It’s far, far too easy to pass off remix albums as an over-adventurous attempt to flog the echoey repetition of one line of a very good song. So why do the bejillion-selling Bloc Party choose to provide such ripe ammunition and a big poster-painted sign saying ‘kick me’?
Yes, the album proper is an innovative slice of heaven in audio form (whose mix was fine the first time around, I might add). Yes, there’s an insatiable appetite for all things Bloc Party at the moment – especially given their Mercury Music Prize nomination. But not even the well-chosen collective of remixers – everyone from Scottish noisesters Mogwai to the ultracool Engineers – can justify this release. Most are uninspiring, slightly changed versions of the original – at worst a sanctioned mauling (‘Positive Tension’ by Jason Clark of Pretty Girls Make Graves, would you have it), and at best a mediocre adaptation (Death From Above 1979’s take on ‘Luno’).
An exception to this rule is the Whitey version of ‘Helicopter’, which sounds like it was as fun to make as it is to listen to. But of course it’s going to be when you get to mess around with the infamous ‘bravado’ word/line, now synonymous with the band.
The other exception is ‘Banquet’, remixed by BP’s album producer Paul Epworth under the guise of Phones: the funky electronic beats actually improve on the original version as an indie club anthem. But two worthy songs doth not a remix album make. Linkin Park proved with Reanimation that remix records can be sheer genius if executed correctly, which just makes the clichéd versions even more groanworthy.