Record Details
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Record ID
1330
Artist
Miles Davis
Title
Panthalassa: The Remixes
Field / Genre
Jazz
Year Recorded
1999
Label
Columbia
Pressing
Am
Rating
****
Discs
1
Media
CD
Date Bought
2 Nov 2001
Cost
¤21.00
Cover Name
—
Review
<p>Panthalassa: The Remixes is the logical extension of the previous year's Panthalassa project, in which longtime aficionado Bill Laswell restructured several Miles Davis recordings in similar fashion to the original production techniques pioneered by Teo Macero on Miles albums In a Silent Way, On the Corner and Get Up with It. Here, several dance producers are brought into the fold, not just to rearrange the material but to remix it as well. The versions that work the best are done by producers unafraid to tamper with the tapes: hence, two separate reworkings of "Rated X" (from Get Up with It) result in darkside drum'n'bass burners by Doc Scott and Jamie Myerson that find the hyperkinetic energy in the original. The highlight of the entire project is an inexplicably vinyl-only bonus track by DJ Krush, who turns "Black Satin/On the Corner" into a minimalist beat odyssey with several different passages and effective scratching in all the right places. The only real disappointment on Panthalassa: The Remixes finds trip-hop deconstructionist DJ Cam creating an uneasy alliance by crudely inserting a loping breakbeat onto Miles' winsome solo from "In a Silent Way." Remix albums are often a mistake for both parties involved, but this one does work on several levels.</p><p>—<strong>John Bush</strong></p>