When Basement Jaxx first rose to stardom, the duo was unsatisfied with the state of dance music, describing it as "linear" and "close-minded". "Most dance music is very shiny and so robotic," Simon Ratcliffe told Rolling Stone. "There's just not much feeling. If we made a record like that, we'd be just like everybody else."[3] Consequently, the title Remedy was chosen as "an antidote" to the "poisons" they saw within dance music. "A lot of it seems quite superficial," Ratcliffe said.[4]
"For me, Remedy was always about togetherness, which is the appeal of house music. You may be black; you may be white; you may be Jew; you may be gentile. It doesn’t matter in our house," Felix Buxton said.[5]
Release
Remedy was released on 10 May 1999 in the UK and 3 August 1999 in the US, by record label XL. It reached number 4 in the UK Albums Chart.
Four singles were released from the album: "Red Alert" on 19 April, "Rendez-Vu" on 2 August, "Jump n' Shout" on 25 October and "Bingo Bango" on 3 April 2000. "Red Alert" was the first Basement Jaxx single to reach number 1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. "Rendez-Vu" also reached number 1 later in the year, and "Bingo Bango" became their third number 1 single the following year.[citation needed]
Remedy holds a rating of 88 out of 100 on review aggregator website Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim".[6]AllMusic's John Bush called the album "one of the most assured, propulsive full lengths the dance world has seen since Daft Punk's Homework."[7] Marc Weingarten of Entertainment Weekly described Remedy as a "blissful joy ride",[9] while Ted Kessler of NME called it "probably as good a dance album as anyone from these Isles has produced this decade."[12]The Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov called the album "a top beat assemblage to rival any release this year".[16]Alternative Press wrote: "Somewhere on this album, Basement Jaxx have created a song that you're going to love, no matter what sort of music you listen to [...] the mere existence of Remedy shows hope for modern music's future."[8]Melody Maker wrote that the album "repeatedly, and durably, synthesises those notoriously unstable dance music elements; the dizzying dancefloor rush and the complex, long-lasting emotional hit", calling it "deft and obviously heartfelt" and "truly great."[11]Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk proclaimed the album as "better than [theirs]."[17]
The A.V. Club was less favourable, saying Remedy was "nowhere near as revolutionary as the hype would insinuate", though noting that it does "offer its distinct pleasures."[18]Robert Christgau of The Village Voice remarked: "Like so much good house, more fun than reading the newspaper and less fun than advertised."[19]
"Red Alert" contains a sample of "Far Beyond" written by Harvey Mason, Tyrone Brown, John Blake Jr., Leonard Gibbs, James Simmons, Richard Steacker, Millard Vinson and performed by Locksmith.
"Same Old Show" contains a sample of "Hip Hop vs. Rap" written by Lawrence Parker and performed by KRS-One, sample of "On My Radio" written by Neol Davies and performed by The Selecter and a sample of "Ooooh Baby" written by Kenny Lewis and performed by Veda Simpson.
"Bingo Bango" contains a sample of "Merenque" written by Jose Ibata and Rolando Ibata and performed by Bolivar.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Basement Jaxx
Felix Buxton – mixing, production, vocals (on "Don't Give Up" and "Being with U")
Simon Ratcliffe – mixing, producer, vocals (on "Don't Give Up")
Additional vocalists
Gwyn Jay Allen – backing vocals (on "Don't Give Up")
^Pitchfork Staff (2 October 2009). "The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 29 April 2023. As interpretations of classic Chicago house went, Basement Jaxx's 1999 debut Remedy was hardly a muted and polite take on the genre.
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