Search - Madonna :: Remixed & Revisited

Not A Bad Place to Visit

Peter Marinari | Philadelphia, PA USA | 07/27/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Remixed and Revisited offers reduxes of four tracks from Madonna's underrated American Life, and adds a live cut, an updated oldie, and a lost track to round out its seven song length.



Nevin's Mix of "Nothing Fails" opens with classical guitar riffing and a kick drum beat that sounds more apt than the artificial steel string on the original, but strays from its clever re-imagination with an annoyingly tacked-on buzz-saw guitar track later in the song (reminding us that yes, it is just a remix). "Nobody Knows Me"s vocoder profusion is as unimpressive here as it is on Life, even with the overbearing Mount Sims Old School Mix to give it some context.



The more exciting re-imaginations on this disc are both Headcleanr Rock Mixes by Ray Carroll. "Love Profusion" is transformed from a largely acoustic track driven by a drum machine into a surging rock success, with palm-muted verses and a real (?) drum kit swelling into an out-and-out distorted thrash for the proclamation of "You make me feel!" It is without a doubt one of most exhilirating Madonna remixes of all time, toeing the line between enhancement and total reimagination perfectly.



Carroll's take on "American Life" features a similarly clever re-cut of original vocals with a nu-metal power chord bonanza to back them up, but mostly eschews the excellent verses of the original in favor of Madonna's half-rap (half pathetic-cry-for-help) coda. As opposed to the seamless enhancement of "Profusion," this rock juxtaposition seems almost ironic; Mad comes off sounding like a teenage girl garage band auditioning to open for Linkin Park.



The inclusion of the Britney-kissing "Like A Virgin/Hollywood" medley from the MTV Music Awards is unfortunate; Spears delivers a credible 1984 Madonna impression and is subsequently blown away by a lost-sounding Christina Aguilera, but the slapped together stab at "Hollywood" along with Missy Elliott is regrettable. Preferable is Elliott's hijacking of "Get Into The Groove," which is a fine reprise of an excellent dance-floor cut, complete with a slightly altered chorus.



Unreleased cut "Your Honesty" could have made this hit-or-miss EP a solid blow, but instead it just feels tacked on. With its Dallas Austin co-write and R&B harmony vocals it is in all probability an extra cut from the Erotica sessions. It's a decent effort, but sounds hopelessly antiquated in the context of the present-day remixes and Madonna's recent vocal style.



Aside from serving as a terrific "Love Profusion" single, Remixed and Revisited serves to prove that Madonna's deft genre-hopping from pop queen to R&B diva to acoustic mama works because almost any of her songs can be easily (and radically) re-interpreted, even across genre lines. Still, though R&R is better than the average remix disc, it doesn't add much to a Madonna fan's catalogue."

Madonna remixed & revisited

Raquel Ruiz Iglesias | Cordoba/España | 04/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Remixed & Revisited (traducible al español como Remezclado y revisado) es el segundo EP de remixes de la cantante Madonna. Contiene remezclas de las canciones de su disco American Life y una canción interpretada en los MTV Video Music Awards 2003 al lado de Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera y Missy Elliott: un medley o combinación de dos canciones, Like a Virgin y Hollywood.



Madonna aceptó que este EP viera la luz únicamente para darle un nuevo giro a a su tan criticado álbum American Life. Tuvo un éxito bastante discreto ya que solo vendió poco más de 500,000 copias en el mundo.



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