AOR DISCO

Light Departures Volume 2: a Soft Prog Mix for AOR Disco

2013-05-17T13:32:00.001-07:00

Volume 1 of the Light Departures series was one of the highlights of 2012 it great to welcome back J Feathers from Mount Clemens in the US for this latest instalment featuring the best in smooth and spacey progressive rock and electronica from the 1970s and 80s.

judy goes to holiday - supersister happy nightmare - focus

remember the future pt. 1 - nektar

thoughts - zyma
tell me - camel
original man - riff raff
chandra - gong
milky way moses - tasavallan presidentti sneaking out the bare quare - caravan roundabout - triumvirat

city of the future - starbuck
the dragon is dancing - jimmie spheeris

(in all of my dreams) you rescue me - wishbone ash star rider - foreigner

island of dreams - hummingbird
recontre d'un soir - honeyelk
the bay - mark-almond
out of my book - van der graaf generator let me know - pat rebillot

back street luv - curved air memories - earth & fire battles/knights (reprise) - peter banks streetwalker - jan akkerman

demain - laurence vanay pastoral graffiti - nucleus

mighty echoes - eloy
foel'd again - gilgamesh
la carrozza di hans - premiata forneria marconi open sky - flash

Download / Thanks to Neil Krug for the photo

Light Departures Vol.II: a soft prog mix exclusively for AOR DISCO by J Feathers

AOR Edits Spring 2013 by Fingerman

2013-05-15T12:51:00.001-07:00

Clocking in at over two and a half hours, this is a total beast of a mix from Gregg Holmes aka Fingerman, one of of the most accomplished DJs and remixers in the UK. "I haven't done an AOR mix in a while and was in the mood one sunny morning," he says. "It was recorded on CDJs in one take."

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks (SVRT Edit)
Tom Petty - Don't Come Around Here No More (Tiedye Edit)
Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden (Cristoff Remix)
DJ Steef - Triolisme
Tina Turner - Whole Lotta Love (Dj Steef Edit)
Eagles - Those Shoes (Weedyman Edit)
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Under The Bridge (Dynamicron Edit)
Heion - Now I Know (Andrew Clarke Remix)
Duff Disco - Fame
Talk Talk - Life's What You Make It (Starkiller Rework)
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now? (MCR NYC Vocal Edit)
Pink Floyd - The Wall (Dj Agent 86 Edit)
Talking Heads - Burning Down The House (LNTG Acid Rework)
Chris Rea - Josephine (Fingerman Edit)
Toto - Georgy Porgy (Fingerman's Yacht Rock Edit)
Kate Bush - Cloudburstin' (Young Edits Edit)
Wang Chung - Dancehall Days (Psychemagik Edit)
Echo & The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar (Matthew Kyle Out There Mix)
Get Down Edits - Bakerman
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams (Rocco Raimundo Rework) (Greg Wilson Version)
Prefab Sprout - Bonny (Leo Zero Rework)
Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (Dynamicron Edit)
Latimore - Straighten It Out (ChangEd Edit)
Commodores - Sail On (BP's Balearic Soul Dub)
The Rutles - Lets Be Natural (JP Source Edit)

Download Mix /

Plus bonus beefed up Fingerman version of What A Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers

Fingerman - AOR Edits Spring 2013 by FINGERMANEDIT

Ashley's Disjointed Evening Mixtape by DJ Mase

2013-05-11T15:05:00.001-07:00

"A friend of mine has seen a few nights closing in lately," says DJ Mase aka Soggy Disco Biscuit. "It's good to get out on the road, think a few thoughts and hum a few tunes. Behind the wheel we can expel a few demons and as the sun sets, the memories cease to be howling. This mix is for Ash!"

