The Vitals:

Label: Demulcent Records
Genre: Mixed (Trance, breaks, techno, house)
Number of Tracks: 10
How you can obtain a copy: The CD is available via demulcent.com, Beatport.com, Amazon.com and towerrecords.com

Factor Scores:

• Production Quality: 6.2
• Programming and Arrangement: 6.3
• Entertainment Quality: 6.5
• Total: 6.3 – Above Average

Summary:

This originally was to be a series of downloadable remixes from the artist’s site for those who purchased the Walkaway album. The remixers on this project are artists who in some way personally provided encouragement, inspiration and support to Eric Dunne (Prophetica) over the lifetime of his career. In a way, this is a mixture tribute album and remix project. Think of it as Johnny Cash’s last album in reverse. For example, Nine Inch Nails and the Beatles covering I Walk The Line and other songs rather than Cash covering NIN’s Hurt. In the end, despite one horrible remix from Sheltershed, the CD is just ahead of Walkaway. There are several high points in the DJ Light, Apoq 79, and Matt Harder remixes. If you are a Prophetica fan, this is a must have album. If you are looking for new materials for your mix, search for it on Beatport and buy the tracks you like from the CD because there are some remixes that deserve a few spins, but the whole CD might not be to your taste.

Factor Scores Breakdown:

Production Quality: 6.2

The audio mixing of this release is decent for the most part, but the opening track, like most Prophetica tracks, is overly compressed. DJ light and many of the other remixers make up for this flaw later on in the CD. If you listen, you will notice that most of the other remixes seem “lighter” regarding volume levels than the opening track. The mastering is good over all and seems cleaner than the original Walkaway release. For that alone, the production quality is a bit higher.

Programming & Arrangement: 6.3

The interesting thing is that most of the remixes are actually stripped down versions of what Prophetica had done with the originals. Like all good remixes, most of them maintain the main hooks of the song and infuse the track with much of the remixer’s sound and taste. You also have a few remixes like DJ Light’s version of One Thousand Times that holds very true to the original version. Apoq 79’s remix of Never Gonna Feat. Morgan Casey is possibly the best remix on the CD.

Catnap’s remix of It’s Strange is worthy of positive mention, but not as a floor-filling remix. The remix would work fairly well as a standard Christian Hits Radio single if the remix had been less than 4 minutes. The quirky breaks remix he provides is more in the general realm of electronica rather than a dance oriented track. Stumblebum’s remix of Correspondence excels in its programming and is probably the remix that breaks farthest away from the original while still remaining successful. Dosadi’s version of I Want More is pretty stripped down in nature and adds in some nice percussion work.

Not every remix on the CD can have nice things said about it however. The Sheltershed remix of Everything is just bad. Wil Foster attempted to do an old skool house remix for the track and failed. The main problem with the track is two fold: a near static and constant baseline that is simply annoying and dated, poorly mixed and over used vocal samples and turntable backspins. When compared to other current house singles or even older Sheltershed work, this clearly is sub par work. Ideally, if the concept of the CD had not been what it had been, that remix should not have been included. I do know that Sheltershed’s first remix was rejected to the label’s credit.

Lastly, the Redsavior remix of It’s Over is a little disappointing. It just seems to beg for a slightly faster tempo and a less repetitive baseline. Outside of that, it is not that bad. It just is not some of his better work.

Entertainment Quality: 6.5

We are so used to a remix CD having 4-8 slamming remixes of the same track. This CD is just so different in concept that it throws the listener off a bit. In effect, it really is a tribute album done through remixes rather than full-blown cover songs. The CD is also different enough from Prophetica’s usual style that the buyer needs to be aware that he is not buying a trance CD, but something that covers more than one genre. If you love EDM in general, this will be an entertaining CD. If you are a one style only person, this CD may not do it for you. Regardless, the vast majority of this CD is fun to listen to and it does have a few tracks that will fill up the dance floors.

Total: 6.3

There is some really good material on Walkaway RMXD that makes up for the few low points. DJs should seriously check out the individual tracks on Beatport.com if they do not want to put down cash for the entire CD. Prophetica fans should be satisfied overall with the quality of the album and should be proud to have the last Prophetica release in their collection. As mentioned before, the Sheltershed remix was a big disappointment, but that should not stop you from exploring this release.

Dave’s Take:

DJs really need to look into the DJ Light, Matt Harder and Apoq 79 remixes on this release. Those three alone would make for a decent purchase from beatport.com. Catnap’s remix of It’s Strange would be a nice guilty pleasure as well, but probably not one you would play out. Just avoid the Sheltershed remix if possible.