Blissed Out (The Beloved album)

Blissed Out
Remix album by The Beloved
Released	1991
Genre	Electronic dance, pop, acid house
Length	54:10 (LP) 70:04 (CD) 100:00 approx. (MC)
Label	East West
Producer	Paul Staveley O'Duffy, Martin Phillips, Jon Marsh, Adam & Eve, Danny Rampling, The Little Sisters, Bill Coleman, Paul Robb, Tony Humphries, Doc Dougherty, Norberto Cotto, The Baby Brothers
The Beloved chronology
Happiness (1990) Blissed Out (1991) Conscience (1993)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Smash Hits	(6.75/10)[2]

Blissed Out is a 1991 remix album by the British pop band The Beloved, and a sister release of the 1990 studio album by the band, the UK #14 Happiness, which had generated four hit single releases.

Background

The success of their previous long playing work pushed the group to first follow it up with a brand new song, called "It's Alright Now," which failed to make the UK Top 40, stopping at Number 46, but helped promoting the new compilation, mostly being an expanded remodelled version of Happiness, as the title itself suggested. Almost all of the songs from the Beloved second album (which dropped the initial article The from their name for this new release) featured on one of the three available editions, in one or more remixed versions, also including an alternative cut of "It's Alright Now" itself, and a couple of instrumental tunes, namely "Pablo (Special K Dub)," and "Paradise (My Darling, My Angel)," both non-album tracks up to then, though the latter already featured as the B Side to the Beloved's first UK Top 20 single and international big hit, "Hello," which caused massive media exposure for the CD single that contained it and its related tracks.

The remix album was also promoted by a related remix EP, featuring a medley of selected remixes from the album, and particularly by a promo of "Up, Up and Away", one of its best remixes, and also the one remaining song from Happiness that the label originally intended to release as a further single, before opting for a totally brand new track. As mentioned above, the new long playing work was released in 3 different editions, varying as for length and track listing, depending upon the related format: the vinyl LP, the shortest of the three, includes 8 tracks; the CD version, which is the only one being currently available, features 11 songs; and the MC edition, the richest, contains 16 remixes, its final song being "Acid Love," which represented the band's first try at releasing a dance-oriented item, resulting in an unsuccessful double A-side single, along with "Loving Feeling," back in 1988, though paving the way for "The Sun Rising", which soon became a club favourite, and a little later their first UK hit. The latter included a sample taken from the Hyperion Records recording of "O Euchari" as sung by Emily Van Evera, which was only credited here for the first time, and only on the cassette version, but not on any of the original formats then marketed for the Happiness album, which contained the single version of "The Sun Rising." This step marked a very important achievement for future credits of samples, which became mandatory from then on.

Incidentally, "It's Alright Now" and the 1991 remix album were the last works made by Jon with original band member Steve Waddington at the time (both appear for the first time ever as a duo on a photograph in the compact disc booklet). In fact, by 1993, Waddington definitively left the group, together with the definite article in the band's name, and was replaced by Jon's wife, Helena Marsh, for Beloved's next album, Conscience (but the couple of remixers here featuring as Adam & Eve are thought to be Jon and Helena already working together under a psudonym, a means that soon they would often use to separate the image of the producing duo from that of the band members). Lately, though, Jon has collaborated with Steve and others on new material, although this is still unfinished as of July 2008, but a new album is scheduled for late 2008, which would make it the first new studio album from the Beloved after 1996 X.

Track listings

LP

Side A

1. "Up, Up and Away" (Happy Sexy Mix) – 7:08
2. "Hello" (Honky Tonk) – 6:10
3. "Wake Up Soon" (Something to Believe In) – 6:14
4. "Time After Time" (Muffin Mix) – 6:18

Side B

1. "Pablo" (Special K Dub) – 4:57
2. "The Sun Rising (Norty's Spago Mix) – 7:04
3. "It's Alright Now" (Back to Basics) – 5:35
4. "Your Love Takes Me Higher" (Calyx of Isis) – 10:44

CD

1. "Up, Up and Away" (Happy Sexy Mix) - 7:08
2. "Hello" (Honky Tonk) - 6:10
3. "Wake Up Soon" (Something to Believe In) - 6:14
4. "Time After Time" (Muffin Mix) - 6:18
5. "Pablo" (Special K Dub) - 4:57
6. "The Sun Rising" (Norty's Spago Mix) - 7:04
7. "It's Alright Now" (Back to Basics) - 5:35
8. "Your Love Takes Me Higher" (Calyx of Isis) - 10:44
9. "Up, Up and Away" (Beautiful Balloon Mix) - 6:51
10. "Hello" (What's All This Then?) - 4:34
11. "The Sun Rising" (Danny's 'Love Is...' Mix) - 4:29

Cassette

Side A

1. "Up, Up and Away" (Happy Sexy Mix)
2. "Hello" (Honky Tonk)
3. "Wake Up Soon" (Something to Believe In)
4. "Time After Time" (Muffin Mix)
5. "Pablo" (Special K Dub)
6. "The Sun Rising (Norty's Spago Mix)
7. "It's Alright Now" (Back to Basics)
8. "Your Love Takes Me Higher" (Calyx of Isis)

Side B

1. "Up, Up and Away" (Beautiful Balloon Mix)
2. "Hello" (What's All This Then?)
3. "The Sun Rising" (Danny's 'Love Is...' Mix)
4. "Your Love Takes Me Higher" (Simply Divine)
5. "Paradise" (My Darling, My Angel)
6. "Time After Time" (Through the Round Window)
7. "Don't You Worry" (Timeless Dub)
8. "Acid Love"

Singles and promos

• 1990 - "It's Alright Now" (UK #48)
• 1990 - "Up, Up and Away" (promo only)
• 1991 - "The Remix EP" (promo medley)

Personnel

The Beloved

• Jon Marsh – keyboards, vocals, rhythm programming, music, lyrics; production and mixing on #7
• Steve Waddington – guitar, keyboards, music, lyrics

Remix and production personnel

• Martyn Phillips – general production except where stated; additional production on #8; mix engineer
• Adam & Eve – production on #5, mixing on #2 and 5; additional production on #8; additional production and remix on #9 and 10
• Paul Staveley O'Duffy – production on #8
• Danny Rampling – additional production and remix on #1 and 11
• The Little Sisters – additional production and remix on #4; additional production on #2
• Bill Coleman – post-production and remix on #3
• Paul Robb – post-production and remix on #3
• Tony Humphries – additional production and remix on #6
• Doc Dougherty – mixing on #6
• Norberto Cotto – mixing on #6
• The Baby Brothers – mixing on #8
• Dominique Brethes – mix engineer
• Robin Hancock – mix engineer
• George Holt – mix engineer
• Ingo – mix engineer
• Lloyd Puckitt – mix engineer
• George Shilling – mix engineer
• Nomad Soul – mix engineer
• Ren Swan – mix engineer
• Steve Taylor – mix engineer
• Warner Music Group – publishers

Release details

References