Red Flag - Naive Art (special edition)

Tracks:
If I Ever
Pretty In Pity
Russian Radio
Give Me Your Hand
All Roads Lead To You
Count To Three
Save Me Tonight
Broken Heart
I Don't Know Why
Rain
Fur Michelle
Russian Radio (Razormaid Dub)
If I Ever (Extended Remix)
Black Rose
Lovers Unite
Russian Radio (Seibold Remix)
Russian Radio (Decade Mix)

Well, the first thing to note is the obvious re-mastering job. The sound is much more clear and balanced in this edition, with a harder hitting bass and less of a preponderance of highs. The old songs really benefit greatly from the cleaning up job. Other than that note, this edition is the same as the first, until track 14, "Black Rose", a "Machines"-era track that is previously unreleased (as is the other bonus track). Both of these tracks are really excellent, and lyrically show a lot more depth than the other tracks. But then, these tracks were recorded approx. 3 years after the majority of the other tracks, and there is a good bit of growth reflected in the time gap. The two new remixes of are, well, interesting. The Seibold mix gives the track a very modern club feel to it, while not straying too far from the roots of the song. The Decade mix is by Red Flag themselves, and is similar to Anything Box's "Living In Oblivion '96", in that they have basically updated the musical feel of the song to be more in line with their newer (read: darker) sound. It actually lends a cool new atmosphere and feel to the song, and I really enjoyed it.

To wrap this up: There's not much comparison here. The new edition of the album simply has better bonus tracks and sound quality than the original. Buy the new special edition, and enjoy!!!

Added:  Sunday, March 24, 2002
Reviewer:  Jason Baker
Score:
hits: 889
Language: eng