are in for a REAL treat. He's done just about everything. My favorite is his treatment of Up the Ladder, followed closely by Stoned Love and I'm Ready for Love. Search "mosogotam" on Youtube if you don't know about his artistry already.