Back and better than ever

Some say disco is dead. Others say disco just needs a fresh coat of paint. London’s Ben Chetwood and Jack Sellen, together known as the Flying Mojito Bros, have proved that all disco needs is a little tender loving care, and it’ll be right back where it belongs: blasting out of a big ol’ stack of speakers in a room full of your fifty closest friends. These two chaps have taken “Night Time in the Switching Yard” off of Warren Zevon’s 1978 album Excitable Boy, which featured legendary jams like “Werewolves in London” and “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” and polished it ever so slightly, adding their personal touches while keeping what made the original so groovy intact. Like many edits of this nature, one of the more subtle elements of the song, the percussion, is altered to right away to start the song off with a fresh tone.

In this case, the Flying Mojito Bros added rhythmic slaps on handheld drums and extended the opening sequence as Zevon’s undeniably funky layer cake of guitar riffs build and overlap. Much to the chagrin of those that hate intricate guitar solos, the pair of Londoners left the original solos mostly as they were, but added some echoing effects at the terminus. This edit of “Night Time in the Switching Yard” sharpens the song’s edges, allowing it to cut through a tame evening like a hot knife through butter, and adds some modern energy and flair to the old classic, before fading out into a simple bass guitar and percussion affair as the last stragglers leave the dance floor…