Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Mica Paris - One (1995)

Cooltempo Records, CDCOOL304

Following on from Mickey's ace The Chimes post, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" which is a U2 cover version par excellence, I thought I'd do the same. We're all about the continuity here!

Take one pretentious rock/pop star's (probable) finest moment. Get someone hugely talented, vocally, in to re-sing it and voila - instant magic! (Ah... but it was 'a good song' and Mica is probably the only singer who could've truly improved it? Ed )

Yup, you're right, Mick. I'll take my gentle slap on the wrists there - as it IS a classic song, truly beautiful lyrics, and I'm letting my dislike for Bono & Co colour my words, but listening to Mica Paris sing it is like hearing it the way it should be rather than just a mere cover.

Mica sings with effortless grace, and real passion. Her smokey vocals - I almost melt when she ups the emotion with the line "...did I disappoint you..." - over the slick, non intrusive beats, really are a match made in heaven. Having said that, Mica could ride over a Gun N Roses beat and make it sound dope.

There's a suite of mixes, and I'll hazard a semi-educated guess and say that our Mickey would go for the lovely Perfecto mixes, but, for me, the Ethnic Boyz mix is the one (points awarded if you can tell me what song is sampled for the main loop), closely followed by the excellent Original. That's not to say the others are bad at all, though!

  • One (Perfecto 7" Edit)
  • One (Original Mix)
  • One (Perfecto Mix)
  • One (Ethnic Boyz Mix)
  • One (Perfecto Dub)

The Download Link is here: Download
Filename: One (single).zip Filesize: 33MB

6 comments:

  1. Was never a great fan of the song but yes The Ethnic Boyz mix is the one i went for when this came out. (Wasnt there another mix of this that didnt come due to legal reasons or soemthing?)

    oh and the sample is Daylight by RAMP.

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  2. Firstly, Kudos for the sample-spotting. It is, indeed, Daylight by Ramp.

    (great track to sample from)

    I think you're also right about the unreleased mix - didn;t it get airplay on KISS FM and such but never materialised on the single release?

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  3. Yeah I ma sure it was a promo only release. I used to work in a record shop and i am sure i saw it in the post....

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  4. Don't recall the 'other mix' but boy do I love this song. I loved it by U2 and Mica is my favourite female vocalist so.... Bliss!

    Kymba, I agree... "Did I disappoint you, leave a bad taste in your mouth?" Oh Jeez, are you crying Mick, "No, I got something in my eye."

    As to what mix, depends on the mood. Truly, I love them all but the pink hi-lighter pen is on the Ethnic Boyz. ;-)

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  5. Nice post Kymba - thanks.
    I'm, all about the original mix of this tune - Mica running the studio on it!

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  6. Fantastic track!

    Nice to see it here online. Bought the original disk years ago and fell fell in love with Mica's take on this U2 track that I wasn't a fan of.

    Sadly the song went most unnoticed... :(

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