"Waiting for a Girl Like You (Virgin Magnetic Material Remix)" -- Foreigner
"Soft" - Lemon Jelly
"Georgy Porgy (My Puddin' Pie Remix)" -- Toto
"Kiss You All Over (The Starkiller Edit)" - Exile
"Say It Isn't So (Yacht Bounce Remix)" - Hall & Oates
"Age of Reason (Peech's Sunset over Bondi Edit)" - John Farnham
"Planet Caravan (Poolside Rework Extended Intro)" - Poolside
"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Pollyn's Re-edit Remix) -Paul Simon
"Capsule (DJ Supermarkt's Slow Softrock Disco Jam Edit)" - Michael Nesmith
"Funk You Up" - Gazeebo
"Take Your Time" - LNTG
"A Fifth Of Beethoven (Flight Facilities Edit)" - Walter Murphy
"Promised Land (Drop Out Orchestra Unofficial Live Remix) - The Style Council "Silver Screen (Oxford Remix)" - Felix Da Housecat

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Ashley's disjointed evening mixtape by soggydiscobiscuit

Down The Road by Philip Kovacs

2013-05-09T14:54:00.005-07:00

Thanks to Philip Kovacs, a "small time academic making mixes to avoid thinking too much", for this exclusive mix for AOR Disco. The follow-up to Rock You Gently To Sleep, this is "a guitar laced soundtrack for skipping rope in outer space."

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve -- Sunday Morning Sun-g
Woolfy Vs Projections -- Me & You
The Diaphanoids -- Mermaids of Lunaris
Seconds -- Tell Them
Peter Visti -- Love is the Key
City Reverb -- Time Side On (Soft Rocks Version)
Tame Impala -- Half Full Glass of Wine (Canyons Drunken Rage Remix)
Jarvis Cocker -- Discosong (Pilooski Mix)
Matthew Dear -- Her Fantasy (Tornado Wallace Remix)
2020 Soundsystem -- Ocean (Ray Mang Remix)
Joakim -- Nothing Gold (Todd Terje Remix)
DNPN feat James Yuill -- The Returning (Time & Space Machine Remix)
Fear of Theydon -- He Returns From The Beyond

Download

Down The Road (Guest Mix for AOR Disco) by philipkovacs

You Can Call Me Al (Flight Facilities Edit) - Paul Simon

2013-05-05T12:43:00.003-07:00

The Pollyn remix of '50 Ways Way Leave Your Lover' has long been our favourite Paul Simon edit but this Flight Facilities version of 'You Can Call Me Al' rivals it. Originally made for the Triple J Mix Up Exclusives': 1982-1992 mix, Flight Facilities chose it because it's "such a great song and we couldn't find anyone who had made an edit that was both playable in a club, but kept the original in tact. So there's an easy intro and outro especially for the DJ's."

Download / Watch Flight Facilities Video Edit / Buy the 1986 original

Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al (Flight Facilities Edit) by flightfacilities

Midnight Storm by Porcaro Club

2013-04-26T14:49:00.004-07:00

Following his Driftin' mix last Spring, Helmut aka Mr Mellow from Légère Recordings / Lounge Records and the Porcaro Club (named after the legendary drummer of Toto) returns with a new mix. And once again it's "a trip into the night-joys of L.A. / California circa 1976-1978" featuring "soft rock disco, funky yacht rock and even more blue-eyed sunshine soul."

1 Maureen McGovern – Midnight Storm
2 Con Funk Shun – California 1
3 Korona – I Remember You (And What We Used To Do)
4 Boz Scaggs – Miss Sun
5 The Souther, Hillman & Furay Band – Follow Me Through
6 David Gates – 20th Century Man
7 Bill Labounty – California Turnaround
8 Ben Sidran – That Fine Day
9 Clover – Another Look
10 Bruce Roberts – The Guys You Dance With
11 David Cassidy – Give It Up For Love
12 Robbie Dupree – Lonely Runner
13 Fred Knoblock - Bigger Fool
14 Dean Friedman – Hey Larry
15 Bruce Johnston – Disney Girls

Download

Midnight Storm - Porcaro Club Autumn Mix 2012 by porcaroclub

AOR DISCO ADDED TO THE BILL AT FESTIVAL No 6

2013-04-24T13:42:00.002-07:00

We're delighted to announce that AOR Disco will be playing at Festival No 6 this year. Voted best small festival by NME this year, it's held at the beautiful village of Portmeirion in Wales (a village best known as the setting of the 60s show The Prisoner). Given our deep love of music with a maritime theme it's an additional bonus to be playing on The Stone Boat, along with Andrew Weatherall, Psychemagik, Sancho Panza, Horsemeat Disco, Jagz Kooner and many others. More details to follow but we'll be appearing on the Sunday with a smooth and unstrenuous daytime set with guaranteed Michael McDonald.

