MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO STORM THE STUDIO R.M.X.S. ALBUM TINO RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 23, 2003 REVIEW: SEPTEMBER 23, 2003

The classic "Storm the Studio" (Wax Trax! Records/Sweatbox Records 1989) release consisted of four tracks remade to fill four sides of vinyl and has affected many in the industrial, noise, techno and dance scenes since. The early work of pioneering UK eclectic hard dance outfit Meat Beat Manifesto has been "re-animated" by some of today's experimental artists into 13 exclusive remixes as "Storm the Studio R.M.X.S." on a single CD. Admittedly, I hadn't listened to the original 2xLP in a long time but it really shows how the term classic and "ahead of it's time" coincide.
The first track "Cease to Exist" by M.B.M. vs. D.H.S. is the hardest to critique here as main man Jack Dangers himself (with Ben Stokes) is part of the remix team. It has lost some of the fear concept totally. Eight Frozen Modules' "God O.D." blurs the original with breaks and beats. Twilight Circus Dub Sound System's work on "Storm the Dub" has lost all it's fire in this funk-styled track. DJ Spooky's echobox treatment has saved the old recording speech dialogue sample for the ending of "Shadow & Substance". Staid lowly "God O.D." by Jonah Sharp works as a minimal treatment but this music never was minimal. This same track by The Mellowtrons gets the dubbed out treatment. "STS 2006" struggles to move forward but lands in a sample by High Priest himself.
The Opus' Mr. Echoes seems to know the way to go with these songs as shown in his treatment of "I Got the Fear". Komet's grooves in "Re-Animix" roll on nicely. In "God O.D. - Parts 2," the long easy scraping dub gives us a crunchy vibe. What else would a Merzbow mix be? Take the noisiest track and re-noisify it. DJ Swamp's guitar riff stomp in "Storm the Studio" is reminiscent of the old KMFDM with drum'n'bass in the mix. Norscq's "God O.D. - Part 1" almost sounds re-recorded nevermind remixed. It does get back to basics as it goes on and actually gets more complex to an even end though quietly. Scanner's "MBM Reanimator" comes closest to what would have happened if Meat Beat Manifesto were to record as new.
I believe regardless of the musical direction that Dangers has taken in this last decade, it's important to take a look back at how he's helped this genres evolve and these tracks' redux are a testament as to how important they really were. Pity a planned mix by Cevin Key was never realized as it would have be very fitting. Many will enjoy the electronic sounds and hard beats of "...R.M.X.S". To me, it's very watered down in general as we get this chance to look back on history. It lacks the vocal pain, fear and vitality of the original release. It was remastered and rereleased in July 2003 on Lakeshore\:run recordings (USA).

ALEX VERONAC