Dance music veterans Andy Morris and Stuart Crichton are Narcotic Thrust,
responsible for the now classic "Safe from Harm" and the current single,
"When the Dawn Breaks." Here, you'll find four mixes: Original, Behrouz,
Mark Knight & Ten Veldon Vocal Mix, and Mark Knight & Ten Veldon Dub Mix. So
when you see it charted as the "MTV" mix don't think for a second it has
anything to do with the television channel. Coming from the Yoshitoshi
record label, this single is bathed in lush, deep funk house vibes. The
original rides a thumpin' bassline and breaks into wildly euphoric chord
stabs, that are reminiscent of Armand van Heldon's synth work on the
Faithless single "Insomnia." Boy, it sure does feel good hear the blissful
arrangements. It's heavily oriented toward the vocals, which at first listen
sound a lot like Sting, especially the chorus. I've scoured the 'net, and
still can't locate the singer's name- anyway, he's not bad and sings with a
good deal of range: spoken word, falsetto and melodic. The original is
nice, but the most kickin' mix here is definitely the Behrouz remix. Behrouz
Nazari is based in San Francisco and has been shaking up the DJ booth for
the past 20 years.
On this mix, he ditches the original vocal structure and
successfully eliminates any hints of cheese. His beat and bassline is
absolutely bumpin' tech-funk. This is tight and in the pocket remixing:
flawless. From the second you hear the plucky bassline, you know this is a
serious mover. Behrouz even brings in a delicate piano line without losing
the tech atmosphere. He's a sublime remixer. The last two mixes (Mark Knight
& Ten Veldon) goes into retro acid territory. Apparently the TB303 sound
will never die! Whereas some 303 workouts get annoyingly "noodlely," these
guys manage to tame the masturbatory urge of tweaking the patch to the realm
of aggravation. The dub mix showboats Mr. 303 once again and classic Roland
handclaps. Musically similar to the vocal, the main change being a breakdown
with looped vocals. When all is said and done, the Behrouz mix obliterates
all others. Outstanding.
