The Knife - Shaken-Up Versions - 2x LP Vinyl

Shaken-Up Versions, an album of the remixes taken from the tour's setlist, makes a serviceable substitute for the live experience, and it's also a fine snapshot of where the Knife's music is at right now: often challenging, at times a little frustrating, but at its core a thrilling body of work. Like most live albums, the material captured on Shaken-Up Versions loses something when taken offstage, since choreography and charged atmosphere is lost in the transition from arena to wax. Fortunately, these remixes don't need context. Shaking the Habitual, like the theoretical texts it cites, often seems like it's been praised and referenced more than listened to in full, so it would have been easy for the Knife to aim for easy accessibility--but the reworks rarely smack of obviousness. On record, "Without You My Life Would Be Boring" possessed one of the stronger hooks on Shaking the Habitual--a quietly nagging synth line, percussion like rattling speakers, gonzo humor, and the rallying cry: "What if we can't make it/ But we say that we can?"--but the Shaken-Up version takes things in a more challenging direction by puréeing the hooks and pushing the dissonant flutes and vox up front. Without a live crowd to prompt you, the remix is paradoxically easier to be studied than danced to, but it's the Knife, so the polyrhythms and layers give you lots to work with.

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A1 -Knife, The Without You My Life Would Be Boring (Shaken-Up Version)
A2 -Knife, The Got 2 Let U (Shaken-Up Version)
B1 -Knife, The Stay Out Here (Shaken-Up Version)
B2 -Knife, The Bird (Shaken-Up Version)
C1 -Shannon Funchess, Knife, The Pass This On (Shaken-Up Version)
C2 -Knife, The We Share Our Mothers' Health (Shaken-Up Version)
D1 -Knife, The Silent Shout (Shaken-Up Version)
D2 -Shannon Funchess, Knife, The Ready To Lose (Shaken-Up Version)