Low Fly by Anthony Cox

2013-04-23T16:27:00.002-07:00

"A leftfield mix of slow rock tinged disco for your aural pleasure," says Anthony Cox, who plays for Sancho Panza in London and with Rob Black Lodge in Brighton. He used to manage the legendary Flying Records shop (which opened its doors in 1989 and closed them for the final time in 2005) and is a member of Martian Lovers Disco, a cosmic fancy dress party set in large flats. We've been looking for a seriously good mix of modern day disco originals with guitars for a while now so it was great to receive this one. Thanks to Anthony for allowing us to host it.

1 Mode - Lo Fi Odyssey (Stallions Version)
2 Anthony Mansfield - Cosmic Annie
3 Bison - Way To La (Night)
4 Bison - Way To La (Day)
5 Alice Gold - Runaway Love (Andrew Weatherall Mix)
6 Grinderman - Heathen Child (Andrew Weatherall Mix)
7 Mungolian Jetset - It Aint Necessarily Evil
8 Gerd - El Rego (Tech Edit)
9 Hardway Bros - Mania Theme (Andrew Weatherall Mix)
10 Boys From Patagonia - Rimini 80
11 Marbeya Sound - No Anchor (Original mix)
12 Cut Copy - Sun God (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Download

Low Fly by Anthony Cox

Barracuda by Flying White Dots

2013-04-21T14:17:00.001-07:00

Back from a holiday in Los Angeles, the home of all great music, and the comedown of returning to normality has been lifted by this superb new album from Flying White Dots.

Flying White Dots is a guy called Bryan who started to experiment in 2006 with mixing MOR vocals with psychedelic music of various forms. A regular at Bestival and the man behind classic AOR Disco remixes (such as this one of Rhiannon) Flying White Dots has released four previous albums and Barracuda is his first since 2009.

Barracuda originally appeared as a Bestimix last Friday and it's a "blend of smooth retro West Coast classic songs re-engineered and juxtaposed to form a cosmic sonic journey." And Flying White Dots pull off some highly unlikely and ambitious combinations such as New Order's Blue Monday and Fleetwood Mac's Gold Dust Woman. Flying White Dots also create a unified album feel - as opposed to just that of a conventional mix - by the clever sequencing which uses the instrumental to foreshadow the acapella in the next track. Many thanks to Bryan for allowing Barracuda to be hosted on AOR Disco.

Tracklist:

00:00 - 04:56 Time
04:56 - 09:25 Waggaramma
09:25 - 13:00 Petty Talk
13:00 - 21:37 Smoke On A Steel Train
21:37 - 25:39 Buffalo Walk
25:39 - 37:22 Lily Rode Here At 18:07
37:22 - 42:40 Blue Dust
42:40 - 45:54 Young Imagination
45:54 - 49:59 Hotel By The Waterfall
49:59 - 54:59 The California Show

Download Mix and Individual Tracks / Photo is of Jerry Hall in 1973

Flying White Dots - Barracuda - new full length album - 2013 by FlyingWhiteDots

AOR Disco March Mix by DJ Same

2013-03-21T15:33:00.001-07:00

Featuring new takes on old tracks by Paul Simon, 10cc and many others, this is the latest mix by Sam Edlin aka DJ Same, who is one of AOR Disco's most prolific and popular contributors. It follows the excellent January, Autumn and Too Hot For The Ministry mixes as well as the classic ten volume AOR Disco series which started in 2010 (here's Volume Four).

