It has become fashionable for modern remixers to take older songs and revamp them for modern tastes.  A few fluke hits have been scored along the way with this idea, several years ago a dance redo of the Four Seasons' "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)" actually topped the charts.  More recently remixed versions of Elvis' "A Little Less Conversation" and Seals and Crofts' "Summer Breeze" both captured some serious airplay. 

Therefore it's probably no surprise that labels are raiding their vaults to see if lightning can't strike again.  One slight miscalculation with Future Retro is that these songs – mostly culled from the early-mid 80s New Wave vaults – were all taken from a period in time when remixing was already prevalent.  (Unlike the above listed songs, which all pretty much predated the art form.)  Therefore it is no huge thing to have these particular tunes revamped for the dance floor – many of them had been there already.  In fact, the Hamel Album Mix which jumps up the tempo here on Alphaville's ballad "Forever Young" would be a lot more impressive if it weren't so reminiscent of the original dance remix that was widely played when the song was originally popular in 1985. 

One of the sharpest versions is also from one of the more mix-happy of these groups.  The Crystal Method turn their attention to New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" with trippy swooshing electronica results.  However, as Frente's early 90s folk-rock cover of the tune proved, that song is so malleable it could work any way it was prodded.  Richard X strips down Yaz's "Situation" to bare-bones funk – adding an unnecessary intro but then letting the tune take over.   The Way Out West remix of "Lips Like Sugar" by Echo and the Bunnymen add an even more lush background to a hypnotically beautiful tune.  Sparks completely revibes Morrissey's acidic "Suedehead," making it an odd but fascinating mix of bombast and restraint.

Not all of these pan out though.  The remix of Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five's "White Lines (Don't Do It)" (it's not Grandmaster & Melle Mel, no matter what the track-listing says) is one of those obnoxious early dance vibes where an entire song is stripped down to an almost entirely instrumental sample of one short part of the song which is repeated over and over again ad nauseum.  This was done pretty regularly in the early 80s, try and track down the 12" singles of the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" or Cherelle's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" for older examples of this style.  This huge revamping strips the song of its personality and its content, making it instead an endless (and rather tedious) beat.