On December 15, Tim Burgess will be releasing a remixes 12" of ‘Oh Men’, this year’s excellent Record Store Day single co-written with Love Of Life Orchestra leader Peter Gordon and Kurt Wagner, his Oh No I Love You collaborator. It features takes on the track from tQPC’s mighty and magickal Grumbling Fur, New Order’s Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert in their The Other Two guise, Peaking Lights, The Invisible Conga People and Carter Tutti, and Burgess has been kind enough to give us a listen to the latter.
It’s little short of magnificent, more of an immaculate gilding of the original than a full-blown reworking: Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti put lapping synth work and glacial strings in place of the original’s cycling drum machine, while Tutti’s cornet occupies the space of Gordon’s soprano saxophone lines. Perhaps the finest touch is the fact that the song becomes a duet. Tutti at times twins Burgess’ vocals, at others provides gorgeous harmonies that allow it to traverse entirely new territories. As Burgess tells us: "It’s only rarely that you get to work with genuine heroes (and heroines) and to hear Cosey’s cornet and backing vocals on one of my songs was pretty mindblowing. I love the original but what they brought to the party sends it into the stratosphere – they understood totally what I didn’t spell out in the song and that’s the most you can ever ask for."
Play it above, and pre-order Oh Men Remixes from Norman Records here (and be quick – it’s limited to just 500 copies worldwide).