01. Sexual Advances - Soft Rocks
02. Diamonds - Paul Simon (Todd Terje Edit)
03. I Don't Like Acid - Late Nite Tuff Guy
04. Closer Space - Telepazio
05. Peaceful Warrior - Social Disco Club
06. Joakim - Nothing Gold (Todd Terje DJ tool)
06. Touch It - Faze Action
07. The Calling - Black Van
08. That Sound - Future Rock
09. Devil Inside - Max Sedgley
10. I Wanna Dancer (Disco Rock Dub Mix) - Faze Action
11. Sound of Breaking Glass - Expanding Head Band
12. Stratus Energy (Special Disco Mix) - Faze Action
13. Magic Journey - Rogue Cat (Todd Terje Remix)

Download

AOR Disco March Mix by DJ Same by AOR DISCO

Too Much Attention (Bobby Lee's 2 Much Rework) - Gilbert O'Sullivan

2013-03-15T12:51:00.001-07:00

Following the T2MM edit of Alone Again (Naturally), Gilbert O'Sullivan makes a welcome return to AOR Disco with this Bobby Lee rework of a track from Himself, Sullivan's debut album in 1971.

Based in Sheffield "but with his heart set on Haight Ashbury '67, Laurel Canyon '72, Baia degli Angeli '78 and Ibiza '87" Bobby Lee has been a contributor to this site since our earliest days and his mixes such as Cosmic Ocean and From The Sea To The Canyons are highly recommended.

Download WAV / Buy original version

Too Much Attention (Bobby Lee's 2 Much Rework) - Gilbert O'Sullivan by AOR DISCO

Back To The Streets by Rudy Norman

2013-03-12T15:40:00.001-07:00

Featured on DJ Shadow's Co-worker Rock Mix in 2010 and on M.C.'s Balearic Sunday Mix on this site earlier this month, Back To The Streets is a rare vinyl 45 from 1980. We can't find any information at all about Rudy Norman and it seems that this single on the obscure New Day label was his only release. With its combination of smooth AOR harmonies, dirty funk, macho lyrics and low budget production values this record is an oddity but somehow it all fits together.

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Danger Zone by Larsen-Feiten Band

2013-03-11T15:47:00.004-07:00

The self-titled duo is a hallmark of pre-MTV era soft rock and we've featured a number of them, such as Bell and James, Denne and Gold, Hall and Oates, Jolis and Simone, Neilsen/Pearson, Sanford/Townsend Band and Seals and Croft. So in that tradition we present to you: Larsen-Feiten Band. A short-lived partnership of the keyboard player Neil Larsen and renowned session guitarist Buzz Feiten (who has appeared on over 100 albums by artists from Bob Dylan to Aretha Franklin), they released one album in 1980 and are best remembered, if they are remembered at all, for their minor hit single Who'll Be The Fool Tonight. But the stand-out Larsen-Feiten Band track for us is Danger Zone (not to be confused with the Kenny Loggins classic) which recalls The Eagles at their decadent funk-rock best.

Download / Buy the Larsen-Feiten Band album

Spirit In The Sky (Mojo Filter Divine Edit) - Norman Greenbaum

2013-03-06T11:21:00.002-08:00

"I'm loving this edit. It's a cheeky mixdown of this one hit wonder using the original parts and incorporating some head-whizzy shizz," says Ben Zaven-Crane of Mojo Filter. "When I get the parts from scratch - it feels like I'm in the studio with the original band - except I'm from the future! I always loved the idea of being from the future, but only from the safety of the present as I'd probably get arrested for fashion crimes or general mind meandering. God I love this groove."

Download / Buy the 1969 original version

Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky (Mojo Filter Divine Edit) by Mojo Filter

Capsule (DJ Supermarkt Extended Lazy Softrock Disco Jam Edit) - Michael Nesmith

2013-03-03T03:04:00.000-08:00

Best known as a member of The Monkees, Michael Nesmith is also music video pioneer, film producer, novelist, and a singer-songwriter with 12 albums to his name. His commercial peak as a solo artist was in 1977 when he scored a worldwide hit with Rio. Other favourites from this era include Cruisin' and especially Capsule, both from the 1979 album Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma.

"Capsule is such a good song!" says Marcus Liesenfeld aka DJ Supermarkt, whose classic AOR mixes Nite-Flyte, Too Slow To Disco and Laurel Canyon have been inspirational to us and many contributors to this site. "This is a 7:25 minute extended slow softrock disco jam edit version I did some time ago. The lyrics are so up to date and this song could be written in 2013."

