Bob’s Jukebox: Lost Mixes – Extended Ecstasy

I originally bought this CD a few decades ago, so my memory around it is a little hazy. As I recall, I picked it up because it had extended remixes for a couple songs I already had in my collection, as well as a couple others I didn’t have but knew I liked. I was getting it used, so I figured it was a bargain. And I was mostly right.

As one reviewer on Amazon put it, if you love the dance music of the late 80s and early 90s, this one is going to be right up your alley. Another way to put it is that the average track length on this record is 6-7 minutes, so hope you’re not going anywhere for a while. There may only be 8 songs on the album, but it still weighs in at a play time of almost an hour. These are, indeed, “Extended Ecstasy”. Mostly.

“Kiss and Tell”, “Little Respect” and “Blue Monday” don’t sound all that different from their original versions to me, although I’m not such a huge music buff that I could definitively say “ooh, that’s a huge difference”. For the most part it just sounds to me like they looped the same music for an extra few minutes, called it an “extended mix”, and collected an extra paycheck. By contrast ”Roam” and “Crazy” definitely have some differences, enough to warrant being called a different mix. I don’t know “Sunshine and Ecstasy” or “Loaded” outside of this album to offer an opinion on whether or not they justify being called a remix.

Which brings us to the ultimate question, “Is it worth buying the album?” And I guess that depends on why you’re considering buying it. Like I said at the start, if you love the dance music of the late 80s and early 90s, yeah, might as well. Even the tracks that don’t sound significantly different from their originals are still some of the best dance music of the era, and the ones that are different are particularly good examples of the remix genre.

Another reason to buy the album would be if you’re just starting out as a DJ and hope to someday be as good as My Not So Humble Brother-in-Law. These remixes are basically tailor-made for mixing, with long stretches of instrumentals and simple beats that all but make this album “My First DJ Kit”.

Or if you’re just looking for something to throw on and mindlessly dance for an hour, this is a great choice. It’s well balanced and fun. Nothing wrong with that either.