OK, enough of the cover versions for the time being. The next installment of SNITRBYSSKATIYDA will be filed under “It Wasn’t Dance In Its Original Form And We Said No Remixes In The Extras”
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Diana Ross – “Not Over You Yet”
She is represented in the rate with “Take Me Higher,” but Miss Ross also took a ride on the late 90’s Metro production line when they remixed her song “Not Over You Yet.”
The original track was produced and co-written by Malik Pendleton, who had worked previously with Jody Watley, Zhané, and Mary J. Blige, to name just a few. One wonders if the original alone would have been enough of a hit – or if she needed the song to be turned into what NME called “some grown-up housey garagey disco-y nonsense that's really of no great consequence” in order to reach the UK Top 10 for the first time in seven years.
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Tori Amos – “Professional Widow”
Gather around, kids. It’s time for a story called “Imagine My Surprise.” It goes like this: Imagine my surprise when Young
@WowWowWowWow discovered that Tori Amos wasn’t ACTUALLY the new Queen Of The Dancefloor that he thought she was, and that this wasn’t ACTUALLY
the way “Professional Widow” was initially conceived, and that the song was ACTUALLY supposedly about Courtney Love and not only about giant phalluses (or is it phalli?). Anyway, imagine my also-surprise that Tori Amos wasn’t a complete snoot who thought someone else interpreting their “art” was a personal affront: Armand van Helden says that Tori called to thank him when his remix went to #1 in the UK (“some artists are like that, but most aren’t”).
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Deborah Cox – “Things Just Ain’t The Same”
Franklin Hatchett is a small-time conman and ticket scalper working in a car wash. When TV news reporter James Russell arrives at the car wash to do an exposé on Franklin and get him to confess his crimes, the police arrive and arrest him, tipped off by Russell. While en route to jail in a prison bus, Franklin shares handcuffs with a French criminal named Raymond Villard. While crossing a bridge, a gang of machine gun-wielding men circle the bus and kill everyone on board except for Villard and Hatchett, and that's only because he's handcuffed to him. While on the helicopter, Hatchett overhears Villard discussing a secret stash of stolen diamonds, then escapes from the helicopter before he's killed. He soon learns that he's wanted by the police, and reaches out to Russell in the hopes that his reporting can clear his name. Russell, having just been fired by the station manager, is now rehired if he can break this story in time for Sweeps Week. That’s the plot for the 1997 film
Money Talks, which I’ve never seen and so have no insight as to how
a Deborah Cox song fits into the mix. And yet the dance remix gave Deborah a second Billboard Dance/Club Play #1 (OF AN EVENTUAL 13), as well as marking the first time she was remixed by Hex Hector – and I needn’t say more about how well that relationship worked out over the years.
I NEEDN’T!!!
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Veronica – “Let Me Go...Release Me”
Artland writes: “Though talent is something that belongs solely to each individual artist, inspiration can come from many different places. Behind most famous artists is a muse who inspires new passion and better work.” Pablo Picasso was nothing without Dora Maar. Robert Mapplethorpe was regularly inspired by Patti Smith. And Johnny Vicious had Veronica.
Although he would later remix legends like Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Britney Spears, I believe he saved some of his best work for Veronica, a singer from the Bronx who rose to fame after attending the performing arts high school made famous in the movie, er,
Fame. His first remix was for her song
“Release Me,” which in its initial form sounds like something Wild Orchid might have tackled on their second album, but Johnny elevated it to strobelight-level perfection.
His second remix for her, “Someone To Hold,” is over 12 minutes long and I will listen to it IN FULL every time it comes on shuffle. (He also did
a third remix for her cover of Evelyn “Champagne” King’s “I’m In Love,” but I’m not super fussed about that one.)
On the topic of love, Veronica found it at a chemistry read for the Broadway show
In The Heights. Although she didn’t end up with a part, she did end up with a boyfriend-turned-husband named Christopher Jackson – perhaps best known for originating the role of George Washington in
Hamilton.
In all honesty, Johnny Vicious’ best remix work was for the random boy band React –
the dub mix for “Let’s Go All The Way” is probably my all-time favorite club song, and
even the regular remix helped make dance divos out of this cheesy duo shepherded by the Berman Brothers.
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Oh, did someone say Berman Brothers? What a perfect segue because we’re ending the post with an Amber Alert!
Amber – “One More Night”
Ah yes, who can forget the classic “the first two dance releases were a hit, so let’s choose
a ballad for the third single to demonstrate versatility!” label scheme! Fortunately, they turned to Hani for a nightclub-ready version, which brought Amber to the top 10 of the dance charts for the third time.
Let’s be clear, people – you may snicker when I post about her, or think she doesn’t belong in certain
rates conversations, but I’d love to know: out of all of the singers and bands in the world, how many of them see their first five singles reach the Hot 100 chart? Baby, I’m waiting...
