Heaven 17 - Retox / Detox [2CD] (1998)

In what seems to be an attempt to remain hip and important, Heaven 17 came up with this mess. It seemed like a good idea, '90s DJs (such as Freddie Fresh, Molella, Adrian Sherwood, and more) remixing some of Heaven 17's best-known hits, plus two new recordings of older hits ("Fascist Groove Thang" and "Let Me Go"), but in reality, the result is a big disappointment. This is a real shame, especially since they chose this as the follow-up to their wonderful reunion CD Bigger Than America. And Heaven 17 have only themselves to blame, as they assembled this project and were responsible for the whole thing. The real problem with this dance-oriented CD is that the mixes are not very good, and they do nothing to enhance the original songs. In fact, these new mixes take away everything that was good about Heaven 17. Gone are the addictive pop melodies, and in their place are these overlong, drawn-out, boring mixes. Also, the repetition of songs is a big problem. Is there any real need for three mixes of "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls"? It's a second-rate Heaven 17 song at best, and as six-minute dance mixes go, it becomes quite unbearable. In fact, there is a total of 13 songs spread over two CDs, with all but four songs remixed twice. This is truly sad, given the wealth of material spread over the six studio releases by Heaven 17. All but one (Giorgio Moroder's remix of 1996's "Designing Heaven") are new mixes, and fans would be better off searching out the original 12" singles for truly creative sounds. It is hard to say for whom this package was designed, as the average dance listener will probably find this whole thing somewhat sloppy and not too danceable, and Heaven 17 fans will be running for the original versions as soon as the CD begins. Fans of this band, and of the '80s sound, would be better served by searching out the 1993 best-of, Higher and Higher, and leaving this mess alone.