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Z Records starts 2016 in strong fashion with the follow-up to Dave Lee aka Joey Negro's Remixed with Love (ZEDD 030LP/X-LP, 2013). Twenty more reworkings of classic soul, funk, disco, and boogie tracks from the likes of Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Cheryl Lynn, The O'Jays, Gwen McCrae, George Benson, and many more. Though remixes and edits of vintage dancefloor anthems aren't exactly hard to come by, and Soundcloud, Beatport, et al. heave under the weight of a gazillion bootleg offerings, many of these tracks taking a dusty, scratched 12" or a dodgy MP3 as their starting points -- Remixed with Love is a little different. Not only is the man with one of the most legendary record collections in the game guaranteed to dig deeper than most, but every track here has also been (re)created using fresh analog transfers of the original multi-track tapes, with the full consent and cooperation of the copyright owners. These tapes also contained elements that were not used in the original mixes, so Lee has incorporated some of these never-before-heard parts, including an aerobic workout instruction by Grace Jones. Putting an album like this together is no easy feat, as Lee himself explains in the extensive liner notes that accompany this package. First, one has to get permission from the copyright owners to undertake the project at all, which can in itself entail hundreds of emails and phone calls. Then one has to track down the original tapes, many of which may have been recorded over, lost, or simply destroyed, and convince the label archivists to get them digitized. And that's before one even starts remixing, which is when it turns out half the parts are missing, or that killer piano lick can't be foregrounded because the original was recorded live in the studio and the piano track has the bassline bleeding all over it. The title of this album is extremely appropriate, because for Dave Lee this definitely has been a labor of love! Also includes remixes of tracks by Patti LaBelle, Pockets, Kleeer, Christopher Cross, Thelma Houston, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Norman Connors, Loose Change, Willie Hutch, and People's Choice, as well as CD-only remixes of tracks by The Trammps, Nicolette Larson, Jean Carn, and Wanda Walden.
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