Felix NEill

This remix 12" tries to boost a little house boom currency into the already long established dance moves of the Yazoo classic, "Situation". While not entirely successful, there is much to love here as a period piece as much as anything. And as it is a Mute Records release, it proves yet again that I can never resist the lure of this wonderful label.

Essentially a housey re-tooling of the stripped down electropop genius of the original, I think that these remixes take away as much as they add, although I do remember being blown away by them back in 1990, so maybe it's just that time hasn't been that kind to them. I also feel slightly precious about those original Yazoo tracks, as they stand up today like VERY little else from that period.

However, the surprising winner of this particular cage fight, especially given the stellar pedigree of the "Situation" remixers (Youth and Kevorkian), is the Paul Dakeyne reboot of the lesser track, "State Farm". This is still sounding great to my ears and "State Farm" was never one of my favourite Yazoo tracks.

Whatever. For all of it's faults, this is a nice piece of archaeology and tremendous fun. And there's no doubting the enduring power of Alison's vocals, in whatever context they may appear.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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