The 21 best mash-ups and (re-)mixes …
… in no particular order.
This is work in progress. Latest update: 8 October 2023
Marvin Gaye & Yasiin Bey — Yasiin Gaye: The Departure (Full Album) by Amerigo Gazaway
From AG’s youtube page for the album:
Amerigo Gazaway’s “Soul Mates” series continues the theme of his previous work in creating collaborations that never were. On the series’ latest installment, Amerigo unites Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a dream collaboration aptly titled “Yasiin Gaye”.
Building the album’s foundation from deconstructed samples of Gaye’s Motown classics, Gazaway re-purposes the instrumentation into new productions within a similar framework. Carefully weaving Bey’s tangled raps and Gaye’s soulful vocals over his new arrangements, the producer delivers a quality much closer to an authentic collaboration than a lukewarm “mashup” album.
Yasiin Bey & Marvin Gaye — Yasiin Gaye: The Return (Full Album) by Amerigo Gazaway
From AG’s youtube page for the album:
Shifting focus for the second installment of “Yasiin Gaye”, Amerigo aimed to highlight the often overlooked accomplishments of Marvin Gaye’s role as the producer.
“I wanted to build this side from more of Marvin’s original production work. He was doing a lot of what we do now, in terms of looping and pulling samples from other pre-recorded sessions decades before hip-hop made it common practice to do so. This also gave me the room to feature other artist (Chuck Berry, The Temptations, Talib, etc.) and re-present those classic Yasiin verses in a new context.”
Common & Stevie Wonder — A Common Wonder by Amerigo Gazaway
From AG’s youtube page for the album:
With our latest Soul Mates Project release, fittingly titled “A Common Wonder,” Amerigo Gazaway brings to life an imagined studio session between Chicago’s crowned prince of Hip-Hop, Common, and Motown legend, Stevie Wonder.
A return to the Soul meets Hip-Hop formula of his Marvin Gaye + Mos Def pairing “Yasiin Gaye,” Gazaway connects the dots between Hip-Hop and the genre’s predecessor with a musical history lesson told through the intersecting themes of Common and Stevie’s respective catalogues.
As Gazaway put it: “Stevie Wonder’s early use of synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers, in a lot of ways, paved the way for hip-hop and sampling. Part of my motivation for this project was to highlight those contributions”
Picking up where Common and Stevie’s 2016 “Black America Again,” single left off, Amerigo brings his imagined recording session to life with a slew of uncovered resources (including multitrack instrument stems, interview audio, and documentary soundbites.) Re-orchestrating deconstructed samples, the producer interweaves Common’s vivid wordplay and Wonder’s passionate vocals for a project that blurs the line between a “mashup” and a modern day duets album.
Nina Simone & Laury Hill — The Miseducation of Eunice Waymon by Amerigo Gazaway
Another brilliant mash-up by Amerigo Gazaway.
UGK & B.B. King — B.B. & The Underground Kingz: The Trill Is Gone by Amerigo Gazaway
From the youtube page:
Under the Soul Mates Project banner of “collaborations that never were,” Amerigo Gazaway’s latest imagines a recording session between Blues great, BB King, and Texas rap legends, UGK. Aptly titled “BB & The Underground Kingz: The Trill is Gone,” the producer seamlessly bridges the gap between hip-hop and its predecessor, the blues.
Crafting the album’s bedrock from deconstructed samples of King’s electric blues hits, Gazaway re-imagined what might have happened had King and UGK actually recorded in the same time and space. Tapping UGK historian and documentary film maker, Sama’an Ashrawi, for unreleased interview audio, the producer cleverly uses the soundbites to help build his project’s narrative. Strategically looping and lacing Lucille’s guitar licks and B.B.’s road tales with Bun B & Pimp C’s southern fried storytelling, Gazaway finds a sweet spot in the overlapping themes of his subjects’ respective catalogs.
Bizarre Tribe — A Quest to The Pharcyde by Amerigo Gazaway
Fab.
Notorious B.I.G. & James Brown — Notorious JB’s: The B.I.G. Payback by Amerigo Gazaway
Fab.
IAMISEE Presents: The Notorious Cash — Biggie Smalls & Johnny Cash by IAMISEE
Biggie had that relaxed, carefree flow and could play with words like an instrument, while Johnny had that haunting, somber tone and a voice like a lonesome freight train in the night. Put those two together and you get a perfect combination of epic proportions. Two outlaws from different walks of life.
