| Product: |
Richard X Presents His X-factor Vol.1 - Richard X |
| Date: |
10/12/03 (109 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: excellent choices for guest vocallist, fab singles
Disadvantages: a little bit lacking in inspiration in places
The bootleg is not a common phenomenon. In the 80’s and 90’s, remixers would try and breathe new life into songs by splicing them together with another track to create something even better than the sum of its parts. Tracks like ‘You Got The Love’ by The Source married together Candi Staton and Frankie Knuckles to produce one of the all-time classic dance songs, whilst the addition of Coco’s ‘I Need A Miracle’ to Fragma’s trancy ‘Toca Me’ reaped a chartopper in 2000.
Richard X has single-handedly made bootlegs interesting again with some ingenuous combinations. Under the moniker ‘Girls On Top’, Richard X mixed together a girly Whitney Houston track with the electro of the Human League to create a club floor-filler.
However, even greater success was to follower after he came up with the stroke of genius of layering Adina Howard’s New Jill Swing anthem ‘Freak Like Me’ over Gary Numan’s ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’. Virgin records picked up on the buzz that it created and signed up Richard X. It was chosen as the comeback single for The Sugababes, which went straight to the top of the charts and salvaged their now flourishing music career.
After two further eye-opening releases, his album was greatly anticipated. ‘Richard X Presents the X Factor’ is a melting pot of forgotten songs and forgotten singers being resurrected in a new form. However, whilst every track is interesting, it’s a tad disappointing to see that there is little variation the formula of the singles, with a soulful vocal added onto an 80’s electro backing track.
The choice of Liberty X to front the Chaka Khan / Human League mish-mash of 'Being Somebody' was received with raised eyebrows. However, they are the perfect choice for a smooth three and a half minutes of pop perfection. Admittedly the familiarity of t
he vocal gives the novelty value a short shelf-life, but it’s still an inspired choice.
The other released single, ‘Finest Dreams’, is possibly the highlight of the collection. Once again nicking the bassline from a Human League track (Phil Oakey must be looking forward to some hefty royalty cheques pretty soon), Kelis croons a 70’s soul record over the top. Very subtle and most definitely a grower rather than an immediate winner, it came with a clever animated video. Surprisingly not a bigger hit, it nonetheless is one of the best singles of the year.
Another highlight is ‘You’d Better Let Me Love You’, a collaboration with dance DJ Tiga. Much edgier than some of the smoothed out filler around it, it one of the few danceable tracks on the album.
However, musical inspiration seems a little flat in other areas. Soul II Soul’s ex-frontwoman Caron Wheeler, who has been barely heard of for a decade, is disappointingly wasted on an unmemorable track, whilst Javine’s contribution on ‘You Used To Hold Me So Tight’, rumoured to be the next single, is similarly underwhelming.
On the other hand the deadpan English countrywoman delivery of Deborah Evans-Strickland on the oft-covered Bacarach and David standard ‘Walk On By’ and the modern culture sniping ‘Lemon/Lime’ are highly amusing and quirky, and although they’re not really suitable for repeat play, they do give the collection a humorous edge to avoid steering the album into pretentious territory. Conversely, Mark Goodier’s self-parodying 30-second voiceover is a bit stale and pointless.
‘...X Factor’ is an interesting album, with its highly intriguing collection of featured artists. However, a smorgasbord of bootlegs appear to reap diminishing returns and as the novelty gloss wears off, the lack of substance in places begins to show through. However, despi
te its flaws, it is immaculately produced and packaged, and has enough unique and interesting facets to make it well worth investigating.
Summary:
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Last comment:
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ickkate - 18/12/03 An interesting read, which has unfortunately left me thinking that its not quite for me! |
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