THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR
"XRV"
A Different Drum (ADDCD1188)
Release Date: June 10, 2004

We fell in love with this song pretty quickly after hearing it on a sampler CD from A Different Drum. The single adds in some great mixes (from the dancier Nevarakka mix to the '80s styled "Upstairs At Eric's"), plus another song ("Oxygen") from the forthcoming album and new mixes of "Vinyl Bliss" from the previous album Belief. I have to admit some disappointment in the Color Theory mix of "Vinyl Bliss" and the TDOL remix of "XRV" ("XRV [Xtremix]" - a club heavy version that falls prey to the "one or two lines of lyrics" approach that I truly despise), but the rest of the disc was quite excellent. It should be noted that these two tracks aren't necessarily bad, they just either weren't my thing (Xtremix) or weren't quite what I was expecting (Color Theory mix).

(originally reviewed by Daniel Aeschliman on January 15, 2005, revised on May 2, 2005)