(One of the commentators on the youtube page)
Marvin Gaye & Pink Floyd — Requiem for a Dream by A-OK All Day
From the youtube page:
The Story Of Marvin Gaye & Pink Floyd’s Unreleased Album:
The Wall concert was only performed a handful of times each in four cities: Los Angeles, Uniondale (Long Island), Dortmund, and London (at Earl’s Court). The primary ‘tour’ occurred in 1980, but the band performed eight shows at Dortmund (14–20 February 1981) and five more shows at Earl’s Court (13–17 June) for filming, with the intention of integrating the shows into the upcoming movie. The resulting footage was deemed substandard and scrapped; years later, Roger Waters has given conflicted answers on the status of the concert films stating from “trying to locate this footage for historical purposes but was unsuccessful and considers it to be lost forever” to “I have all of the film but am reluctant to release”. There are several unofficial videos of the entire live show in circulation and some footage is shown on the Behind the Wall documentary.
During Marvin Gaye’s stay in Belgium, he would frequent across the pond to the UK, specifically as he was on the road himself for “The Heavy Love Affair Tour”. As Gaye found himself an off day in London, he allegedly visited the Pink Floyd concert at Earl’s Court, and was invited to join them on stage for a rendition of “Let’s Get it On” over Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. A recent piece of audio footage of this performance has been located.
After the chemistry of this impromptu performance, Waters and Gaye discussed the possibility of recording these collaborations for a possible release in what would be considered an early version of what people now would call a mash-up record. In late 1981, before returning back to the States, Marvin Gaye recorded eight renditions of his songs alongside Waters and Pink Floyd’s released material.
Coming off a recent departure from Motown, Gaye, upset with the rush-job of the Motown-released “In Our Lifetime”, felt the need to move onto other label prospects, feeling the creative urge to push into new musical directions.
As Gaye was now a free agent, Harvest Heritage was interested in putting out this collaborative effort with Marvin and Pink Floyd, following their release of Pink Floyd’s “A Collection of Great Dance Songs” but could not clear rights from Motown to use Marvin’s likeness or vocals from his Motown recordings. Reworking an unused Roger Waters album title, the record was named “Requiem For a Dream”. A limited amount of records were pressed up in late 1981, using previously existing pictures in hopes that it would see a release date to no avail.
The live audio footage of this show is believed to have either surfaced from the original bootleg entitled “The Wall Came Tumbling Down” or Waters unreleased The Wall Tour footage, but cannot be confirmed.
0:00 If This World Were Mine 4:28 Ain’t No Mountain High Enough 10:11 Stubborn Kinda Fellow 13:26 What’s Going On? 17:50 Ain’t That Peculiar 22:41 If I Could Build The Whole World 23:26 A Wonderful One 27:32 Let’s Get It On 40:42 Let’s Get it On (Live Recording)
Fact or fiction?
Dark Side of the Wu — Full Pink Floyd / Wu-Tang Mashup by Unknown
The Wizard of Pink Floyd by Paul Trombley
The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Frank Sinatra by Global Juke
A masterpiece of a mash-up.
0:52 Juicy (New York, New York) 2:18 Everyday Struggle (A Day in the Life of a Fool) 6:22 Nasty (For Every Man There’s a Woman) 11:03 Come On (My Way of Life) 15:14 The World We Know (Over & Over) [Interlude] 17:39 Dead Wrong Ft. Nancy Sinatra (In My Room) 20:36 Let’s Get It On ft. 2Pac (Rain In My Heart) 22:49 Hypnotize (Little Green Apples) 25:32 Interlude 26:41 Ten Crack Commandments (Fools Rush In) 30:03 Runnin’ (A Long Night) 31:27 Unfoolish ft. Ashanti (Out Beyond the Window)
Wu-Tang Clan x Led Zeppelin — The Wu-Tang Zeppelin by Curious George
From the youtube page:
The Wu-Tang Clan are often considered one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time, and for a reason. Their unique approach to rap and the art of sampling took them to another level where they changed the sound of hip hop forever. In the same way, Led Zeppelin pioneered a new age of rock, helping cement their name as one of the greatest rock bands to ever exist. Now, thanks to the rise of technology in this new age of music, the two groups meet for the first time, and it’s a match made in Shaolin…
Tracklist: 0:00 Whole lotta Chessboxin’ 1:53 Ramble Raw 6:08 Stairway to Shaolin 11:29 Your dear is gonna come 15:06 Method Breaker 18:27 36 years in the chamber 22:53 Lemons rule everything around me 26:00 Babe I’m gonna leave Brooklyn Zoo 30:20 Release the immigrant pt. 1 33:16 Release the immigrant pt. 2 34:15 When da ruckus is brought 38:45 In my time of Daytona
The Beatles — Symphony №16–1975 by tragiclifeform
From the youtube page:
1974. The Beatles had just released their 15th studio album, ‘Everybody Out’ to near-universal acclaim, the world was advancing at speeds never before seen, and the political and economical climate was rapidly tensing up.
Nearly all of the Beatles were affected by the current times in one way or another. John Lennon was having issues gaining citizenship in the United States, and Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, George Harrison, and Denny Laine were constant subject of drug busts, sometimes real, and sometimes fake (Ringo Starr, as usual, was just kind of there, but he felt for his bandmates nonetheless).
