- One Summer Dream
- One Summer Dream [DJ Severino Panzetta Deep Waters Mix]
- One Summer Dream [Blank + Jones Warm Summer Breeze Radio Mix]
- One Summer Dream [Blank + Jones Extended Out To Sea Mix]
Yesterday the new Claudia Brücken single was released and it’s a download only bundle of the second single from her “The Lost Are Found” album with Stephen Hague. “One Summer Dream” is a sumptuously languorous ELO [!] cover with shimmering strings and an arrangement recalling the classic Bond theme, “You Only Live Twice.” I can’t say if the John Barry quotes were added by Hague or if they were present in the ELO original, since it’s been almost 35 years since I got rid of a copy of ELO’s “Face The Music” that was given to me. All I remember from it is the backmasking messages.
The winsome tune has been entrusted to Severino Panzetta from Horse Meat Disco as well as old Brücken buddies Blank + Jones for a little remix action. Panzetta adds elegant funk touches replete with percussion blocks given a dose of deep reverb. It’s almost a night out at the disco for the pastoral number.
Blank + Jones opt instead to steer the tune away from the acoustic splendor of the LP mix and into technopop territory, albeit low BPM technopop. They simply replace the acoustic [sounding] elements with some electro patches for a more traditional Brücken vibe.
The single retails for a pittance and I collect Ms. Brücken, but the grim reality is that downloads get the short shrift with my purchasing. I’m still waiting after years to buy the Peter Godwin/Nuevo album! I’d love to hear it, really. The fact of the matter is, that downloads just aren’t “valuable” to me. Their lack of physical scarcity sees me spending my shrinking entertainment dollar on physical musical carriers first. That’s just the way it is. The irony is, that if this were a CD single for £4.99 [$7.66] plus shipping in Claudia’s web store, I’d have probably already pre-ordered it last month. Even with my low budget.
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The Panzetta remix is just gorgeous. It’s modern and I love the way the funk surrounds Claudia’s delivery. I don’t know why (well yeah, I do) but it makes me think of how amazing a duet of Claudia and Billie Ray Martin would be. Summer Dream has come to be my favorite track on the album and these mixes just add an exclamation point to the beauty of Claudia and Mr. Hague’s interpretation. This my be Stephen Hague’s greatest moment since Pet Shop Boys’ Please.
As for the download over physical release issue. I have been downloading regularly over the past 6 or 7 years, but this past two years I find myself once again jumping on the CD release. I am still not convinced by the heavy weight “audiophile” vinyl which has been thrust upon the public (a scam if ever there was one), but I’ve added quite a few new cd’s to my collection since 2011 and I really thought my physical collection had hit a wall just a few years ago.
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Echorich – Funny you should mention “Please” as I just listened to it for the first time in years, recently. I found myself wondering what the hubbub was about. Aside from the Cab Voltish “Two Divided By Zero” and the singles “Suburbia” and the always compelling “Opportunities,” the rest of it seemed kind of bland to me. Personally, I feel that Mr. Hague is just hitting his stride with Ms. Brücken currently.
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Thanks for this post. I just don’t have the time to keep track of every release by every artist I am interested in any more and if it wasn’t for this blog post I wouldn’t have known about this.
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