Essence of Deep Forest

   by Deep In The Jungle Staff
   03/11/03

Eleven years and five albums after their debut, comes 'Essence of Deep Forest', a best of Deep Forest album. Surprisingly no songs from 'Made in Japan' or even 'Pacifique' were included. You also won't find any of Deep Forest's mixes from their 94-95' remixing days. Instead 'Essence of Deep Forest' features many of their popular songs from 'Deep Forest', 'Boheme', 'Comparsa' and 'Music Detected' including three new remixes of 'Yuki Song', 'Will You be Ready', and 'Sweet Lullaby' (featuring Ana Torroja) and 'While the Earth Sleeps' (featuring Peter Gabriel).

The new version of Sweet Lullaby is along the lines of the style of music found on Music Detected. The synthesized beats have been replaced with live drums, acoustic and electric guitars take the place of the synthetic atmosphere, and Ana Torroja sings the main part of the song accompanied by the original chorus. There are also some new lyrics sung by Ana, they sound English, but they are hard to understand because of her very light voice. The result is that the 2003 version is less ambient and more alternative rock, and very enjoyable. Fans who weren't fans of Music Detected should give this song a chance.

The Yuki Song remix begins with a simple melody played on the piano along with Beverly Jo Scott's vocals, cutting out a big part of the introduction and then going right to the Moby-like chorus. The chorus has some added vocorder vocals, which sound like those of BJ Scott. The differences in the Be Prepared Remix of Will You Be Ready are a little less noticeable. The most salient difference is that the remix has a harder rock sound, with more electric guitar and clashing cymbals.

Along with the music, 'Essence of Deep Forest' includes in the CD booklet their official biography and award and sales information, all of which can be found at: sonymusicimports.com/deepforest. There are also a few pages with information on each of the 18 songs, but because we have the Japanese version we have no idea what it says. 'Essence of Deep Forest' was already released in Japan February 5th, just in time for the Deep Forest Japanese Dear Friend Tour. The album is expected to be released in other parts of the world towards the end of April 2003.



Thanks to Sony Music Japan for providing us with a copy of 'Essence of Deep Forest'

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