Wonderful words by Balearic Mike.

Happy birthday to Arthur Russell, who would have turned 72 on May 21st …

Arthur Russell – In the Light Of The Miracle (Remixes) – Talkin’ Loud Promo 12” 1996

If he hadn’t died tragically, far too young, Arthur Russell would have celebrated his 72^nd birthday on May 21st. Thankfully his music lives on. Not only that, but it’s also taken on a life it never previously had, with more and more music from Arthur’s vast archive seeing the light of day. Later this month Audika Records, who have done so much already making Arthur’s music available, issue a new collection of previous unreleased material, which also includes a solo recording of this track, In The Light Of A Miracle. 

In The Light of The Miracle is quite possibly my favourite Arthur Russell track, and like the majority of Arthur’s work it remained unreleased during his lifetime, receiving a posthumous pressing when his friend Phillip Glass included the original version on the collection, Another Thought, on his Point Music label in 1993. From there, the rumour has it, Gilles Peterson heard these remixes being played in the Point Music office in New York, and asked for permission to release them on his label, Talkin’ Loud. I know nothing about the history of the mixes themselves – who commissioned them, when they were made – indeed, I wasn’t even sure who was responsible for making them. I originally thought the A-side was by Walter Gibbons, as he’d previously worked on several occasions with Arthur. It was only when details were added to Discogs that I realised that the ‘Untitled Mix’ on the A-side is by Danny Krivit & Tony Smith, and edited by Tony Morgan, who is also responsible for the ‘Ponytail Club Mix (Part 1&2)’ on the B-side.

The Talkin` Loud 12 got as far as some white label promos being pressed and sent out, and then the release was pulled, and I have no idea why. If I ever bump into Gilles Peterson it will be the first question I ask him! Moonboots got sent a copy over in Eastern Bloc, and even found a spare which he passed to Rob Bright, but I wasn’t fortunate enough to get sent a copy and hunted for a few years before getting lucky.

A chance conversation with Darren Laws – next door from Vinyl Exchange at Fat City Records – proved fortuitous. Darren mentioned that he’d been at the Talkin’ Loud offices in London just prior to them relocating, and Gilles had let him help himself to any back catalogue vinyl from the shelves, as they didn’t want to move it all. The canny Geordie helped himself to 2 copies of everything, which meant he had a spare copy of this, which he then sold to me for the perfectly reasonable price of £50. This might have seemed a lot in the `90s, but I actually think I got a bargain!

The song in its original form is stunningly beautiful, but these mixes extend and enhance the original, taking it to new heights, particularly on the ‘Untitled Mix 1’, with Danny Krivit’s involvement. It manages to retain the feel of the original, while stretching it out and adding drama, as well as a slightly tougher rhythm track. On the‘Ponytail Club Mix’ takes thing in a slightly more up-tempo fashion. Initially I didn’t really like this remix so much, increasing the BPM to 120 and adding a slightly ‘house’ 4/4 kick drum, but it has really grown on me over the years, and has allowed me to slot this track into more clubby sets. It also has some really interesting vocal parts not used in the other versions, including some vocals from poet Allen Ginsberg.

Thanks for the music Arthur, and happy birthday.

“Light! In the light!”

(An absolute masterpiece, and very much a “holy grail”. I was lucky enough to purchase my copy from the legendary DJ Marbo, as he closed his equally legendary shop, Lowrider, in Harajuku, and went digital  “The Books A Song” — Rob : )

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