Pete Tong & HER-O, Chilled Classics - album review
Iconic DJ Pete Tong has joined with The Heritage Orchestra for a third time to release a record of classic-based reworkings of Ibiza anthems.
After Classic House in 2016 and 2017's Ibiza Classics, now we have Chilled Classics - something a little different than what came before.
The second record in particular provides the basis of his live shows which tour the country - coming back to Arena Birmingham on Wednesday - while this follows a different path.
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Rather than just follow that recipe and use different tracks to last time, Tong and HER-O's esteemed leader Jules Buckley follow a different tack.
Chilled Classics will resonate with anyone who has visited the party island and taken time out to experience one of the famous sunsets outside Café del Mar or Café Mambo along the San Antonio Sunset Strip.
It's early evening beats while people eat and take in the sunset. That kind of dusky vibe where some people are gearing up for a huge night on the sauce while families wind down from a sun-kissed day of exploring.
The album's structure also builds like the setting sun towards its spectacular climax. So much so, in fact, that the opening salvoes of original material mixed with some anthem reworkings does pass you by a little.
St Germain's Rose Rouge, featuring Robert Owens, is foot-tapping but overlong. Original composition Symphony Of You, with the vocal talents of Boy George, is disco-tastic but a little...meh. And the beat-heavy 7 Seconds, originally by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry, this time with help from Grace Carter and Langa Mavuso, lacks a little punch.
But something clicks in the second half of the record and it suddenly grabs you. Both versions of Robyn's With Every Heartbeat, this time with the vocal talents of her superfan Zara Larsson, hit their spots magnificently. And the up-tempo, energetic reimagining of Three Drives' Greece 2000 is magnificent.
And chief among the hits - which will surely go down well in the upcoming live shows - is a grime-based rework of Underworld's Born Slippy featuring bars from Wiley. With HER-O's own vocalists providing the original vocals alongside the Londoner it's a mix of styles and generations that has to be heard - as does the drumbeats of Massive Attack's Teardrop underpinning Samuel Barber's Addagio for Strings.
Don't let the sun go down on this one. When it wakes up, it wakes up.
Rating: 6/10
Pete Tong and HER-O perform alongside guest vocalists at Arena Birmingham on Wednesday
