Various - Zambient One

by Dave Goodwin

published: 13 / 7 / 2013

Label: Salvo Music
Format: CD

Intriguing compilation from ZTT which mixes together remixes from their own and Stiff Records’ back catalogue for an imaginary road trip from London to Ibiza

Review

Aaaah, ZTT! The label that as an adolescent I couldn't say properly, and one that got me into a whole world of trouble. How? I can already hear you thinking can a record label get you into so much trouble? Well, it wasn't so much the label but the bands signed to them such as one Frankie Goes to Hollywood. There were hundreds of girls walking around our school with T-shirts with statements like ‘Frankie says come’ all over them after they got bored with the original ‘Frankie says relax’ T-shirt. I will leave the finer details to you to pick the bones out of, but will say that my parental skills were put to the test at quite an early stage. Earlier than i expected anyhow. In the 80's, whilst I was testing my manhood to good effect , ZTT Records were, one might argue, one of the biggest sellers of records of that decade. Some of it was good and some of it, let’s say, we'd heard before in some other way shape or format. They were responsible for chugging out a plethora of mixes from earlier hits from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Art Of Noise and Propaganda. Most of this output was down to one chap, producer and owner Trevor Horn. He and his army of helpers were I guess the creators of the 12 inch record. Even if Horn, his mates and the ZTT label all fell in a barrel of silage, such was their genius that they would still come up smelling of roses. They could literally do no wrong. Since then there have been various different albums surface from the label including this slice of Balearic-fragranced examples. On the packaging it describes itself as "the soundtrack to an imaginary road movie that heads off from Sarm Studios in West London on a torrential Friday night and arrives at the burning embers of Studios Mediterraneo in Ibiza just in time for sunrise on Sunday." Now, I am not usually into the Ibiza remix sound (Says he after unearthing three double sided chilled Ibiza CD's from the loft!). But this one is slightly different from the norm. It's actually a selection of rare and unreleased material from ZTT's catalogue, coupled together with some obscure material from the Stiff Records archives with one or two nice little familiarities thrown in. After studying the well-presented double folded sleeve, I must admit that this did sound intriguing. The inclusion of meatier sounds infused by the chilled section made for a wonderful hour even if sometimes it feels like you're in a dingy in the middle of Loch Derg in a thunderstorm instead of somewhere in the Med. A pleasant variation on Art of Noise's 'Moments In Love' opens proceedings, and then the waves begin to form when Hoodlum Priest's 'Sex Spirit' forces the French speaking horses manes to rise, and in turn is followed by a more familiar sound to most of us, 808 State's 'Pacific State (Justin Strauss Mix)', with its ever popular and widely used electronic bird trills. Adamski is the next to get the treatment with vocalist Loretta Heywood who should spring to mind for singing on Bomb The Bass's 'Winter In July' These rather lovely sounds are then followed by L.A.Z.Y’s 'When We Were Young'. An unexpected drop of Tracey Ullman’s, 'I Know What Boys Like', leads to what I would say is the one of the dual jewels of the album, 'Jona Lewie’s ‘You’ll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties'. It had to happen and does in splendid fashion.- 'Sex Mix Edition 2' of Frankie's 'Relax' is up next followed by a totally forgettable mix of 'Sleepwalking' by Instinct, which is for me the album’s lump of coal. There are a few other dreamers in here with a 'Def Mix' of Novecento's 'Day And Night', Heights Of Abrahams' cover of Fred Neil's 'Dolphin's , and the Mint Juleps with a rest-filled soulful stab at Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart'. The cover has a double opening card sleeve which is adorned with some lovely photographic work by Helen Renshaw and is packed with other likewise images of life Ibiza style ,which leads me to the second dual jewel which is the sadly missed Kirsty MacColl with. 'Walking Down Madison (6am Ambient Mix)'. The original was co-written by Johnny Marr, and is a work of art with its 90’s hip hop beats dampened down to leave an idyllic track to lay back on the sun lounger to and as Frankie would say 'Relax’.

Track Listing:-

1 Moments in Love (Beating Hart's Mix)
2 Sex Spirit
3 Pacific 212 (Justin Strauss' Mix)
4 When We Were Young (Starfish Mix)
5 I Know What Boys Like
6 Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties (Alkalino's Rework)
7 Relax (Sex Mix (Edition 2))
8 Sleepwalking (12" Extended Mix)
9 Day And Night (David Morales' Def Mix)
10 Dream Within a Dream (Within a Dream)
11 Walking Down Madison (6AM Ambient Mix)
12 Dolphins
13 Only Love Can Break Your Heart