T/S Telex vs. YMO vs. Kraftwerk

i am STILL on the floor. i am trying to figure out which limb i could bite off for sustenance and still live

my local shop had a copy of some new Telex compilation and I decided I owed it to myself to grab it. one record is like salmon pink and the other is neon green. in other words two of the least appealing colors on the planet. it's not really a "best of" but rather one of those anthology-like compilations that just tries to show off everything the band can do. only 4 of the 14 tracks are from the first 2 albums. it is so funny to hear Dan Lacksman sing Russell and Ron Mael's lyrics. I think these may be new mixes because "Radio Radio" (released 1984) sounds so far beyond what Kraftwerk was trying to do on Electric Cafe. They actually pulled off a beefy and sample-heavy dancefloor sound in that period that so many other artists like Devo, Numan, & Sparks couldn't capture. Side D is all covers: "The Number #1 Song in Heaven", "La Bamba" (??) and "Dear Prudence" (?????). there's also a cover of Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On" at the start. it's such a weird compilation. definitely not the tracks I would've picked but I am really digging it.

ok, now listening some of these side-by-side...yeah, there is definitely some extensive remixing done. reminds me a bit of the Kraftwerk 3-D stuff, the new versions are different and more modern even if it's not as easy to pinpoint exactly what has changed.

apparently Mute is going to reissue their entire catalogue. I wonder if it's all gonna get that treatment. If all of Wonderful World is remixed like this it's gonna rule.