When the six reconvened at Abbey Road, they discovered that they, collectively, were feeling disappointment and fear. Not just towards the world, but for the world. They decided that they would use their standing as one of the biggest musical acts in the world to let their minds be known.
What they came up with was heavy, angry music. Something rather odd for the band that once spread the message of peace and love not just a few years prior. The material (enough for a double LP) was assembled into an album with the title ‘Scandal’, and was sent over to the higher-ups for approval.
However, the album was refused by the label, stating that it’s material was found too controversial. The Beatles fought for the albums release, namely John and George, but this proved to be one of the rare moments in history that The Beatles would not get their way.
The Beatles, rightfully upset, went back into the studio, threw out lyric sheets, erased tapes, and started the whole thing all over from scratch.
The only remnants of this purge would turn up in the released album as sections of the opening medley, the backing tracks to ‘Soily’ and ‘Let It Down’.
New material was written up, as well as the cover and title.
The Beatles, infuriated by the company’s refusal to release ‘Scandal’, decided to move in the complete opposite direction for the cover and take a trademark sarcastic Beatle jab at the executives. The album cover imitates those of classical records, while ‘Symphony №16’ is a reference to this being The Beatles’ 16th studio record.
To hammer home the posh-ness of the record’s appearance, a brass section and string section were both hired to play on most of the tracks, recordings of sections from George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ were scattered around the track listing, and reverb was applied wherever it could be to simulate a concert-hall.
Despite the classical-esque title and cover, the music on the record still is fairly heavy for the Beatles, with even some ghostly remnants of the original album lingering around.
The album, despite it’s tremulous development, was widely praised and widely disowned by critics alike, who would usually single out Lennon’s ‘Nobody Loves You’ as the standout track.
SIDE ONE: 0:00 Opening [Gershwin] 0:34 Medley: Jerky (Pt. I)/Woman Don’t You Cry For Me/What You Got/Scandal/Jerky (Pt.II) [Lennon-Harrison-McCartney] 9:21 Soily [McCartney] 13:17 Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down And Out) [Lennon] 19:16 Intermission [Gershwin]
SIDE TWO: 20:05 Let It Down [Harrison] 25:12 Call Me Back (Again) [McCartney] 29:19 Aisumasen [Lennon] 34:03 1985 [McCartney] 38:15 Exit [Gershwin]
Fact or fiction?
The Beach Boys’ “Smile” by Joey Joesph
Joey really makes this his album; Brian Wilson most surely would have approved. Brilliant and way out. Of the various mixes that are out there, this is the most intriguing one to my mind.
The Beach Boys’ “Smile” by Jack Stedron
From the youtube page:
This is the culmination of three years worth of mixing, re-mixing, and arranging. I give you my interpretation of the long-lost Smile album!
The Beach Boys — SMiLE (Excitations Mix) by MonotoneTim
From the youtube page:
I’ve been endlessly fascinated by The Beach Boys’ SMiLE album in all of its many official and unofficial forms. Having listened to hours of session material from the box set and various bootlegs, I decided to make my own fan mix based on how I think it should go together and what parts should be included. And yes, I even worked in Brian falling into a piano (because I’m not a coward).
I’m happy to share with you SMiLE: Excitations Mix. All tracks are presented in ~glorious stereo~ and the majority have been remade from the vocal and instrumental sessions with a number of extra overdubs thrown in for good measure. Nearly every track has a fresh edit, from different session takes to newly constructed sections. It roughly follows the established track order, but I tried to make it sound as cohesive as possible while maintaining as much as the “Brian Wilson in the studio with his stoner friends” vibe as I could. It wouldn’t really be SMiLE without it.
I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed making it, and that it gives you excitations. And Good Vibrations (Good Vibrations, Good Vibrations).
The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Frank Sinatra by Global Juke
A masterpiece of a mash-up. Instant ear-worm.
0:52 Juicy (New York, New York) 2:18 Everyday Struggle (A Day in the Life of a Fool) 6:22 Nasty (For Every Man There’s a Woman) 11:03 Come On (My Way of Life) 15:14 The World We Know (Over & Over) [Interlude] 17:39 Dead Wrong Ft. Nancy Sinatra (In My Room) 20:36 Let’s Get It On ft. 2Pac (Rain In My Heart) 22:49 Hypnotize (Little Green Apples) 25:32 Interlude 26:41 Ten Crack Commandments (Fools Rush In) 30:03 Runnin’ (A Long Night) 31:27 Unfoolish ft. Ashanti (Out Beyond the Window)
Wu-Tang Vs. The Beatles — Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers by Tom Caruana Remix Projects
The Beatles vs. Hip-Hop Legends: An Adventure to Pepperland Through Rhyme & Space (Part 1) by Tom Caruana Remix Projects
The Beatles vs. Hip-Hop Legends: An Adventure to Pepperland Through Rhyme & Space (Part 2) by Tom Caruana Remix Projects