Download / Buy Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma / Listen to DJ Supermarkt's recent Mixtape for BBC Radio

MICHAEL NESMITH - Capsule (extended, lazy softrock disco jam edit by DJ Supermarkt) by dj supermarkt/howdoyouare

Smokin' by La Homage

2013-02-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

Smokin' is the latest exclusive mix for AOR Disco by Mark Taylor of La Homage, who gave us the excellent Marina Rock (a mix of AOR acts who never quite made the big-time), Heading For The Bayou (a set with a "'Down In The Deep South' vibe to it"), Easy To Love (a Leo Sayer remix which has the potential to be a huge summer hit yet bafflingly remains unsigned), and Hazed and Dazed Volume 1 - Weekend On The Westcoast (mellow rarities). This new mix is the soundtrack to an American road-trip, from the country to the big smoke and back again.

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Smokin' by La Homage by AOR DISCO

Lonely Island by Wishbone Ash

2013-02-26T13:19:00.002-08:00

In 1976 Wishbone Ash, a hard rock band from Torquay who were one of the pioneers of the twin guitar solo, relocated to the US for tax reasons and sought commercial glory by muscling in on the American AOR scene. It didn't work. New England, their first US album, turned out to be the least successful of the seven they'd released to date. But it does feature our favourite Wishbone Ash track: 'Lonely Island', which sounds like a smooth yacht band gone ragged at six in the morning after a hard night on the bong instead of the Margaritas.

Download / Buy the album New England

Balearic Sunday by M.C.

2013-02-23T12:13:00.000-08:00

Based in Milan, Michele Cesana of Sci-Fi Pogo and Disco Ciulini, is one of our favourite Balearic DJs. This new exclusive mix will be followed by a series of classic Cesana mixes which we'll run in the next few weeks, a series which will include a re-upload of Silly Love Songs which was a big hit on this site back in 2010.

Rhye - The Falling (Live) (Innovative Leisure)
Jonathan Jeremiah - Gold Dust (Island)
Blundetto - Warm My Soul (Heavenly Sweetness)
Rudy Norman - Back To The Street (New Day Records)
Rolling Stones - Heaven (Polydor)
El Perro Del Mar - Heavenly Arms (Bandjo & EDPM Edit) (Colette)
Gyan Nishabda & Tri Atma - Natürliche Liebe (Erdenklang)
Jaki Whitren & John Cartwright - International Times (Emotional Rescue)
Allez Allez - African Queen (Moonlight Matters 'I Love Grace Jones' Remix) (Eskimo)
Jonathan Jeremiah - Gold Dust (Reprise) (Island)
Max Lässer's Ark - After The Battle (CBS)
Begin - Elate (Begin)
Land Of Light - Bell Rock Outpost (ESP Institute)
Haim - Go Slow (Neon Gold)
The Bear Brothers - Love Is (Psychemagik Edit) (Leng)
Nabowa - Ries (Kuniyuki Remix) (Bud Music)

Download

If You Should Sail by Neilsen/Pearson

2013-02-21T15:00:00.003-08:00

A minor US hit in 1980 and lost in obscurity ever since If You Should Sail is rare yacht rock gold. We first came across it on The King Mob's Really Really Smooth Music Volume 3 - although Neilsen/Pearson, who released three albums between 1978 and 1983, appear regularly in other AOR/Westcoast mixes we've featured such as Kent Lake, Side B, Ready 4 Airplay Volume 6, Summer Breeze Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3, and Along The Coast 2.

Here are Neilsen and Pearson - introduced as "the future supergroup" - appearing on Solid Gold in 1980:

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Private Sorrow (Mojo Filter Heaven's Reign Re-Love) - The Pretty Things

2013-02-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

Originally a track off S.F. Sorrow, one of the first ever rock operas (and one which such bleak lyrics it makes The Wall seem uplifting in comparison), Private Sorrow has been given an unconventional, electro-tinged revamp by AOR Disco regulars Mojo Filter.

