Ten years after the original release of their most famous track, Brian and Garry relented to label pressure and agreed to reissue ‘Papua New Guinea’, to tie in with their own mini-album of re-recordings. For the full package, released as a CD single – with radio edits – and two 12″s, four artists were invited to remix the track, and Hybrid’s unofficial remix from the previous year was finally given an official license. Satoshi Tomiie’s mixes fit alongside Hybrid’s in progressive house-leaning territory, while those from Blue States, Oil and Simian align closer to the band’s own interests; Gaz, of course, had supported Simian a couple of months before the release.
Gaz has remained conspicuously diplomatic about the set of remixes over the years, telling Digital Artifact and Future Music “we endorsed those releases, but we didn’t have much to do with them, if you know what I mean,” and “while Hybrid and Satoshi Tomiie aren’t really my cup of tea, we did have Simian contribute a cosmic psychedelic version of the track which is more aligned to where we are now with our musical focus.” He later stated on Facebook that the Hybrid mix is actually his favourite of all the ‘Papua’ remixes, somewhat surprisingly. A new music video, animated by Run Wrake, with Brian and Gaz appearing among flowers and plants, was made to help promote the reissue. A fortnight after the single’s release, a 2CD edition of Accelerator followed, with the second CD compiling the new remixes with a number of classic ones. Unlike the ‘Stakker Humanoid‘ reissue’, the release features full artwork, although without Buggy in the fold at this point, the original cover is overlaid by some slightly tasteless fonts; no designer is credited on the sleeve, however. Yage, too, is missing from the credits.
The track’s classic status meant that, even without a new remix on the A-side, it sold well enough to reach 28 in the UK single charts, only six places behind its original 1992 peak position, and spent three weeks in the Top 100. This would be the band’s last charting single in the UK.
When listening to the 2001 remixes now, I still get a genuine thrill of excitement: the Blue States and Simian mixes, in particular, remind me of the time of release when this was the first actual FSOL release in over four years, and I listened to the tracks on repeat.
Release date: 17th September 2001
Other releases:
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (1992)
Papua New Guinea (1996)
Papua New Guinea Translations
Papua New Guinea (Marco V Mix)
Papua New Guinea (2007)
Papua New Guinea (Original) / Murmurations
Papua New Guinea / Stolen Documents
Tracklists
CD (CDS TOT 44)
1. Papua New Guinea (7″ Original)
2. Papua New Guinea (Satoshi Tomiie Radio-Path)
3. Papua New Guinea (Hybrid Radio Edit)
4. Papua New Guinea (Blue States Mix)
5. Papua New Guinea (Simian Mix)
12″ (12 TOT 44 / 12 TOT 44P2)
A. Papua New Guinea (Hybrid Mix)
AA1. Papua New Guinea (Oil Funk Dub Mix)
AA2. Papua New Guinea (12″ Original)
12″ (12 TOT 44R / 12 TOT 44P1)
A. Papua New Guinea (Satoshi Tomiie Main-Path)
B. Papua New Guinea (Satoshi Tomiie Flip-Path)
Credits
Written by Brian Dougans / Garry Cobain.
Produced by The Future Sound of London @ Earthbeat Studios.
‘Satoshi Tomiie Radio-Path’ remix produced by Satoshi Tomiie for Def Mix Productions @ SAW.REC Studios NYC, edited by Satoshi Tomiie & Scott Bradford.
‘Hybrid Radio Edit’ additional production & remix by Hybrid, radio edit by Ralph Tee.
‘Blue States Mix’ additional production & remix by Blue States, radio edit by Ralph Tee.
‘Simian Mix’ additional production & remix by Simian, mixed at Trial & Error Studios.
‘Hybrid Mix’ additional production & remix by Hybrid.
‘Oil Funk Dub Mix’ additional production & remix by Oil.
‘Satoshi Tomiie Main-Path’ and ‘Satoshi Tomiie Flip-Path’ remix produced by Satoshi Tomiie for Def Mix Productions @ SAW.REC Studios NYC.
Original image by Buggy G Riphead.
Fractional Difference 