Extended Stimulation - 12"Pop Adventures On The Dancefloor 1983-1988 (Clamshell Box)

Cherry Pops 2025 collection Extended Stimulation: 12" Pop Adventures on the Dancefloor 1983-1988 is a celebration of the new wave of extended mixes. Where disco producers had pioneered the form in the 70s using tape loops and razor blades, by the time of the tracks here, there were new tools like sequencers and samplers to be used. The set collects tracks by big-name artists like New Order, Simply Red, ABC, Duran Duran, and Pet Shop Boys, but the real stars here are the usually faceless producers and remixers reshaping and elongating the songs. When they do their job right, it can take an already excellent song like Electronics "Getting Away with It" and turn it into a swelling symphony of strings that sweeps the listener away for seven minutes. Or they can trick up Culture Clubs already brilliant "Ill Tumble 4 Ya" with a boatload of dub echoes and give it a little more depth, add more space to Talk Talks "Its My Life," turn a-has "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." into an even-wider-screen epic, or give ABCs "The Night You Murdered Love" a sampledelic disco revamp. While its fun to hear new versions of well-known tracks by big bands, a huge part of the fun of the collection is hearing remixers doing their best on frothy pop like Mandy Smiths "I Just Cant Wait," electro like Nitzer Ebbs "Join in the Chant (Burn!)," or near-miss bands like Win, whose "Youve Got the Power" is one of the sets highlights. So is the drastic dub version of Jermaine Stewarts "We Dont Have to Take Our Clothes Off," which shows just how much art could go into one of these mixes. Nobody is ever going to confuse Lewis A. Martinee for King Tubby or Coldcut, but he taps into the same spirit as those innovators to create something that stands alone as a work of art, slender though it may be. The collection is full of similar delights, and any fan of 80s pop music not afraid to veer a little off-center will find much here to love. ~ Tim Sendra