"Days go by, and I have written a new review" (Days Go By - Dirty Vegas)

Member Name: samredmore

Product:	Days Go By - Dirty Vegas
Date:	01/08/01 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent track, Nice record sleeve

Disadvantages: Depressing

First of all, I would like to apologise for the poor title - I always have trouble coming up with one.

If you happen to be one of the kind people to have read some of my earlier reviews, you may have noticed me refer to a track called "Days Go By", by Dirty Vegas. You may also have noticed me refer to "Days Go By", in rather a good way, therefore possibly giving the impression I am quite fond of the track. In fact, as my earlier reviews may suggest, I am quite fond of the track, so much so, that I felt the need to write a whole review on it, which you are now reading.

Dirty Vegas are also known as the Hydrogen Rockers, and, in the past, have remixed for artists such as Bel Amour, among others.

The track was written by Steve Smith and Victoria Horn, produced and arranged by Dirty Vegas and mastered my Jon Davis. Steve Smith also provided the live percussion, which features strongly throughout the track.

"Days Go By" was released on a record label well known for releasing quality house tunes; 'Credence'. Credence are a relatively new record label, and are a spin-off of 'Parlophone' but have brought out such tracks as Bel Amour's "Bel Amour", CZR's "I Want You" and Dajae's "Time", which I may already have mentioned in previous reviews.

"Days Go By" was released on 26th May 2001, supported by a video, which you may have caught on music channels such as MTV Dance, The Box, Kiss and so on. Most dance videos, I find, seem to usually be lacking very much in ideas and, if anything, put me off the track. I have noticed an improvement in quality of recent dance videos, however, with "Another Chance" by Roger Sanchez, "Bel Amour" by Bel Amour and "Starlight" by The Supermen Lovers all examples of dance videos with a little more to them than simply having somebody running somewhere, and not much else. For e
xample, "Silence" by Delerium - an excellent track, but I went off it after seeing the video for the first time. "Days Go By" fits in with this recent trend though, with, in my opinion, an excellent video accompanying an excellent track.

The video features a man who, on the same day every yerar, goes to the same place and dances from sunrise until sunset. May I just add, his dancing is top notch, as opposed to the very poor dancing seen in the video for what I consider to be a very poor track; "Das Glockenspiel" by Schiller, which gave me a head-ache just to watch, let alone listen to. Anyhow, back to the video for "Days Go By", and people gather around him and speculate as to why he does what he does. The video then goes back in time to when the man was younger, when it is explained as to why he does this. I will not reveal what happens, though, but as with the general atmosphere of the song, it is quite sad and depressing.

When the track was released, it didn't have much commercial success other than the video appearing frequently on the music channels throughout the month of June. The track, however, was a good underground success, and could often be heard on Danny Rampling's Radio 1 show.

Just in case you were wandering (which I am sure you weren't); the sleeve of the record features a cat on some decks, wearing a "I Hate Dog" tee shirt. I like the sleeve a considerable amount. So much so in fact, that I slipped it in as the picture on my profile page. So if my description of the sleeve wasn't good enough for you to follow, or you are simply curious, you can see it by simply clicking on my user name (but make sure you finish reading this review, rate it and leave a comment if the need arises, before checking it out).

The 12" vinyl copy of the track features two mixes on it, the 'Full Vocal Mix' and the 'Lucien Foort Remix'.

The Ful
l Vocal Mix is the mix on side A of the record, and is my preferred choice out of the two. As I already said in this review, it is a somewhat sad and depressing track, but a very high quality production never-the-less.

The track has two main elements to it, the very strong bass line, and the saddening lyrics.

"Days go by and still I think of you
Days when I could live my life without you."

That's how the chorus goes anyway (as I'm sure you're already aware of).

"Bom bom
Ba da ba da bom bom
Ba da ba da bom bom
Ba da ba da bom bom."

This is clearly the bass line. Only a fool couldn't see this.

The track starts off without any beats, and steadily builds up once they come in. I would give a thumbs up on profile page to "Tracks that start off without much going on (maybe a simple beat) and gradually build up thus making it easier to mix", but unfortunately I have been unable to locate the category anywhere on Dooyoo. So, to take out my anger on something, I gave a thumb down to 'Dangerous' Dave Pearce. And felt so much better for it.

Once the bass line comes in, you recognise the track and jubilantly dance around the room, with a big grin on your face. Well you might not, but I certainly do.

Actually I don't, but I would if I was a jubilant dancing kind of person, but unfortunately I am not.

