Acid House mixes by 808 State
Rephlex
**

An esteemed colleague saw fit to give this the 5/5 treatment last issue. But I can't let that pass without comment, what with New Order, 808 State and Acid House being three of the few subjects in the world in which I'd consider myself better informed than most. Sure, it's easy to get carried away - you see three legendary names of electronic music plus the magical 1988 digits on the sleeve, acid is going through one of its cyclical revivals, and your mind's made up before you've listened - it just has to be great. Not so. Like any form of music that exploded very quickly, most acid house was total cod made by people who had no idea what they were doing. That isn't quite the case here, but it is the case that 'Blue Monday' and `Confusion' are both inestimably better in their original incarnations, that 8o8 State's most glorious moments lie elsewhere (mainly in 'Pacific State') and that there are far better examples of acid house to be found. If you want to hear the real deal, check out the works of Phuture and Armando.

[Reviewer: Pc]

New Order
Blue Monday (So Hot Mix by 808 State)

When Kylie performed Can 't Get You Out of My Head at the 2002 Brit awards her party-piece was to segue the original backing track into New Order's Blue Monday. The resulting hybrid was immediately christened Can't Get Blue Monday Out of My Head (and appears on the soundtrack to forthcoming Brit film Layer Cake). But Kylie wasn't the first artist to co-opt the biggest selling 12-inch of all time for a bit of live oomph.

In the late 1980s, electronic pioneers 808 State augmented their set with acid house interpretations of both Blue Monday and Confusion (the follow-up, also from 1983). Fifteen years on and with trendier clubs in the grip of an acid house revival, London-based avant garde label Rephlex is releasing the 808 State mixes for the first time.

"They were staples because they were easy to programme," says 808 State founder Graham Massey. "And they bought you an extra 10 minutes before you got bottled off. There was a lot of hostility to what we were doing early on. Change will always do that."

Blue Monday: in yer face - again.

Released on September 13 on Rephlex

[Reviewer: Chris Cottingham]

Acid House Mixes 1988
Rephlex
*****

Alright, so there have been about a million mixes of 'Blue Monday' out over the years, but the version delivered by 808 State here is one of the very few you'd consider playing in preference to the original. And it was recorded in 1988! This basically sounds like an instrumental version of 'Blue Monday' played on 303 and 8o8, but that famous riff don't half sound good when delivered in squelchy acid tones. And with the recent acid resurgence, this could be a timely release. On the other side, 'Confusion' gets similar treatment and again the results are impressive, with New Order's noisy original taking on an epic acid house feel. Far more than just a curio for the spotters, this twelve bodes well for the up-coming 'Pre-Build' LP of 808 State oldies.

[Reviewer: TI]

New Order
Acid House Mixes by 808 State
Rephlex

These tracks have long since gone into electronic music folklore, so it’s quite hard to believe that they have finally been dusted off, mastered and given a delicious vinyl-only release by those super good people at Rephlex. There are so many stories to tell about these awesome cover versions that we wouldn’t really know where to start, but suffice to say that many a notable DJ and musician around this part of the world has gone on at length about them since we opened our shop back in ‘98. Taken from live recordings it’s hard to imagine that these two versions are now almost 17 years old, hammered out and tweaked by the original 808 State lineup that included A Guy Called Gerald alongside Graham Massey and co, no doubt tripping into the clouds and completely immersed by all kinds of Acid, most notably of the squelchy kind. It’s a bit bizarre, but the office where we run boomkat from used to be the 808 State recording studio and at some point prior to that was the home of New Order’s management – so in the spirit of serendipity the incredibly good man Graham Massey has invited us into his home and has taken the time to sign 70 copies of this release just for you! Anyway, bring on the Prebuild album and give yourself a masterclass in prototype Acid you just will not want to mess with. Killer!!!

**ALL SIGNED COPIES ARE NOW SOLD OUT**"

[Reviewer: Unknown]

808 State
"new order acid house mixes"
Rephlex

Don't be fooled by the appearance of New Order nor the word "mixes" in the title of this record. These are essentially two reinterpretations of two of New Order's most important songs "Confusion" and "Blue Monday" by fellow Mancunians 808 State. What could easily be correct on the cover, however, is that these date back to 1988, a time in which 808 State was synching their Roland 808, 909 and 303 together, letting the machines take centre stage. As far as my ears can tell, there are absolutely no sounds from New Order's recording used in the process, and that's probably a good thing, as the songs have been remixed and remixed and remixed and remixed to the point of violent nausea. 808 State's versions to me sound like cover tunes, where Graham Massey and company are practicing with equipment or approaches that were new to them after years of playing rock music as Biting Tongues. There's a couple possible reasons these didn't surface on a wide scale level sixteen years ago: the group might not have been confident enough with the recordings at the time; New Order's international stardom could have demanded much more money than 808 State could afford; the vocals might not have been quite what the 12" acid house market demanded (that "yeah" sample in "Blue Monday" and the "Confusion" sample both grate on the nerves after a few minutes); or there was already a saturated market of New Order remixes kicking around. Now, sixteen years later, the songs are certainly more "vintage" (or as LCD Soundsytem would put it "borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80s"). Both versions are pure and blissful, with a bare minimal amount of vocals included. They bear little resemblance to the original versions, aside from recognizable bass lines, and act as a strong precursor to the next vault release of 808 State on Rephlex, Prebuild, (a collection of the songs which pre-date Newbuild). For people expecting the wailing sax and melodic mastery from albums like Ninety and Ex:el, this 12" will probably be a disappointment, but for those looking for hypnotic acid house techno and don't mind New Order will probably find a mild amount of joy within the grooves.

[Reviewer: Jon Whitney]

New Order
Acid House Remixes by 808 State
(Rephlex)

Perhaps this is a sign that the eighties revival is finally going to take a turn away from electro. Being in America and in high school at the time I missed out on Madchester and the rave scene, and never quite got it retrospectively. Perhaps now's my chance, with these early remixes coming out on vinyl for the first time ever. Nice.

[Reviewer: Unknown]