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When You Come Back To Me
Those who know me well will be aware (with a due sense of resignation) of my love of extended mixes – specifically those from the PWL stable – which, when done properly, enhance my appreciation of the original track no end.
A good mix, in my opinion, builds up the track part by part, allowing you to see how intricately it was constructed, throws the song at you, then de-constructs it again. The golden age for such mixes was the late 80s and early 90s before mixes started having bugger all to do with the actual song (many of the Pet Shop Boys mixes of the mid-to-late 90s show off this problem in all its gory glory).
Which brings me to J. Donovan Esq’s 1990 single “When You Come Back To Me“. The extended mix of this is, I think, pretty much perfect – second only to the 12″ version of Betty Boo’s “Doin’ the Do”.
Part of it is the song, pretty much one of the best Mike Stock wrote, and one that actually evokes some Christmassy feelings in jaded old me for a change. And it’s a nice lyric too. (No “I Should Be So Lucky”, I’ll grant you but I believe I’m alone in loving that song too.)
But the extended mix just makes me appreciate it so much more. The thunderbirds-esque kettle drums, the dropped spanners (or chimes, probably), the soft pippy synths, the gentle stabby keyboards, the warm brass noises. But it’s the sheer amount of harmony that’s boggling. I’m no musical expert, clearly, but it’s awash with harmonics from the strings to the backing vocalists – the latter being a team of people (including Stock himself) who never got enough credit.
In many respects it’s the perfect culmination of the sound that SAW used for him. It’s not the standard Eurodisco of Kylies stuff, not the spiky cold feel of Sonia’s material, say, but a warm-sounding filled-out production with a walking-pace style song.
Frankly I love it to bits. The fact it’s also got a key change makes me almost cream.
(And it’s not just me that wanted that coat is it? It’s certainly a bit Doctory…)
Posted on December 21, 2008 | Filed Under Pop Music
How fabulous. I read this post on my mobile, on the bus home from The 2 Sewers (sic) last night – nary an hour after this very remix was played, much to my delight and (I think) the general enjoyment of the gay collective (those over 25, anyway… which in the Sewers is still a majority at least).
The classic PWL extended mix can’t be beaten.