Bush Deconstructed CD

Taking advantage of the latest craze for electronic dance music, British grunge masters Bush have invited the cream of the crop of techno DJs to create their own vision of the "Bush" sound. The result is DECONSTRUCTED, a deeply engrossing collection of heavy drum 'n' bass beats and digital atmospheres. Using the original songs as a jumping-off point, the artists have essentially created new tunes based around familiar themes from earlier Bush albums. In fact, most songs are recognizable only by a bass line or a snippet of the vocal melody.

The hit single "Everything Zen" is given two treatments here, and the results couldn't be more different. With its retro drum sound, the Lhasa Fever Mix stays fairly faithful to the original (as far as that is possible in the world of techno), including most of Gavin Rossdale's lyrics and even (gasp!) electric guitar. Its counterpart, the Derek DeLarge mix, has a more in-your-face sound and only hints at the original through the occasional fragment of vocal melody. But these DJs aren't cover artists, nor is their purpose necessarily to pay tribute to Bush. What they have done is create an engaging set of songs doing what they do best; creating something new from something old.

Producers include: Tricky.

Engineers include: Chris Haynes, Vaughan Sessions.

Bush: Gavin Rossdale (vocals, guitar); Nigel Pulsford (guitar); Dave Parsons (bass); Robin Goodridge (drums).

Additional personnel: Jasmine Lewis (vocals); Andrew Goodsite (guitar).

Re-Issue

Rolling Stone (11/27/97, pp.107-108) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...whether the album is an artistic leap forward for Bush or merely their attempt to jump from the alt-rock gravy train to the electronica bandwagon, they make the move more easily than one might expect..."
Spin (1/98, p.114) - 6 (out of 10) - "...Like hip-hoppers borrowing beats, the Bush remixers swipe Gavin's best moans and wring from them all the sexy nihilism that place him on our cultural radar in the first place....DECONSTRUCTED is a strange spectacle--it succeeds because of how little Bush it gives you."
Entertainment Weekly (11/14/97, p.93) - "Goldie and Bush's Gavin Rossdale are an unlikely combination. But the trip-hip God is among a handful of artists who remix the band on DECONSTRUCTED..." - Rating: B