The Avalanches (Wham! vs. Digitalism) - Ray of Zdarlight single review

The Avalanches have remixed this Wham! hidden classic, Ray of Sunshine, with some top quality German Electro house, Digitalism's Zdarlight, and the result is a glorious dance floor filler that still has George Michael on lead vocals, thank god for that.

This song is very elusive, the two pages on Last.fm don't seem to work and i can't find a physical release but it is on the Avalanches website apparently (you have to sign in). So for your enjoyment i've given it a video mash up with the original Zdarlight video and a Wham! video of them playing football in China (which had the original Ray of Sunshine over the top).

Me with my new Wham! LP

This song entered my life last week when a lovely lady found the original Wham! Fantastic LP in a charity shop and kindly bought it for me - it cost £2, who needs Ebay?! I do have this album kicking around on cassette somewhere but haven't listened to it in years. The only Wham i have these days is on CD - The Final and the Best Of.

So i gently placed the album on the record player and slowly brought down the needle on the cheese. I jumped straight to the album tracks that i'd forgotton about and I listened to the groovy and addictive Ray of Sunshine. The first line of the chorus has been going round in my head for days:

Sometimes,
You wake up in the morning with the bass line.

And it was when double checking these lyrics online that i stumbled across Ray of Zdarlight.

One of my cheese hobbies has always been trying to find good remixes of Wham! songs. This is because Wham! songs are so great to dance too but they are also intensly cheesy. Sometimes, well most of the time, playing any Wham! at a reasonably trendy party is just one step too far. I can maybe get away with Club Tropicana or some Duran Duran but unless it's a wedding or a pub full of Aussies and Kiwis it's difficult to get the crowd to love Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. Which is sad (in many ways) because George Michael knows how to write a good rhythm and kicking bass line.

This remix very simply puts the cheese that is Wham! over the top of the funky electro of Digitalism and produces a dance tune with an edge of 80s and a licence to be played in the trendiest of clubs, maybe. I love it.

Facts
Single released online only January 2007
Album: Maybe on the rumoured second Avalanches album?
More info: Digitalism MySpace \ Wham! lyrics

Where i have it:
MP3 found on internet. If it appears on a CD be sure to let me know.