We recently dedicated to them one of our regular sections in 1051 Magazine, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of their first album. They deserve this and much more, as they are true legends of electronic music, a couple of guys who stand on their own merits in that place.
Before the pandemic they reach their thirtieth anniversary in the business, but the damned Covid stopped everything. That’s why the project is now called Thirty Something, because when the album of remixes, rarities, B-sides and unreleased tracks is released, it will probably be spring 2022 and they’ll have 32 years to celebrate. And it is also said that there will be an album with new material for autumn.
Be that as it may, the first preview is so exciting that it makes us expect great things from this anniversary album. I’ve always said that if you haven’t experienced the feeling of watching your favourite sunset while listening to this song, don’t delay it. I personally think it is one of the most beautiful and emotional songs in the history of music, and not just electronic music history.
In the article we dedicated to the anniversary of Orbital‘s legendary Green Album, we told the story of how this tremendous song came about, told by Paul Hartnoll himself:
“Months after the success of Chime, in March 90, I got a call from David Holmes, DJ, club manager and in those days also a hairdresser in Belfast. Would Orbital want to play at the University of Fine Arts in Belfast? Yes. So after the gig, in the spare room at David’s house, and he asked me if we had any demos. I gave him a tape with the two tracks on it. Two weeks later, David called and told me that he and his friends loved the second track on the tape. We called it Belfast because of the good time we had there. So the track is titled in honour of David and all his friends and is dedicated to them.”
Now we’ll come back to David Holmes shortly.
Not long ago, I was able to hear one of the most sought-after remixers of the last few decades tell a tremendous truth. The easiest thing is to remix a “weak” track, the tremendously difficult thing is to remix a great song….. And with Belfast this has been the case throughout its thirty years of life. Few official attempts have been made, Sasha and The Light did it in 1999, a far cry from the original. But relatively recently, in the first days of July, a BBC radio show was treated to a surprise with a piece of Holmes’ remix, almost ten minutes of deep respect for the original and the mastery of the Irish producer, composer and DJ. The circle was closed with a masterful version. By the way, this version remains officially unreleased for the moment.
Yesterday the Hartnolls announced the first preview of Thirty Something, with two remixes from Belfast by Anna Miranda, better known simply as ANNA, an exceptional DJ with a decade of experience as a remixer. A few days ago we presented her remix of Bodzin and Romboy with one of her favourite remix partners, Wehbba. On this occasion, Anna has followed the path set by Holmes, revisiting Belfast in its Techno version with absolute respect for the original, adding rhythmic powder without overdoing it and preserving a good part of the original melody, with an optimum result.
And that sunset to which we referred before is extended, the Ambient mix that the Sao Paulo DJ leaves us is a perfect accompaniment to the original version. Silk in ambient mode, emotion in its purest form.
