Queen – You Don't Fool Me

Great remix by Jam & Spoon - much better than the original.

Every remix of this is shite , no one can touch queens original , i agree Brian mays guitar solo makes it a bit of twat to use in a chilled dj set , if only someone could get hold of this and make a version for dj Harvey . . . oh , wait . . .

If there's one lesson to be learnt from Queen's various dabblings in dance music over the years, it's for Queen to stay the hell away from superstar DJs. 'You Don't Fool Me' was the first (and probably the last) Queen track to be specially commissioned for third party remixing. The song was the fifth and final single release from their highly successful 'Made In Heaven' album, released at Christmas, 1995.

At the time of the single's release in November 1996, just about every major European producer was encouraged to remake the Queen sound as they saw fit (indeed, many a childhood fantasy of those producers). Unfortunately, almost every remix failed to deliver what the album version delivered in abundance - the motivation to move your body. In fact, only one remix managed to come close and it was by Queen's own engineer, David Richards, whom at they time they'd been working with for 10 years.

Despite being remixed dozens of times and issued on virtually every format, including an ultra rare decision by the band's American label, Hollywood Records, to issue it on 12", the track was coldly received everywhere, and only managed to peak at Number 17 in the UK charts. This particular release was issued in parts of Europe and Australasia. It contains the original album version, an edit (which seems quite pointless really) and two remixes by Jam & Spoon and Dancing Divaz.

The quality of the remixes is utterly disappointing. Jam & Spoon try their hand at dabbling with Freddie's vocals but succeed in only wasting 10 minutes of your aural tolerance. It doesn't even manage to remain technically proficient as the vocals are often out of sync with the music. The Dancing Divaz project is a slightly better effort, but that isn't saying much anyway. His remix kicks off with some refreshing Spanish bolero but otherwise it does little to shine any new light on Queen's original.

It's not surprising that Queen's original studio creation is still the best. While I personally wouldn't classify it as "dance" or even "electronic" (it's all real drums and real bass) it still posesses a high level of energy, thanks to its relentless rhythm and blistering Brian May guitar solo. Maybe not the best thing to slip in the middle of your set or maybe in your set at all, it still is a Queen tour de force that deserves a much better repuation.