With the possible exception of attractive adolescent boys few people have observed Michael Jackson as pared-down and naked as the Z-Trip remix of the Jackson Five’s ‘I Want You Back’ renders him, focusing as it does on the trademark ‘5’ lick, the slinky descending bass run and the famous and dearly lamented vocal acrobats of the young fruitbat himself. Motown Remixed, if nothing else, draws attention to the delightful subtleties of the original Motown classics, baring their bones and providing fresh insight into all the layers of hooks, licks, riffs, vocal arrangements that were often consumed by the sheer weight and gloss of the production. The boys done good. The damage that could have been incurred by pulling down that colossal wall of sound has been sensitively spared by the respectful handling of the bricks and mortar: the core compositions themselves. Sure the addition of some slick contemporary beats provides some magic dust to the sessions, often lifting them squarely out of their own time-period, but they rarely detract from the definitive Motown mood. Purists may balk at the deliberate restless chord-progression of the original making way for the new fruity big-beats of ‘Tears Of A Clown’ but few could complain about the gorgeous heart-ballet of the classic fluttering drum roll being repeated time and time again or the magic revelation of the similarly agitated symphony of the horns, flutes and the harpsichord riff.
Familiarity occasionally gives way to neglect and under appreciation of the things we love the most. We’ve heard these tracks so often that we fail to really listen them. Our appreciation of them is lost beneath a mountain of expectations, cultural a priori and their legendary place in popular music history. Mercifully, producer Harry Weinger and the remix crew slow things down and throw in just enough misnomers and anachronistic details to prick at our attention and force us to listen songs like ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’ and ‘Just My Imagination’ completely afresh.
Motown Remixed is one way to put it. Motown restored is another.