The track continues to build until it reaches the breakdown. I recently noticed I have not explained exactly what a 'breakdown' is, despite using the term in many reviews, so I thought I would give an explanation for those not in the know. Before we start, I would like to apologise for how poor this explanation will probably turn out, as I am normally terrible at these kind of things. Anyway, I would say a breakdown is when there are no beats at that particular part of the track, and is often the point where vocals m
ay come in, as they do on this track. Again, I'm sorry.

"You,
Are still a whisper of lights
I feel it in my fingers
It's pulling at my skin.

You,
Leave me when I'm at my worst
Feeling as if I've been cursed,
Better colour within?"

{Chorus}

Note - the question mark is not part of the track, it is just to let you know I am not sure if this is what is actually said for this line, but it is what I think is said. If anybody knows any different, let me know in the comments, as I frequently get lyrics wrong, and so would appreciate it if I have made a mistake, that I am informed, so that I can correct it and avoid making myself look too much of a fool.

After these lyrics, the beat comes back in, along with the bass line as the chorus plays through once more. The live percussion I spoke of earlier in this review also then comes into the track. The two verses are played over the top of this and there is another breakdown when the lyrics reach the chorus.

After the chorus, the beats come back in, with the bass line and percussion. The track then starts to break down a bit, until there is another breakdown in which the chorus plays again.

After this breakdown, the beats and bass line return, with the only vocal being the occasional "Without you." The track builds up again with the percussion coming back into the track and a vocal saying "Days go by" is added every now and again.

The track then gradually breaks down until there are only beats going, which then run until the end of the track. Again, as with the intro, I would give a thumbs up to "Tracks which break down gradually at the end until there is only a beat going." Sadly, this category could also not be found. Judge Jules got the thumbs down this time.

In case you were wandering exactly why I prefer tracks to build up at the start and break down at the
end, it is all about the mixing game known as "DJing". I prefer it to be this way because firstly, when bringing the track in, it can sound nice if it is building up whilst the previous track is breaking down. Secondly, I prefer it to break down at the end for much the same reason I like it to build up at the start - it sounds better if the track is breaking down as the next one is building up. Tracks that simply have the tune running through to the end often make for a bad mix out of them because there is too much going on at once, and the mix sounds too cluttered.

There are no real complaints I can think of about this mix, other than the fact that it is so sad and depressing.

I give this mix 9.5/10.

As you may have guessed from the fact that the Vocal Mix is on side A, the Lucien Foort Remix is found on side B. This mix offers a much more pumping variation to the Vocal Mix, and is not as depressing either. This mix is longer than the Vocal Mix, probably due to it being a different style.

I have not heard much about Lucien Foort, so am unable to give you any information about him. As always, I would welcome any information on him from anybody with a wiser brain than mine on the man.

The track starts off with a similar sound effect to one used at the start of the Tilt remix of Robert Miles' "Children", which I suppose not many people reading this review will have heard. I apologise for any pointless information you may find or have found in any of my reviews.

Anyway, after this, the beat kicks in pretty soon, and is immediately sounding much livelier than the Vocal Mix. Soon after the beat starts, a sneaky sample of the vocal saying "You" is played a bit. The track carries on building up with more and more instruments and sound effects being added every 8 bars.

The track soon reaches a mini breakdown, which features the same sounds as before, just without the kick dru
m. There is a bit of a drum roll until the beat comes back in and the rest of the instruments stop, leaving only the drum and the vocal, which now comes into the track, playing.

"You are still a whisper..."

And so on. The vocal is the same as on the Vocal Mix.

However, when usually the chorus would come in, the vocals stop, and the track starts building up as more and more instruments are added again. This continues building until the vocals come in; at which point the track is at its peak.

After the chorus, the track carries on virtually the same for a bit, with only a few things gradually changing.

The instruments all again drop out, leaving only the kick drum going. The track starts building again and a catchy tune, which does not feature on the other mix, comes into the track. More and more is added to the track as it again builds up.

Well, as the saying goes, 'what goes up must come down', and this proved to be the case on this track as it starts breaking down again as it gets nearer to the end. The track gradually breaks down leaving little other than beats going. Again the thumbs up business applies to the end of this track, although perhaps it might be preferable if the track broke down even more, as there is still a little too much going on for my liking. You may have noticed Gary Neville join my list of thumbs down since.

Although this mix is still a very good track, I prefer the Vocal Mix purely because I prefer the style.

I give this mix 8/10.

Thank you for reading my review.

I appreciate any comments you may have.

Summary: