With the upcoming ‘extended’ reissue of ‘Much Against Everyone’s Advice’ on 2xLP, I want to look into one of the remixes that will be included on this release: ‘Saturday (Roger Manning Mix)’.
This remix was not easy to find around the time of the original release at the end of the nineties. It was included on the 7″ box set and the UK limited 2XCD edition bonus disc, which came out in 2000. But it was not on the ‘Saturday’ single or the first edition of the 2xCD release with the ‘International Hits’ bonus disc. Probably because these were released in 1999 and this remix was made early 2000. And you won’t find it on Spotify either.
Roger Manning Jr rose to fame as a member of the band Jellyfish. They only released two albums in the early nineties, but songs like ‘That Is Why’ got a lot of airplay – even in Belgium.
But it was with his ‘Moog Cookbook’ project that Roger and his friend Brian Kehew got a lot of attention. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1996 and contained Moog-style versions of grunge tracks like ‘Black Hole Sun’, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Even Flow’.
Kehew and Manning joined French band Air as backing musicians on one of their first tours, and they made an amazing remix of ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’.
This track was played by Dave and Steph when they started their dj career as The Flying Dewaele Brothers.
Manning joined Beck’s touring band on his Midnite Vultures tour and his ‘Malibu Mix’ of the lead single ‘Sexx Laws’ was also a favorite of the Dewaeles.
Soulwax shared the bill several times with Beck at the time. I saw them support him at a Belgian festival called Marktrock in 2000 (the day after Soulwax played in my parents’ backyard but that’s another story).
And so ‘Saturday (Roger Manning Mix)’ has the same retro sounds and energy as the Moog Cookbook and Roger Manning Jr’s ‘Malibu’ remixes from that period.
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