In reference to an older post (Bob Marley Sun Is Shining Controversy) which was viewed by around 11 people, I thought I would fragment and reduce my audience even more by continuing to delve further into non-issues that only interest me.
Browsing iTunes because I’m bored shitless and it’s a long weekend, and because I don’t really understand iTunes (as a man with 200 LPs and 200GiB of flac files, it’s not terribly useful to me). However, because I’m on a big Bandcamp tip (check it) I thought I would dip my toe in. You know, checking for bonus tracks, iTunes exclusive stuff etc.
What do i find? Another fucking weird, possibly unlicensed, Sun Is Shining Remix.
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe “Sun Is Shining (Weird Fucking iTunes Mix)”
What’s so strange about this one? Well, it’s a near perfect facsimile of the original Funkstar De Luxe radio edit. It even appears to be an official Edel release on iTunes, but I can’t see how. It’s the same arrangement as the original radio edit but the drums are different, the keys are different, the synth chords are different (and too resonant), and the vocal take is shocking horrible. It sounds like record label either could no longer use the rights to the original mix, or lost the original take. But in that case, why couldn’t they just use a pre mastered take from a CD? Or make an entirely different mix?
This blows my mind. It’s bloody awful.
The mix is all wrong, it’s amateurish, at best. The guitar is in the wrong key and makes me want to tear my ears out. The vocal sounds like a drunk karaoke effort and is plagued with sibilance and other artefacts. I’m not even sure it is Bob Marley, but if it’s not, why didn’t they use a different take? Or totally re-record? The drums, oh man, the drums. Great composition, dreadful execution. They sounds like someone browsing a sample CD from 2000 and work as a great example of “how not to use a compressor and EQ).
Compare for yourself:
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe – Sun Is Shining (Radio De Luxe Edit)
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe – Sun Is Shining (Weird Fucking iTunes Mix)
I’ve said it before, but why? Why does this exist? Who said “We need another mix of this, just like the original, only worse in every conceivable way”. Why?!
When will this madness end? Will I be finding different mixes of this fucking song my whole life? Is that it, is that my purpose? At least now, I’m sure there can’t be any more. This is it, the last of the shit, as bad as it gets…
Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe “Sun Is Shining 15th Anniversary Remixes”
It’s at this point I realise two things. I don’t like Bob Marley. I don’t like Funkstar De Luxe.