Search - Gene Loves Jezebel :: Desire: Greatest Hits Remixed

Bridging the gap between "old" school and "new!"

Frankland S. Strickland | Memphis, Tennessee | 03/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I suppose I should begin by saying that I'm writing this review for the 30 and over crowd --- you know, those of us who remember GLJ in their glory days. We all can agree that "House of Dolls" was the last "true" GLJ album and that was ...gee... 1987 (do you too feel like we're living in a time warp?)! Now, over the past 18 years we've had some Jay-less albums and some Micheal-less albums under the GLJ banner, and a few have even been pretty good. None, however, match the likes of the first few. "Voodoo Dollies" summed up their formulative years pretty well, but most fans probably had all of these songs anyway.

Okay, so here we are with a dreaded "remix" album of the band's more defining moments. Now, if you're like me then you are probably skeptical of this type of album. I can assure you, your fears will be unfounded. This is a great album.

Aside from The Mission U.K. and Love and Rockets (who were contemporaries of the original GLJ), I had heard little from most of the other bands here who have put their own "touch" to the remixes of these classic songs. I am fond of Rosetta Stone and Suspiria, but I had never even heard of Astralasia or Death Ride 69 before I bought this. Oh well, who cares? What you get is a touch of the "new" applied to the classic. Perhaps we should call them "reinterpretations." These songs are not necessarily handled in such a way as to make them categorically friendly of the dancefloor either (like most remixes).

"Desire" is "interpreted" by both Ex Voto and Astralasia. "Always a Flame" also has two versions: one by Razed in Black and one by Leaether Strip. I'm particularly fond of the new version of "Cow" and JLab has done such a job with the bland, radio-friendly "Jealous" to make it actually enjoyable! Ditto to Suspiria's take on "Gorgeous."

I've seen this album here on amazon for as little as 2 or 3 dollars. Go ahead . . . take a chance! Just think, now you might find some common ground with the 14-year olds down at Hot Topic. I'm sure they're probably getting tired of our "back in our day we had Bauhaus" spill."