Greatest Hit
Oh, those Canadians are so clever. Toronto artist Brian Joseph Davis’ latest creation, Greatest Hit, is a literal mashup of six greatest-hits albums - by Whitney Houston, Kenny G., the Carpenters, the Police, the Rolling Stones and Metallica - each compressed down to a single four-or-five-minute track. No fancy digital editing and arranging here, each song on Greatest Hit simply consists of all the tracks on the respective greatest hits album played simultaneously. Brilliant.
From the CD description:
Ever imagine all 22 songs of The Carpenters 1968-1983 playing simultaneously? Now you don’t have to just imagine. Whitney Houston’s The Ballads starts sharing sonic space with Sainkho Namtchylak. Every track on The Police: Greatest Hits combines for a rhythmic freakout not unlike recent Boredoms.”
Davis’ website makes 2 tracks, the Whitney Houston - “I’m Every Song” - and Police - “Asynchronous” - available as free downloads. The way the pieces move from familiar simplicity to cacophony and back reminds me of Steve Reich’s phase pieces (”Come Out”, “It’s Gonna Rain”). Dig in.