Bush: Deconstructed

Remix albums are almost invariably a waste of time: Far more often than not, they're just between-album padding designed to milk short careers for all they're worth. Just ask Bobby Brown, or Paula Abdul, or Milli Vanilli. The only way to do them right is to radically restructure—even reinvent—the artist's songs as more than mere dance remixes, as Björk did with this year's Telegram. The megaplatinum, oft-maligned Brit-grunge band Bush is smart enough to do just that on Deconstructed, allowing hip remix jockeys (Tricky, Goldie, et al) to tear its songs down to basic elements, then rebuild them with electronic beats and samples serving as the primary instrumental backing. The cynical will no doubt point out that after only two albums, Bush is trend-surfing—you know, taking its once-trendy grunge sound and reconciling it with now-trendy electronica arrangements. And, well, the cynical are right. This is exactly what Bush is doing on Deconstructed. The only problem is that the songs still feature Gavin Rossdale's ludicrously angst-ridden lyrics and vocal affectation, and all the vanilla beats and dull samples in the world won't make those any less tiresome.