Disco de Air: “Alpha Beta Gaga”

While I'm sure that Mark Ronson meant well when he gave Air's single ALPHA BETA GAGA a hip-hop beat and an MC, the fact of the matter is: it doesn't work. The lyrics are trite, and even without the lyrics, the tracks has simply been sped up and given a beat. Was that even necessary? Jackson fares a ltitle better with his mix, adding some dub effects and icy computer beat into the fray, but it's less than what he's capable of.

I'm a huge fan of the original album. I have never been much of a fan of rap, because for me it is about the music, and most rap I have heard is more about the rap.

Here I am surprised to be delighted by the results of putting a rap vocal on top of an instrumental song I know well and like a lot. The new mix adds more rhythm, and plays with the mix a bit. It is available here without the rap in the instrumental version, but I think the rap adds a lot to this song (though I would not say it is better than the original). Now I want to check out Rhymefest too!

The Jackson remix is a more radical remix, retaining the whistle, banjo, and a small amount of the electronic instruments; it adds a lot of more odd sounding instrumentation. I've decided I like this mix too.

Edit 91 is simply a shorter version, not an interesting alternate version of what's on the album. On the MP3 page it says it runs at 91 BPM.

The mp3 download is much cheaper than ordering the actual CD, and you can cherry pick a track if you want to.

BTW four stars is a high rating from me. Five stars is reserved what I consider the best music of all time, such as the Talkie Walkie album itself.