Faithless have just released a new remixed single - 'Insomnia 2.0' - and it's loathed by all! 2015 marks the 20th Anniversary of their breakthrough monster club hit 'Insomnia' from their debut album 'Reverence', and to celebrate Faithless have released the new 'Avicii Remix' of the tune (available now on iTunes) which will be featured on their upcoming remix album 'Faithless 2.0' in September.
You can check out some of the scathing feedback on the 'Avicii Remix' on Faithless' Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Faithless?fref=ts and if you dare you can check out the 'Avicii Remix' itself on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh0e_lotkY4
The 'Avicii Remix' is not included in this post because, well - nothing about it suggests that it will ever be a classic remix! Everyone seems to be hating it because they're not Avicii fans - with very few comments about specifics of the remix itself. SummersRadio™ has never featured Avicii in a post, so I reckon we're not fans either. However, the worst thing about this remix is the fact that it's a 'radio edit' - it literally chops the 8:47 original down to just three minutes - 3:04 to be precise. That is just trying to condense too much awesome into too little time and it just ends all too quickly, making everyone hate it in the process. You just feel kind of ripped off after listening to it.
The full tracklisting for the remix album 'Faithless 2.0' is yet to be revealed, but I suspect/ hope that there may be a much longer, or proper, full 'Avicii Remix' forthcoming with some better paced eight or ten minute version that is more bearable. Or perhaps there's also a full 'Insomnia 2.0' remix EP forthcoming... or perhaps not, we'll see.
The remix itself is really not that different - Avicii pitches Maxi Jazz's voice down (thankfully - pitching up vocals for remixes is just wrong!) in this version which makes it even more distinct. Beyond that, there's nothing radical going on here - Faithless just should have chose someone more respected/ experienced to remix the track - rather than just whoever is currently the most popular. I've loved Faithless for two decades - and 'Radio Edit' aside, this new remix just isn't worthy!
So enough about 'Insomnia 2.0' (Avicii Remix) (Radio Edit)! While the original 'Insomnia' is indeed a classic, it was Faithless' previous single - 'Salva Mea (Save Me)' - that first blew me away and turned me into a superfan (specifically the 'Tuff Mix') several months before 'Insomnia' was released. ('Salva Mea' was first released in July 1995, followed by 'Insomnia' in November '95 - and both were re-released in '96/ '97). It made the top 10 in the U.K., and it was the band's first number one hit on the Billboard Dance Club charts.
What made 'Salva Mea (Save Me)' - the 'Tuff Mix' so epic was the dramatic operatic intro, the debut of Maxi Jazz's ominous voice, and of course the keyboard hooks... Enjoy!
'If Loving You Is Wrong' was released as the fourth single from 'Reverence' in 1996 - this is the 'Inflammable Mix' - another classic early Faithless remix... Enjoy!
You like? Become a fan of SummersRadio™'s Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/SummersRadio/199636386720349
and never miss a beat by joining our group here:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/366897324071/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jsummers Cheers!
