Versions

“Eclectic” best describes the source material Thievery Corporation uses in this collection of remixes. The Doors, Herb Alpert, Sarah McLachlan, The Januaries, Nouvelle Vague, and Astrud Gilberto are among the collage of artists whose songs are, um, retreated. A Middle Eastern flair colors many of these tracks, in an attempt to give the set an exotic, world-music feel. However, Thievery Corp stumbles over its own lazy reliance on simplistic pastes of source samples atop completely unrelated, monotonous, two-chord vamps. There are instances where the band doesn’t even bother to match the original source song’s key, leading to an impression of two radios playing different stations in adjacent rooms. Compared to the rest of Thievery Corp’s impressive catalog of dub maps, Versions veers way off-course. **

There were no songs that I disliked. I use the music for my pleasure.

If you don't know Thievery Corporation you should get to know them in a very inappropriate manner. They are not a "hiding money in an offshore account" type of corporation, just groovy music.

Wow! I never heard of this group until I was listening to Yahoo! Music Radio and switched to the Dance genre. Actually, the group I heard and was looking for was Kira, or Akira - and I found Thievery. I listened to the samples on Amazon and thought it was interesting enough to purchase their music.All I can say is, I like what I hear.

Adore their musical concoctions. Could listen to them all day.

My husband, who is a Thievery fan, was very happy to receive this CD as a Christmas gift. Always interesting stuff from Thievery Corporation!

Exotic, relaxing with great beats!

The one song I liked is the only song on the album I like that I was forced to buy to get it.

Thievery Corporation are very good... they can mix a song and, as most of these remixes show, almost any song, into something breathtakingly different and, when they're in the mood, they can produce their own stunningly innovative tracks. But above all, they know how to appeal to a market... which is, in this case, high quality "downbeat" music.And, as with their "The Mirror Conspiracy" album, they know exactly where they're going here: laid-back, languid beats that are lifted out of the mire of "lift music" and put firmly into the "cerebral experience" category because the production and execution are, as with almost everything they do, excellent. Check out their stunningly beautiful reworks of "Who Needs Forever?" and "Dirty Little Secret", plus their clever and genuinely exciting version of The Doors "Strange Days" - all three of which are better than the originals - to see how good they can be. But, and here's the problem, they can, as albums like "DJ Kicks" and "The Cosmic Game" show, take things so much further.So, it all depends on what you want. If it's something that breaks the boundaries then you're in the wrong place. But if it's something you can be genuinely "chilled" and "intrigued" by then you've found it.

I bought this on the strength of TC's kooky but affecting mix of the Doors' "Strange Days" and the exquisite "Originality", a blistering burst of dubbed-out, horn-drenched reggae but nothing on the album comes close to said highlight. It has some excellent moments - their own "revolution solution", with Perry Farrell's shimmering vocals gliding over the surface, is a key moment - and TC are masters of soulful dubby basslines coupled with dope beats and expansive percussive arrangements. Ultimately though it's a bit of a yawn. Too many tracks which meander nicely but do little to excite. It's the kind of album that you'd think would be perfect for a post-club chillout experience but in fact if you did put it on in such an environment someone would probably change the CD very soon. The accompanying artwork is also pretty unnecessary.

What's not to like? Though I imagine J. Lydon et al having a fit over the chill 'This is not a love song.'

Very good, what you would expect from these two

Love it