Repertoire Records | GER | 2xCD | 2013 | REPUK 1170

Icehouse: 12″ Versions & Remixes Vol. 1 GER 2xCD [2013]

Disc 1

1. Can’t Help Myself (US Club Mix) – 5:58
2. Hey Little Girl (12” Version) – 7:00
3. Great Southern Land – 5:19
4. Glam (12” Version) – 6:36
5. Uniform (Extended Mix) – 6:08
6. Taking The Town (Extended Dance Mix) – 5:10
7. No Promises (US Club Mix) – 8:50
8. Cross The Border (Steel Love) (Dance Mix) – 6:34
9. Mr. Big (Extended Version) – 5:59
10. Crazy (Manic Mix) – 7:21
11. Electric Blue (Extended Mix) – 7:36
12. Satellite (The Ex-Static Mix) – 5:27

Disc 2

1. Miss Divine (Spellbound Mix) – 6:40
2. Nothing Too Serious (12” Version) – 5:09
3. Big Fun (12” The Riddler Mix) – 6:22
4. Hey Little Girl (US Version) – 6:13
5. No Promises (Extended Mix) – 6:11
6. Uniform (German Version) – 6:06
7. Byrralku Dhangudha (‘Great Southern Land’ – Remix) – 5:24
8. Big Wheel (General Dynamics Mix) – 4:14
9. Electric Blue (12″ Version) – 6:45
10. Lay Your Hands On Me (12″ version) – 8:08
11. MLK – 5:34
12. Dedicated To Glam (12” Mix) – 4:25

Repertoire Records | GER | 2xCD | 2013 | REPUK 1178

Icehouse: 12″ Versions & Remixes Vol. 2 GER 2xCD [2013]

Disc 1

1. Big Fun (The Mad Hatter Mix) – 6:22
2. Miss Divine (Mystified Mix) – 5:05
3. Crazy (Mad Mix) – 6:18
4. Can’t Help Myself (Version 1) – 5:57
5. Lay Your Hands On Me (Dark Angel Mix) – 7:00
6. Dedicated To Glam (12” Mix / Icehouse / 808 State Showdown) – 4:31
7. Hey Little Girl – 6:40
8. Hey Little Girl (Xtended Edit) – 5:02
9. Cross The Border (Steel Love) (Dub Version) – 6:11
10. Electric Blue (Dub Mix) – 5:00
11. No Promises (Dub) – 5:12
12. Crazy (Midnight Mix) – 4:49
13. Hey Little Girl (Dub Version) – 6:14

Disc 2

1. Shakin’ The Cage (Techno) – 5:02
2. Colours – 7:01
3. Desdemona – 4:02
4. Mercy – 3:55
5. Yo, Micro Babe – 6:23
6. She Comes – 5:29
7. Wild – 6:54
8. Melt Steel (Part 1) – 3:44
9. Slow Motion – 6:15
10. Kilimanjaro – 7:15
11. Blue Noise – 6:04
12. The Great Southern Mix – 15:59

The appearance of 4 CDs fat with Icehouse remixed singles was not something that I had been scanning my radar for! When Iva Davies finally got the Icehouse domain rolling for the reissue of his oeuvre in 2011, he and Kobalt Music  Services agreed to work that Icehouse action. Well all right, then! This meant lots of nice reissues, many of which went straight into the Record Cell. But who would have thought that all of the loose 12″ mixes, many for particular territories via his old linkup with Chrysalis, would ever see the light of day in a coherent package? I certainly wasn’t losing sleep. Yet here they are!

When I get back to the Record Cell, I need to quantify just what I have that has never previously made the leap from PVC to polycarbonate. As I mentioned, US Chrysalis in particular, issued many Icehouse remixes specially made for the US market. In past years/CD reissues, these have been conspicuously absent undoubtedly due to licensing issues. But in this modern-a-go-go world without borders [or record labels] this may be a case of the “last record label standing” holding all of the cards and there no longer being any licensing issues to stop this.

I can definitely spot the US mixes of “Can’t Help Myself,” “Hey Little Girl,” “No Promises,” “Crazy,” and “Electric Blue” but I also see other, weird things popping into the mix. The UK “Uniform” 12″ mix is back, and even some of the 1997 “Hey Little Girl” electro mixes for the German market. And strangely enough almost all of this 1994 2xCD has been folded into the mix here.

Massive | OZ | 2xCD | 1994 | 7310682

“Full Circle” was a “90s remix” project that had pretty good remixes on the Icehouse canon in the then prevalent quasi techno/ambient/trance club style with the participation of Davies as well as Bill Laswell and Cameron Allan [who went back to the ’82 “Glam” remix with the band]. Vol. 2, disc 2 is comprised of all of this package, save for the “MLK” and “Dedicated To Glam” cuts that appeared on Vol. 1, disc 2 instead. All that has been dropped are the very brief reprises of “Melt Steel,” adding up to less than two minutes.

My main interest in these sets are the 12″ material still missing on vinyl in the Record Cell, actually. They peeled so many singles off of “Man Of Colours” that I could never grab all of them, so “Mr. Big” and “Nothing Too Serious” never entered the collection. For the price of buying those, I can get both of these German sets with pretty much everything! And I will point out that the only place where this is physical is in Germany. The rest of the world has to make do with downloads. But not the USA. We get zilch.

I’ve read unkind words as to the mastering quality of these packages. Scuttlebutt has it that they’re heavily mastered from vinyl, and brickwalled to boot. I’m willing to take a shot, just because as I mentioned, I still don’t have a whole swath of Icehouse 12″ers that are accounted for here. I will report back with my findings once I can report on these with authority. Next up: a collection of all of the Icehouse live tracks that played out on that 7″ and 12″ action! The reissues have the B-sides, the 12″ers are here and that’s the last leg of the Icehouse trinity of rarities to be accounted for.

…Apart from the 2005 “Meltdown” remix project…

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