You have to hand it to mysterious Mancunian Fritz Von Runte for the scale of his ambition. After taking on the Fabs with his The Beatles Hate remix project, he returns with this reworking of 15 David Bowie tracks that also comes in a 100-minute continuous mix and – get this – a live movie mash-up, synching the mix to a re-edited version of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Trickery aside, the project offers a marvellous opportunity to reappraise the simple wonder of Bowie’s voice. His stripped-back vocals – especially on Thursday’s Child, here reimagined as slippery house – reveal the longing and passion in those cords. The string and brass band version of Starman works spectacularly; then there’s also a strange Bontempi organ mambo mash-up of Fame and New Killer Star – complete with steel drums. But Let’s Dub’s minimal reggae take on Let’s Dance makes you wonder what it would have sounded like if Kruder & Dorfmeister had gotten hold of it. But, oh… those vocals. An archetypal File Under: Interesting.
