Given that Les Fradkin has long been associated with musical innovations and the development of instrumental technology, it isn’t surprising that he can write a dreamscape ballad that combines love and longing with allusions to such hi-tech imagery.
Remote Control plays with the idea that you can be so entranced with someone that they seemingly only have to press a button to make you feel or act a certain way. In times past, writers would have used more mystical imagery – magic, spells, charms and illusions. But, always one to keep up with the times, Les sees the connections between electronic wizardry and emotional control here and lays them out in balladic form.
It’s a song that drifts through the consciousness, cocoons the listener, and talks of one person’s control over another when they are totally and utterly in love, hopefully in the very best of senses but it does make me want to write a sci-fi short story based on such an idea. Electronic washes soften the soundscape, synth sonics float by, and his trademark bass merely pulses and gently propels the song along, allowing his voice to be the focal point.
It’s a great song and yet another side to Les Fradkin’s musical personality.
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