Pearson began dabbling in the art of remix in 1997 and this compilation is a collation of his best work from then until now.

Although Pearson successfully translates selected songs from pop to dance in this double album, and their acoustic grounding to one more electronically orientated you can’t help but feel that he hasn’t really brought anything that new to the song. He tends to repeat certain idea’s throughout the first disc, namely a frenetic techno infused descant that hovers above his introduced bass. On his remix of Goldfrapp’s infamous ‘Train’ he omits its captivatingly subversive bass line at the beginning in what appears to act as a means of redundant variation, especially since it is introduced anyway toward the end. Not that the remix doesn’t sound good, but most of the credit is due to Goldfrapp’s original song. This is the same, but to a lesser extent true for his remix of the Chemical Brother’s ‘The Golden Path’, which again sounds good but only in a slightly refurbished way.

I will admit though that I really liked his remix of Field’s ‘Song for the Fields’ with its Unkle-esque indie/electronica hybrid sound and there were flourishes of innovation to be found on Silver Cities ‘Shiver’.

Pearson should be credited more with his good taste in music rather then any innovation used in his remixes. Don’t get me wrong, when dancing under the influence, these monotonous perpetual beats will satisfy the debauched ‘Dancing no thinking’ frame of mind, but for those of a sober disposition its best to stick to the original tracks.

Shauna O'Brien
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