Singer Sean Ensign has been known to wear many hats. In his thirty-odd years, he's been a bartender, webmaster, songwriter, fashion model, nurse, and bodybuilder. The year 2007 finds him releasing a cover version of one of Ace Of Base's most popular ballads, "Everytime It Rains." With an impressive remix package touting such big names as Hex Hector and Julian Marsh, this record has both the familiarity factor of a well-known, well-written song plus an impressive array of remixes to please any preference.
While nothing can top the Metro Mix of Ace Of Base's version, a few mixes on this single come close. The SugarDip mix I found to be easily the best of the bunch. Everything a great remix needs: plenty of synth and enough energy to make even the most stodgy remix fan break out into song. The chord structure follows the original Ace Of Base version to a T, something I listen for very carefully with cover versions. The D-Star Funky Club Mix is my own personal second favorite. Quite enjoyable to listen to, but not quite dance. It cuts the tempo in half, so the tone is more mellow and smoothed out, with plenty of super-wet reverb (pun definitely intended).
Hex Hector takes things in a more dark and intense direction, with beats that are rather abrupt and very military style. There's no discernable "clap" on the 2 and 4 count (BOOM-chick BOOM-chick), so all the beats sound exactly the same through each measure, making the pacing sound methodic and severe. Along those same lines, the Brian Reyes Hard Anthem is quintessential tribal: fierce beats but not much actual music. Vocal looping in the intro I could do without, and some of the verse vocals weren't lined up with the beats properly (think Junior's mix of Beyonce "Crazy In Love" or half the remixes for Pink "Get This Party Started"). While it's likely that Reyes meant to purposely shift the vocals to their "off beat," this proved to be just a distraction for me.
Toby's Electro Mix is your typical electro-ish fare, complete with blips and beeps here and there, with a bassline that doesn't quite match the chord structure of the song in certain places (most notably in the chorus). If you like the electro style though, this'll be right up your alley.
Few mixes of Julian Marsh are released with an accompanying radio edit, and "Everytime It Rains" is no exception. Julian takes the song in an Almighty-ish direction, with some heavy bass notes jabbing their way through the off-beats of the mix's duration. Julian admits he's lately been influenced by the UK "sound" after touring Europe this past spring: happy pop and funky music with a disco edge, bouncy piano, and plenty of vocals. His return to the DJ circuit from retirement is much welcomed, and the periodic production and remixes such as this one will leave fans wanting more.
My only two minor beefs with this record are so petty, they barely merit mentioning. But since there's no word count limit on my reviews, let's proceed merrily along, shall we? Rick Nowels and Billy Steinberg are brilliant songwriters, but English majors they are not. I wish some of these labels would use spell-check and get it straight once and for all that "everytime" is not a word!!! (Britney Spears and Janet Jackson, are you listening?) Another trivial gripe is noticing how Sean changed the lyrics in the second verse to "that kindness in her eyes." To me, this seems to call even more attention to his sexuality (is he or isn't he?) than if he would've just sung it with the original lyric. Again, very minor complaints in an otherwise dazzling review for a great song. Well sung, with a generous variety of different remixes. Pick this one up while it's still available.
