I've rediscovered a few Andrew Weatherall remixes recently so I thought I'd start a series of Weatherall Remix Fridays, a weekly post that pokes around in the Andrew Weatherall remix cupboard, shining a torch onto some of those remixes that are a little overlooked, forgotten or less appreciated. The eagle eyed among you may have noted that WRF are also the initials of one of Andrew's musical outlets, the Woodleigh Research Facility, which is a nice coincidence. Some of you may say that I don't need to do this as a series, Andrew Weatherall remixes are posted here all the time anyway- which is true but a series is good for blogging, adding structure to what can be a bit scattershot at times.
In the late 80s Andrew stated out as a DJ but really made his name as a remixer- his early remixes of Primal Scream, Happy Mondays, James and My Bloody Valentine are well known. There are many more obscure and lesser known ones from those early years, '89- '92, where the flipping over of a 12" single sleeve in the racks and seeing the words Andy Weatherall Remix in brackets were enough to buy a record unheard. His remixes then morphed into Sabres Of Paradise remixes (with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns) and then from 1996 onwards Two Lone Swordsmen remixes (with Keith Tenniswood). In 2007 he began to remix under his own name again and in 2008 really showed he was back his remix best with his versions of Primal Scream's Uptown and Fuck Buttons' Sweet Love For Planet Earth. From there he entered a purple patch that went on through the next decade. In 2011 Andrew remixed Runaway Love by Alice Gold.
Runaway Love (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
Some of what would become standard 2010s Weatherall remix sounds are present from the start of this- the hissing, steam powered drum machine, the dub FX and wonky siren sounds and the pushed to the fore section of bassline. This one is relatively restrained by Andrew's standards, a trim six minutes thirty seconds, with a snatch of the vocal looped and smothered in echo. The rhythms, bass and FX pile up, break down and re- enter, crunching forwards. It's that head nodding, slower- tempo, early evening sound, one that he'd revisit a year later with his remix of Heathen Child for Grinderman (a remix for another Friday perhaps). Timothy J. Fairplay was Andrew's in house engineer at this point, a partnership which would become The Asphodells.
Alice Gold was a London based singer/ songwriter who released five singles and an album on Polydor between 2010 and 2012, toured with Eels, The Twilight Singers and Athlete and played Glastonbury in 2011. Discogs describes her sound as power pop and psychedelic rock- despite having owned this remix for thirteen years (digital only, there was no physical release for the remix) this is the first time I've heard the original version of Runaway Love. There's nothing after 2012 in terms of releases so I'm guessing Alice gave up music and headed elsewhere.