Royal Visionaries - Back To Yazoo EP

Back To Yazoo
Back To Yazoo (VZ Chinese Theatre Mix)
Back To Yazoo (Subimage Mix)
Choir Of Angels (Eloquent Mix)
Back To Yazoo (Sequencia Remix)
Back To Yazoo (Hajas Remix)
Back To Yazoo (Digital Explosion Remix)
Electronic
Back To Yazoo (Royal Visionaries Remix)
Back To Yazoo (Spiral Divergence Mix)
Back To Yazoo (Ecstatic "Different" Mood Mix)
The Royal Song
Back To Yazoo (The Gary Flanagan Mix)
Back To Yazoo (KBL Mix)
Back To Yazoo (Retro Outro)

This is the debut EP for Royal VIsionaries, a collaboration between Steven Cochran of Eloquent and Patrik Sjostrom of Sweden. Previously the two worked together on the Eloquent debut album, for the "Choir Of Angels" track. I would presume that that work together helped originate this further collaboration. 

Similar to the Agency-X project, in which (to me) two musicians (one of whom which I wasn't as impressed with) really come together here to create something that is superior to anything they could have done separately. Both artists here really have brought their A-game, as this song has a melody and chorus that will bury itself into your mind for endless hours of constant repeat play. The fact that the song name-drops about 9-10 well-known 80's bands doesn't hurt, either.

The selection of remixers here is both diverse and interesting, with several rising remix stars in the synthpop scene alongside some complete newcomers (AFAIK). Hajas, who has recently had his excellent mixes featured on a Eurovision and Daybehaviour single turns in a very interesting mix, some of the squelchy sounding analog sounds get a smidge repetitive, but it's still an enjoyable mix overall. Subimage, a band that has just begun to garner some attention in the synthpop underground, give us what was, in my opinion, the absolute best remix of the EP. The deep analog synth whistle that leads the remix gives it the perfect early 80's feeling. This mix sounds like it might have been programmed by Vince Clark himself back in the day... a really excellent job! Chinese Theater give us a more digital-synth sounding take on the track, but it's still a very enjoyable version of the song, as is Sequencia's mix.

Really, about the only mixes I didn't care for all that much were the Spiral Divergence Mix (The flow of the song was disrupted too much, I thought), and the remix by Gary Flanagan was not at all like I was expecting. Just a few vocal samples, and a steady beat over the synth work (that leaves a lot of the original melody behind). Perhaps the latter is more of a reaction due to my expectations based on Gary's previous work, but I can't say I care that much for this remix.

The b-sides that flesh out this EP include a track taken from the first collaboration of Patrik and Steven, "Choir Of Angels" from the Eloquent album "Future Pop", as well as two exclusive songs. One is the semi-instrumental "Electronic", and the other is the very impressive instrumental "The Royal Song".

Overall, this EP handles the unusual number of remixes well. There's enough variation and difference in the mixes to help easily maintain interest over the full length of the EP. And the b-side tracks are quality songs as well. All In All, this is a very impressive collaborative project, and I can't help but highly recommend the disc!

Added:  Sunday, October 10, 2004
Reviewer:  Jason Baker
Score:
Related web link:  Official Website
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Language: eng