"This Time" by Chanté Moore

Probably the most beautiful remix ever. Period.

The signature of the late, great Godfather of House Music Frankie Knuckles is all over this record: gorgeous piano, lush disco strings, elastic bassline, and deep grooves. The album version, which comes from Miss Moore's 1994 masterpiece "A Love Supreme" and clocks in at over six minutes, is already a marvelous jazzy slice of R&B and co-produced by Simon Law (you might remember him as an original member of Soul II Soul). Let's not forget the powerful delivery of Chante. Can she sang! 

The remix peaked at #5 in the Billboard Club Play Chart in 1995, and I thought it deserved a higher position. No matter. Time has proven to me that Frankie's remixes of "This Time" has aged gracefully. When it came time to add this record to my iTunes playlists, I came up with the idea of making the track list sound like an actual beatmix. 

My playlist begins with Frankie's Something Beautiful Version. Believe me when I say that the remix is true to its name. It's not dressed in house beats-- only a cascading grand piano and wistful strings with Chante's vocals running through them. The interesting part is, this version is not all 'This Time." It also borrows her spoken words from "Intro" in "A Love Supreme." 

From my iTunes playlists.

Then it all spills over seamlessly into The Bomb Mix, an almost 11-minute journey of emotionally-charged house rhythms. I cannot perfectly describe the sheer beauty and even entirety of this work of art, but suffice it to say that it is best heard in a booming sound system (a speaker or earphone, yes). Listening to The Bomb Mix sometimes makes me wonder if Frankie was also working on Andrea Mendez's "Bring Me Love" because it works along a similar vein. Anyway, this is followed by the Classic Song Version, a shorter version of The Bomb Mix, if I may say so myself. It all concludes with the Classic Dub, which still uses a fair amount of vocals. Not complaining though! 

Check out The Bomb Mix here: