LaLa - Stranger in a Strange Land (Ensoniq Mix)

There is so much to love about this remix. It's densely packed with rhythms, synths, arpeggios, fat brass chords and harmonies. It's tickling all my nostalgia senses, it has this sound of the 80's that's hard to pin down, Moroder, Pop, Game shows, Huelsbeck? I kept thinking I was listening to a Chris Huelsbeck remix of Reyn. The drums are tightly programmed and there's never a dull moment, 16 bars of fun throughout. Amazing! Right, I'm off to download some RX5 samples…

Does it seem just to me that the background music is this: Laura Branigan - Gloria?

Lots of very recognisable undertones here.. 'Electric Dreams', 'Never-ending Story'.. Reyn's original doesn't hint that strongly at this genre and soundscape so, 10/10 for adapting it to this style.. The arrangement is faithful but, (and this is no criticism) The original doesn't leave much room to add more of your own parts like 'answer backs' to the main melody, (Reyn did it already in the SID). Your soundscape is really good. The individual instrument sounds that you've chosen absolutely represent the mid to late 80's era of electro-pop. A really enjoyable remix that only suffers from some of the repetition of the original SID. This is a tough SID to do anything other than a 1:1 cover with and you've done that really well… If I marked it down for adding next to nothing new to the arrangement, I'd be a hypocrite because I don't know what I could have added, in your place..

Artisticly speaking it's a 1:1 rendition of the original SID, sounds very uninspired. The composition is great but i hear mostly Reyn and not a hint of LaLa. Soundwise it's kinda heavy on the ears, every track seems to have the same (high) loundness which sets the overall dynamic of this tune towards zero and gives it a strange and synthetic sounding. The short Hi-Hat is loud and harsh, overrides the whole environment. Overall it's very promising and i like the tune itself but i wish it would contain more of the remix formula or peculiarity in it.

I never write reviews but this is something else. I adore every imperfect perfect moment of this. This is what the remix scene is all about.