That’s My Jam is a feature where members of the Selective Hearing staff wax poetic about music that is pivotal to their musical tastes. Whether that would be an album, a song, or anything in between, we all had to start somewhere.
Release Date: November 16, 1998
Track Listing
- If You Could Read My Mind (Original Edit)
- If You Could Read My Mind (Original Club Mix)
- If You Could Read My Mind (Hex Hector Club Mix)
- If You Could Read My Mind (Silk’s House On 54 Mix)
- If You Could Read My Mind (Shark Dub Mix)
Review
54 is an American drama film released in 1998. It focuses on the rise and fall of the famed New York City nightclub, Studio 54. While the movie didn’t do so well at the box office, one of the songs from its soundtrack went on to be more successful.
That song was a cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind by the House music collective Stars on 54 (Ultra Nate, Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez).
There’s a considerable difference between Gordon Lightfoot’s folk rock original and the up-tempo Stars on 54 cover, and you would have to be insane to think the two songs are like-for-like.
What we get with the Stars on 54 rendition is 90s diva House Music at its glorious best, balancing the club music sensibilities of the time with mainstream pop appeal. Listening back to it again 26 years later, it has aged incredibly well compared to other songs from the 90s that are embarrassing reminders of a time gone by.
Of the mixes on the CD single I purchased many moons ago, I prefer the original version as it fits the music I play in my DJ sets.
The Hex Hector remix has an edgier vibe, with the full version going into a full-on epic crescendo near the end of the track. Something that sounded like standard for a subset of remixers at the time to do.
Silk’s House on 54 remix has more of a classic House sound than the radio-friendly original version and appeals to those who like the groove of Chicago-style House music.
When this was released, I was still young in the ways of the music world and didn’t even know it was a cover. I just liked what I heard when I saw the music video. I was also still a rookie when it came to mixing dance music and curating a music collection, so I didn’t even know what to do with this song in a set.
After hearing all these songs again after such a long time, I know what I could do with these mixes now.
Going through this single brought back some great memories of a different era of dance music. Things sure have changed over the years and sometimes not for the better. Songs like this make me wish this style of dance music would be more prevelant in the current times.
Anyway, finding this song and its remixes in physical format will be incredibly difficult if not damn near impossible. But a 25th-anniversary collection was released in 2023 on digital platforms that includes the original cover and all its remixes. So that is your best way to get a hold of this track in 2024.
