Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!
Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

JFH Music Review


Stranger Kings, Red R (Red Remix)
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Stranger Kings
Red R (Red Remix)



Genre(s): Rock / Indie / Alternative
Album length: 14 tracks: 63 minutes, 55 seconds
Street Date: February 15, 2019 / May 11, 2020


READER RATING:   


Whatever else one might say about the members of Stranger Kings, nobody can accuse them of being in a hurry. Here in an era where remixed and extended versions of a given release have a tendency to hit the shelves in record-breakingly quick time - often at the very moment as fans of a given group or artist are kicking themselves for having just purchased the standard edition - the Kings collective opted to let their 2014 Red album marinate an astounding four and a half years before reimagining it as Red Remix (AKA Red R).

Listening to the opening trio of tunes, it would appear that the results were worth the wait. The leadoff cut, "All of Everything (Rtopia Remix)," is also the most impressive. Faithful, for the most part, to its source material, the track is a stirring combination of driving rhythms, gripping melody lines and lyrics that are just oblique enough to allow for varying interpretations without being so much so that they become entirely impenetrable. The live-in-studio version of that same song shows the band more than able to replicate their on-record sound on a dime when called to do so. And the Greg Hobgood remix of "Lay Low" transforms the winning dreamlike original into a driving rock-meets-EDM tour de force that easily equals, or perhaps even surpasses, the inaugural rendition in terms of energy and grit.

Elsewhere, though, things are far more hit and miss. On the one hand, entries like the two-and-a-half-minute "new" cut, "The American," which sounds a bit like the late '70s incarnation of the B-52s doing an instrumental cover of the King's "America's Sweetheart," are both interesting and bracing. For the most part, though, the remainder of the proceedings either run in place without really going anywhere ("The Quit (Ojo Remix)"), add nothing noteworthy to the first iteration of the material from which they draw ("Lacuna (Jeff Schroeder Remix)"), or simply wind up being a case of too much of a good thing (the four versions of "Lay Low").

Of course, none of this should be taken to intimate that the band isn't capable of greatness, as the standout Red album, itself, so convincingly proves. And, in fairness, many of the reimagined compositions, particularly those which lean most heavily toward the EDM side of the spectrum, are arguably more engrossing than their counterparts on the 2014 offering. But, even with all of its relative selling points and high-water marks factored into the equation, Red Remix is still enveloped by the long and imposing shadow cast by its more consistent and cohesive standard-edition cousin, making the latest Kings outing an intermittently interesting and engaging - but still ultimately non-essential - addition to its creators' catalog.

- Review date: 6/20/20, written by Bert Gangl of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

 

. Record Label: 2022404 Records DK
. Album length: 14 tracks: 63 minutes, 55 seconds
. Street Date: February 15, 2019 / May 11, 2020
. Buy It: iTunes
. Buy It: Bandcamp

  1. All Of Everything (Rtopia Remix) (4:49)
  2. All of Everything (Live at Northern Records 9/2014 / Video Version) (4:03)
  3. Lay Low (Greg Hobgood Remix) (4:30)
  4. Lay Low (Aaron Baber Remix) (3:39)
  5. Lay Low (Doug Andrews Remix) (3:47)
  6. Lay Low (Devin Devore Remix) (3:48)
  7. America's Sweetheart (Rtopia Remix) (4:34)
  8. The American (Short) (2:27)
  9. Katherine (Jeremy Wood Remix) (6:45)
  10. Katherine (Ojo Remix Feat. Greg Lawless) (5:16)
  11. The Quit (Robert Gutschow Remix) (5:41)
  12. The Quit (Jeremy Wood Remix) (3:37)
  13. The Quit (Ojo Remix) (5:11)
  14. Lacuna (Jeff Schroeder Remix) (5:43)

 

 JFH Album Sample Player

 



Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 


(JFH Sponsor Spot)

 

 

                 
Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

Search JFH




This Tuesday, November 19, 2024
SINGLES
Mat Kearney Certainty - Single (independent)

This Wednesday, November 20, 2024
ALBUMS
1K Phew Let Go Let God: The EP [Reach]

SINGLES
Drew & Ellie Holcomb High Seas - Single [Magnolia]
Sleeping At Last Let It Snow - Single (independent)

This Thursday, November 21, 2024
ALBUMS
The Choir Translucent (independent)

SINGLES
Wilder Woods Curioso [Dualtone]

This Friday, November 22, 2024
ALBUMS
Coqui I'll Still Have Christmas Day - EP [DREAM]
for KING & COUNTRY A Drummer Boy Christmas (LIVE) [Curb]
The Kingsmen Decades: Vol. 3 & 4 [Horizon]
Jonathan McReynolds Red & Green - EP [Capitol CMG/Motown]
NEEDTOBREATHE Acoustic Live Vol. 1 (CD Reissue) [Omnivore]
NEEDTOBREATHE Live From The Woods (CD Reissue) [Omnivore]
R.kitect Vicious Circles - EP (independent)
Run51 Let's Celebrate - EP [DREAM]
Van Zant Always Look Up [Frontiers Music]

SINGLES
7eventh Time Down I Speak Jesus - Single [BEC]
99 APEX Find A Way Freestyle - Single [Syntax]
Cory Asbury You're Still The One - Single [BEC]
Ashes Remain Lost Light - Single [BEC]
Paul Baloche Angels We Have Heard On High/Glorious (feat. Sarah Kroger) - Single [Integrity]
Elan Brio Sun Rays - Single (independent)
Amy Jay And So It Goes - Single (independent)
Jericko Holy Ground - Single [Syntax]
Reece Lache' Energy - Single (independent)
Vic Lucas Presha - Single [Syntax]
Cliff & Antoinette Murray O Emanuel - Single [DREAM]
Procyse, Dave A. You’re Not Free - Single [Polished Arrow]
River Valley Worship This is Our Jesus (feat. Moriah Christian) - Single [BEC]
Vineyard Worship Royal Son - Single [Integrity]

VINYL
NEEDTOBREATHE Acoustic Live Vol. 1 (Vinyl Reissue) [Omnivore]
NEEDTOBREATHE Live From The Woods (Vinyl Reissue) [Omnivore]

Next Thursday, November 28, 2024
VINYL
Van Zant Always Look Up Vinyl [Girder]

Next Friday, November 29, 2024
ALBUMS
Sixpence None the Richer Dawn of Grace (Deluxe) [Flatiron]
Thrive Worship Christmas, Vol. 2 - EP [Integrity]

SINGLES
ICF Worship Light of the World - Single [Integrity]
Selah Glory Hallelujah (feat. Mike Weaver) - Single [Integrity]
Slow Salvation The Ghost of Christmas Past - Single [Velvet Blue]
Uche Agu, Revival Today Worship Medley of Hymns - Single [DREAM]

VINYL
Sixpence None the Richer Dawn of Grace (Deluxe) Vinyl (Record Store Day Exclusive!) [Flatiron]



For all release dates, click here!
 



Check out the new album from Taylor Holland Armstrong!



Listen to the new Single from Second Adam and the New Creations!

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images