BEBORN BETON RÜCKKEHR ZUM EISPLANETEN REMIX ALBUM STRANGE WAYS RELEASE: NOVEMBER 6, 2000 REVIEW: OCTOBER 30, 2000

I've always been a fan of the good old 12 inch remixes or at least interpretations with some connection to the originals. The reason is simple. If you buy a title with, in this case, Beborn Beton you will expect headstrong, innovative electropop or something at least remotely close to it, not ghastly house music, which in fact is the case in one of the reworks on "Rückkehr zum Eisplaneten".
It's mainly compiled for the American market, where the German trio got something of a break last year. Only German sung tracks are included, which aren't that many, so expect some of the songs to appear several times on this disc. The one new track, "Zauberstab" is a cover of an old German hit by Za Za, recently also covered by exceptional newcomers Klirrfaktor.
Among the renowned remixers are Eskil Simonsson (Covenant), Apoptygma Berzerk, Heiko Maile (Camouflage), Daniel Myer (Haujobb, Cleaner), Neuroticfish, cut.rate.box and Infam. Infam provides that horrible house influenced version I mentioned earlier. "Phoenix" has never sounded worse. Eskil's version of "Genauso wie Ich", a personal Beborn Beton favourite, works a lot better, with that cold, static mechanical sound bouncing beneath Stefan Netschio's cool vocals. Apoptygma also does a nice job with "Im Innern einer Frau", providing even more dance elements than the 1996 original as well as a personal touch.
Obviously, there are a few pieces that can measure up to the originals, but way too few to make it as good as it could have been. I suppose the people involved in the "Rückkehr zum Eisplaneten" work may consider it to contain nothing but creative and fresh versions, but I don't have to like all of it. The reviewer's advantage.

NIKLAS FORSBERG