by Joey Amato
It’s not everyday one of the most pivotal icons of the punk rock genre comes to Nashville to perform an intimate concert for a few dozen hardcore fans and guests, but that’s exactly what happened when Billy Idol took the stage at the Blue Room at Third Man Records to promote his latest album Vital Idol: Revitalized.
Idol took the stage with his guitarist and blew the roof of the venue with acoustic versions of some of his greatest hits including “Dancing with Myself”, “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell”.
More than 30 years after his groundbreaking Vital Idol compilation cemented the vibrancy of the dance-rock remix genre in the second half of the 1980s, Idol’s Revitalized collection features 11 brand-new remixes of his most classic and enduring hits. Lending their hands to the Revitalized proceedings are electronic dance luminaries Moby, The Crystal Method and Paul Oakenfold as well as current innovators including Tropkillaz, Shiba San, Juan Maclean, CRAY and RAC.
Vital Idol, initially released in Britain in 1985 and subsequently issued in the United States in 1987, was the first remix record released by a rock superstar. Besides being certified platinum, Vital Idol was accompanied by a version of “Mony Mony” that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, as well as hitting the Top 10 on the U.K. Singles chart.
Highlights found within the grooves of Revitalized include The Crystal Method’s percussive, explosive stab at “Rebel Yell,” CRAY’s bass-and-keyboard-blessed “White Wedding,” Tropkillaz’s trop-house framing of “Eyes Without A Face,” St. Francis Hotel’s shimmering stop/start caress of “Flesh For Fantasy,” and RAC’s retro-harmonic, fist-pumping “Dancing With Myself.”
Meanwhile, the digital version of Revitalized features four additional exclusive remixes, namely the brand-new Billy Idol/Steve Stevens Remix of “Mony Mony,” Paul Oakenfold’s Extended Remix of “One Breath Away,” Moby’s “Half Time Version” of his take on “(Do Not) Stand In The Shadows” and “Save Me Now (Lost Dog Remix),” reworked by Billy Idol’s son, Willem Wolfe with Brandon Rauch and Ed Bedrosian.
