Forget What The Future Brings

Soul Mechanik “Never Touch That Switch (Freeform Reform by the Freeform Five)” – The Freeform Five created this mix for Soul Mechanik, but since Robbie Williams covered the sci-fi funk tune on his new album, all plans to officially release this version were scrapped. This is a curious situation given that Soul Mechanik are the authors of the original, but I suppose that Robbie has got some ace lawyers. Unsurprisingly, the Robbie Williams and Freeform Five versions veer off in opposite directions. Williams’ recording emphasizes the woozy vocal hooks and plays out in under three minutes, and this mix stretches out to nearly eight as it bounces along on a bass line that will very likely tempt you to sing “hey Dirt-ay, baby I got your mon-ay, don’t you wor-ray” over the top until the song builds up to an impressive release of tension in its middle section. (Click here for the Freeform Five’s MySpace page.)

Pet Shop Boys “Bright Young Things” – Continuing on with today’s unintentional theme of rejected music, the Pet Shop Boys recorded this song as a theme for the movie of the same name, but it was ultimately cast aside for the fact that its style did not match the period of the film’s storyline, which was adapted from Evelyn Waugh’s novel Vile Bodies. Though its removal from that project is perfectly sensible, I find it very baffling that the Pet Shop Boys did not choose to include the track on this year’s Fundamental, on which it would have been the best selection along with the Eurodisco protest tune “Integral.”

The formal party described in the song may be “a port in a storm” for its young socialite characters, but that does not keep them from slipping into loneliness and desperation as the track shifts from its still, melancholy opening verses into the angst-ridden dance beat of its remainder. The characters hide from themselves and the world around them in ritual and the promise of safety and romance, but they aren’t fooled by their own illusions, and every choreographed gesture looms large in their lives just as it rings very false. The chorus is not the focal point of the song in terms of its composition, but it burns with nuanced yet potent emotion like the all-time best Pet Shop Boys tracks. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)