Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 13, 2009 3:20:21 GMT 2
The word "pointless" has been redefined
The remix; the long term bane of any music collector, who buys vinyl and CD singles hoping for non-album tracks that show a different, more experimental and less commercial side to a band, but instead gets lumbered with the same song given a ten minute soul-sapping remix by some DJ to the collective joy of no-one.
That being said, The Neptunes aren't just "some DJ", Pharrel Williams certainly is no stranger to Mr Tune and when you have a song as effortlessly brilliant and timelessly cool as Sympathy For The Devil, perhaps something special could come from the whole affair.
Hmmm - perhaps not.
Sympathy For The Devil remains one of the greatest songs ever written. A world away from the chest-beating stomp of I Can't Get No Satisfaction, it's a sexy, dangerous masterpiece; clever, infectious and one of those rare songs that improves the more you hear it. And while it's fairly commendable that Pharrel didn't try and rap over any of it, you would have expected he do.. something.. with it. It IS a remix, after all (and a fairly well publicised remix to boot, with its own individual release and promo video and everything), yet after the initial Bhangra-style introduction, it's hard to tell exactly what the Neptunes got paid for.
It's pretty telling that the video just has Pharrel standing there smiling. He probably can't believe he got away with it.
Some could say it takes balls to attempt to remix a song like Sympathy, and they may be right. But to do virtually nothing with the song but add an ever-so-slightly different drum beat in the background, and then release it as a stand-alone single? That's not just a lack of guts, it's a hands-up confession The Neptunes had no idea how to tackle this song.
Unless you're a die-hard Stones completist, in this age of downloads, owning this Neptunes remix is inexcusable. You want one of the best songs ever? Get the best version ever - recorded in 1968. And have absolutely NO sympathy for The Neptunes, either.
