Robert Marlow sometimes suffers from being treated as a footnote in the Depeche Mode and Yazoo stories. Yes, he was in the Boys Brigade youth organisation with Andy Fletcher and Vincent Clarke. Yes, he used to play in The Vandals with Alison Moyet. Yes, he was in French Look with Martin Gore. Indeed, Vince Clarke did produce him and release his singles on Reset Records, his foray into the business end of the industry. But all of that was three decades ago, and of late he’s been working on his own brand of dynamic synthpop, both as a solo artist and one-half of Marlow. The latter partnership dissolved before The Future album was released, so Marlow is back to being just Robert Marlow.
His latest offering is an album of remixes, with nine different artists giving their own treatment to songs from The Future. In addition, there are two of former collaborator Gary Durant’s original mixes, as well as Vince Clarke’s 2001 remix of No Heart, a track that originally appeared as the B-side of 1983’s I Just Want to Dance single. Contributors include Diskodiktator, Eddie Bengtsson of Page, Cobalt 60 and KATElectric – a range of talents from the electronic scene, who bring their own styling to each track. The “Glamtronica” remix from Bengtsson, for example, infuses The Future with a classic glam rock feel, looping a stomping phrase for the song’s spine. All of the mixes play with the classic synthpop feel of the originals in spirited ways, and the collection is a welcome update to the (Robert) Marlow discography. A preview and ordering information are available here: http://www.poponaut.de/robert-marlow-future-remixes-p-12180.html?osCsid=9181df1e70ca8ba08516fd3efd9315d2