HANOI ROCKS – Oriental Beat [40th Anniversary Re(al)mix] {21st Century Edition} (2023) HQ

Finnish glam rock legends HANOI ROCKS are releasing releasing a long-awaited and much needed remix of their second album, Oriental Beat. Titled “Oriental Beat [40th Anniversary Re(al)mix] {21st Century Edition}” which the band refers to as the re(al)-mix will be released on March 17 via Finnish record label Svart Records.
The original 1982 release of Oriental Beat frustrated Hanoi Rocks to the point that they literally hated the album. Now finally the recording gets the redux treatment, officially mixed and revived from the original sessions, checked and approved by frontman Michael Monroe.
Dubbed the “re(al) mix”, this 40th anniversary edition was mixed by Petri Majuri at E-Studios in Finland in collaboration with the band. Vocalist Michael Monroe calls this release “the longest and slowest album project ever,” stating that “40 years in the making, it’s not just a remix, but the REAL MIX supervised and approved by Hanoi Rocks”.

Monroe has said years ago”… we couldn’t even listen to it. It sounded so bad. Hanoi Rocks immediately left to tour after the recording process and were not present during the mixing process. The band hate the flat results: the panning (or lackthereof) of the guitars, the odd tuning of the floor tom drum for the song “Motorvatin’,” and loss of sonic energy in the performances. The songs are there but the sound wasn’t.”

Recorded in London, UK in 1981, for 200 pounds a day, Oriental Beat was made during the height of the British punk + New Wave movement, when the band was hanging out with everyone from Phil Lynott to the Damned.
Hanoi Rocks’ original drummer Gyp Casino says of Oriental Beat that: “Back in the days we gave heart, soul and a bit of pain to make this record something else” but the sound of the album, originally released in 1982, did not match their efforts at the time.
Bassist Sami Yaffa called it “the worst sounding album of our career” and Michael Monroe said that “the producer of the album didn’t have a clue what the band was about and his mix of the album was horribly wrong”.

The master tapes for Oriental Beat were thought to be lost forever as they were passed around from label to label during acquisitions. The tapes surprisingly turned up in the Universal Music Group’s vault and after receiving confirmation that the tapes were indeed there, the band congregated and began work on making Oriental Beat the album that they had always envisioned.
In addition to the album being re-mixed, the track listing order has also been changed to what the band originally intended.

Monroe stated, “Why wasn’t the song “Oriental Beat” the first song on the album? That song was our big “here we are” moment and instead they put “Motorvatin’ first. This is how it should have been.”
Oriental Beat was made when Hanoi Rocks was about to explode onto the world scene and written at the absolute peak of lead guitarist Andy McCoy’s creativity as a songwriter. Rhythm guitarist Nasty Suicide says “only now, with stripping it down to the bare essentials and tweaking it to bring out what was really laid down it became our dream come true! THIS is what it’s all about” as this definitive edition of Oriental Beat now fully displays the ultimate arrogance and attitude which defined the band.

Monroe says: “now, 40 years after its original release in 1982, we finally got the album sounding as great as it deserves, with no overdubs or samples,” and McCoy adds that: “It’s better now than ever. This is what it was meant to sound like. So enjoy it… Another shot of Hanoi Rocks”.

Definitely this remix sounds like a different album. It’s much more dynamic, explosive, lively.
Highly Recommended

01 – Oriental Beat (2022 Remix)
02 – Motorvatin’ (2022 Remix)
03 – No Law Or Order (2022 Remix)
04 – Teenangels Outsiders (2022 Remix)
05 – Sweet Home Suburbia (2022 Remix)
06 – M.C. Baby (2022 Remix)
07 – Visitor (2022 Remix)
08 – Don’t Follow Me (2022 Remix)
09 – Lightnin’ Bar Blues (2022 Remix)
10 – Devil Woman (2022 Remix)
11 – Fallen Star (2022 Remix)

Michael Monroe – vocals, saxophone, harmonica
Andy McCoy – guitar, backing vocals
Nasty Suicide – guitars, backing vocals
Sam Yaffa – bass
Gyp Casino – drums

BUY
svartrecords.com/en/product/hanoi-rocks-oriental-beat-–-40th-anniversary-real-mix/10891