Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Okay so remix albums will always be made and thrown out to the public for free, on a variety of websites but this one is a little more interesting. It's based off of Twitter, other than for following the exploits of Lily Allen, Stephen Fry and David Lloyd Twitter hasn't really been turned into a device for delivering music. It's more of a celebrity stalking enterprise than a product delivery mechanism. But Lilyallenremixd has managed to get itself a wide audience and put there mixes out to a wider audience than they could have ever hoped for from their respective bedrooms. I should point out that an official remixes of It's Not Me, It's You is set for release later in the here by Doctor Rosen Rosen, so it'll serve as an interesting comparison piece. In this modern age do we really need to be paying £12 for a remix? Seriously there are millions of potential producers, myself included sitting at their desks who'll happily do it for free just because they love the music in the first place. So when Doctor Rosen Rosen gets his release it'll be the ammatuers vs. the pros.

Now the first question comes to mind when considering a remix album is a simple one. Does this album actually need a remix? Well yes it most certainly does. I loved It's Not Me, It's You and it made my greatest albums of the decade list, yet it's one main weakness was in the beat department. Gone were Lily's ska funk production that made her debut sound so unique. In were over produced limp beats. Certain tracks like the brilliant Not Fair were perfect with a delightfully ironic country stomp, or Eveyone's At It big club sirens and Fuck You with it's comedic juaxtaposition. However most of the album had rather flat beats, and it was Lily's lyrics and vocal performance that carried the record. So there's plenty of room for a talented producer to mix and slice this album up to spice things up a little.

Well as predicted the tracks that were fine as they were Not Fair and Everyone's At It only lose punch in the remix process. Elsewhere the results are hit and miss. Back To The Start has been warped vocally, it's completely unrecognizable as a Lily Allen track. The beat however, is hardly altered, there's lots of bells and whistles, and electro gurgle but the tempo remains the shame. The life has been taken out, and the humanity stripped away, the orgasimic moans in the back ground are somewhat interesting, but it's all rather pointless. 22 is a real mixed bag, a skipping drum beat and some New Order flourishes have been added, giving the track a darker feel, the track is left to linger, it's interesting but nothing special. Then at the two minute mark the beat drops and they show some serious production skills. They play individual samples of Lily's vocals, that in isolation sound depressing and ghostly. It's utterly perfect for a track about social displacement, about feeling isolated, alone and hopeless, they've really hit the nail on the head. If you can ignore the annoying blips and bleeps, this is a powerful emotive remix, shame about the first half.

There is certainly annoying propensicity for vocal layering, they often warp Lily's voice and have several vocal tracks playing at once, it just feels cheap and gimmick. Lily's attitude to men is often harsh and mechanical so the idea of making her vocals cold and robotic instead of sweet, would be interesting, but they make little effort to explore this theme. Never Gonna Happen sees Doctor Fritz striking the balence perfectly, the backing track is neither her nor there, but he beefs up Lily's vocals to the nth degree. Her put downs and her forthright statement it's Never Gonna Happen become doubly effecting, it's so loud and sharp, it reverbrates in your head, you actually feel like you've be cataclismically dumped by the end of the track.

Fuck You was a fun little throwaway, but her it's tortured into a sequelchy abortion. It really feels like they were out of ideas by this stage. It's less funny and less cutting than Lily's original excercise in juaxtaposition. Chinese starts promisingly with a rumbling drum line, and a tick metally baseline, but bizarrely this is the one track where they don't mess with Lily's vocals, and it's just a total cluster fuck. It's a brilliant arrangment but it totally contradicts Lily's vocals, they don't play off each other ironically it just doesn't work. It's a shame because both the elements are excellent individually, it's definitely one of the more interesting tracks on the record and a stand out, but it just doesn't click.

All in all Lily Allen Remixed is a frustrating experience. There are flashes of brilliance, but for the most part it's unessecary. They don't play into the essence of the track, or bring out hidden depths, they instead bury great lyricism and subtly under obnoxious gimmickery. The ultimate example is He Wasn't There a tender emotional ballad written to her father. They decided to put in an obtrusive rhythem and roboticise Lily's lyrics. Yes that's right, on a highly emotional track they turn Lily into a robot, but when she's being a cold harsh cycnical maneater they keep her vocals sweet? The mind boggles. All in all this album does little, it actually makes these straight pop songs less danceable. I hope Doctor Rosen Rosen can do better because there is real room for improvement in the production department on this record. So I can't say I recommend this record, get the original instead if you don't already own it.

However this record is free, and it's worth getting the 22, Not Fair, Never Gonna Happen and Chineese mixes. If you are interested, it's free and it's available for download, just click this link: http://www.lilyallenremixed.com/