Jukebox Juicebox #29 - You Can Go Home Again

Go Home Productions "Six Pack" (2007)
Hot off the decks is the ever reliable Mark Vidler's latest freebie EP in a 7" double pack format, with a free 7" flexi to boot, providing a whopping six slabs of bastard pop for your aural pleasure. The opening track mashes Marvin Gaye's Too Busy Thinking About My Baby with Kaiser Chiefs The Angry Mob with blistering effect, The Beatles' Penny Lane acting as a great reprise. Marvin Gaye could have made some classic rock music if he'd teamed up with, say, Jimi Hendrix or The Rolling Stones back in the day. In the absence of the real thing, this track is a more than welcome substitute. Hung Phantom pairs Madonna's Hung Up with Justice's Phantom and Goblin's Tenebre, proving that even without the ABBA sample, the former is a great track. Supreme Evil is built around a backing of ELO's Evil Woman, with Diana Ross and the Supremes' Stop (In The Name Of Love) and Michael Jackson's Bad providing the vocals. It's been said plenty of times elsewhere, but Vidler's skill lies in encouraging the listener to reappraise artistes or songs, particularly those that are (overly) familiar in their original form. Long Distance Good Luck Call is a good example, imbuing Lisa Kekaula's vocals on Basement Jaxx's Good Luck with an earthier quality when paired with Phoenix's dirty beats and guitar riffs. Revisiting The Beatles for the two flexi tracks, Vidler is a tad cheeky here, pairing the Fab Four first with Disney's Pinocchio (!) and Radiohead, then with Bill Conti's Going The Distance, aka The Theme From 'Rocky'. Pinocchiohead On LSD is initially a bit hard to get your head around as I've Got No Strings and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds battle for supremacy over Creep's chugging rhythm, but perversely it's a success. The final track is the slightly better of the two, lending Hello Goodbye with an unexpectedly epic quality. I'd part with a few quid for this EP, so how great is it that all of these tracks are currently free to download?

Tracklisting [A]: 1. Marvin Gaye v. Kaiser Chiefs v. The Beatles: Too Busy Thinking About The Angry Mob / 2. Madonna v. Justice v. Goblin: Hung Phantom / [AA]: 3. ELO v. Diana Ross & The Supremes v. Michael Jackson: Supreme Evil / 4. Phoenix v. Basement Jaxx: Long Distance Good Luck Call / [flexi]: 5. Pinocchio v. Radiohead v. The Beatles: Pinocchiohead On LSD / 6. The Beatles v. Bill Conti: Goodbye Rocky

Go Home Productions "Pink Wedding" (2007)
If you're not subscribed to the Go Home Productions mailing list (and why not?!), you may well have missed this gem back in March (although a Google search is likely to unearth MP3s if you look hard enough). It pretty much does what it says on the label: Pink's Get The Party Started never sounded so good with Billy Idol's White Wedding (especially Steve Stevens' guitar hooks) underpinning the song; Sir William Of Idol himself drops in with the occasional "Pick It Up!" or "Dynamite!" Far more of a party track than Pink's original plodder, this is another prime example of why Mark Vidler is still head and shoulders above the increasing number of mash-up artists out there.

Go Home Productions "Nightbeatle (Beatleg Bootles 2)" (2007)
Probably a love it or loathe it mash-up, laying The Beatles' When I'm Sixty Four over Daft Punk's ambient Nightvision, I'm firmly in the former camp. When I'm Sixty Four has always been one of my least favourite Beatles tracks, yet Vidler transforms Paul McCartney's vocals from whimsical to wistful in this astounding (re)version. This mash up, with Nightvision's added synth washes, now sounds oddly reminiscent of 10CC's I'm Not In Love before (not meant as a criticism!) An unexpected pleasing spine tingler and another essential download. Get this while you can from the Go Home Productions website.