Grinderman - Grinderman 2 RMX (2012)

Grinderman's second remix collection features collaborations and reinterpretations, and of course remixes of songs from Grinderman 2. The cast is interesting: Robert Fripp, Nick Zinner, Barry Adamson, Andrew Weatherall, Joshua Homme, UNKLE, and more. Asking whether or not this collection is desirable is completely different than asking if it's necessary. The answer to the former obviously depends on how big a Grinderman fan you are -- or if you are a completist of any of the other artists included here. There are some interesting moments: hearing Fripp cut loose on guitar over "Super Heathen Child" is a nice touch and revs it up considerably, nearly taking it off the rails. Adamson's "Palaces of Montezuma" significantly livens up -- and humanizes -- what was otherwise a boring cut. Weatherall's "Heathen Child" completely deconstructs, dubs out, breaks up, and remakes the tune in his own image -- what a remix is supposed to do. It would have made a great B-side to the single version. This brings us back to the second question: was this necessary? The short answer is not by a long shot. The reason -- other than the obvious one that remix albums almost never work out -- is that there are too many takes of too few songs: three of "Evil" -- including one by Grinderman itself called "First Evil," which is a total throwaway -- take up a full fourth of the recording. Add to this two remixes each of "Worm Tamer (though UNKLE's "Hyper Worm Tamer" is alright) and "When My Baby Comes," and of course, the pair of "Heathen Child"'s here -- no thanks. An EP might have worked, but apparently Grinderman had to milk it for all it was worth.