Here are The Pretty Things performing the original version of Private Sorrow on French television in October 1968:

Download / Buy original

Private Sorrow (Mojo Filter Heaven's Reign Re-Love) - The Pretty Things by AOR DISCO

Don't Give Up (Bonar Bradberry Edit) - Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush

2013-02-18T13:08:00.002-08:00

"Something I've been meaning to give you all for a while," says Bonar Bradberry, who did the first ever exclusive remix for AOR Disco. "Everybody needs to be reminded now and then."

Download / Buy 1986 original

Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush - Dont give up (Bonar Bradberry Edit)*FREE DOWNLOAD by Bonar Bradberry

All Returns by Wolf People

2013-02-15T13:18:00.000-08:00

"PROGGGGG", announced Lauren Laverne on her Twitter feed at the crack of dawn earlier this week with a link to this new single by Wolf People. This isn't the first time a BBC Radio DJ has got behind this band. In 2006 Stuart Maconie made their debut EP record of the week. So who are Wolf People? Information about them is pretty sketchy but they're based in London, Bedford and North Yorkshire (where 'All Returns' was recorded in an isolated house located in the Dales) and are signed to the US label Jagjaguwar, home of Bon Iver and Dinosaur Jnr. And they love Tolkien. I guess you could say Wolf People are Britain's answer to Tame Impala, and the dirty and bluesy psychedelic revivalist sound here (or "peat bog superfuzz sphagnum moss sludge" as the band put it) has echoes of Black Sabbath, Captain Beefheart, Can, Jethro Tull, Pentangle and Amon Düül II.

'All Returns', the first single from their new album Fain, is released on April 30th.

WOLF PEOPLE - FAIN - ALL RETURNS by wolfpeople

Rise (Sophie Lloyd High Fives Edit) - Herb Alpert

2013-02-13T15:09:00.001-08:00

Famously sampled on Hypnotize by The Notorious B.I.G and Fly By by Blue (and are we just imagining its presence on the legendary progressive house track Jump by Funkatarium?), "Rise" was a hit on both the Disco and Adult Contemporary charts in 1979 and went on to sell over a million copies. Originally conceived as a fast dance track it was slowed down to 100 bpm and this together with the melancholy and soulful trumpet playing of Alpert (the 'A' in A+M Records) gives it a depth which saves it from being the muzak instrumental it might otherwise have been. In fact, listening to the original on earphones it's extraordinary how sophisticated the production is for its time.

Here's the awesome promo video which casts Herb Alpert as a kind of yacht rock pied piper leading the beautiful people along a beach playing his trumpet as the sun sets. Late 1970s California is probably the only time and place where you could somehow pull this off without looking totally absurd. The video also features Alpert grooving with his wife Lani Hall in a studio. They are still married to this day.

Sophie Lloyd is a DJ and "disco queen" with residencies at Mayfair clubs Nobu and Novikov. She's also played at Sancho Panza boat parties, Festival Number 6 and at Ed Chemical's birthday party ("Sophie is one of my favourite DJs," he says. "Graceful, beautiful, groovy music"), among many others. Here on this edit of "Rise" she takes the song back to something like its original incarnation as a straight ahead dance track. And this time Alpert barely gets a look in.

Download / Buy the original version

RISE - (Sophie Lloyd edit) by Sophie Lloyd

Those Shoes (Gazeebo Edit) - The Eagles

2013-02-11T14:24:00.004-08:00

After our excursions into areas of tenuous relevance - see posts on ABBA, Lou Reed, U2 etc - it's time to get back to our yacht rock duties with this largely instrumental edit by Gazeebo International of a track from The Eagles' 1979 album The Long Run, the last they would record for nearly twenty years.

Download / Buy original version

"Those Shoes" Gazeebo Edit (FREE DOWNLOAD) by Gazeebo International

Walk On The Wild Side (Rocco Raimundo Extended Edit) - Lou Reed

2013-02-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

There's something so bogus about Lou Reed but who can deny his 1974 classic Walk On The Wild Side? We featured the Holtoug remix a couple of years ago and here's another one, this time by the Monaco-based DJ Rocco Raimundo, which is a highlight of the recent Flight Facilities 1972-1982 mix.

Download / Buy original version

Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side (Rocco Raimundo Extended Edit) by Rocco Raimundo