Meltdown

AMG Review of Meltdown

Kelvin Hayes
All Music Guide

A remix album is a slightly more refreshing alternative to the cumbersome greatest-hits packages. Eight years after the remix album Full Circle, Meltdown offers various takes on Icehouse classics by the cream of Australia's DJs. Great efforts are made to update the Icehouse sound to a dance rather than art-obsessed generation and, as Iva Davies was one of the first Australian electro-pop pioneers, he is better placed than most for the treatment. However, only a few of these pieces really succeed. Most striking are the new "Lay Your Hands on Me" with Speed of Light and the reincarnation of the band's first single, "Can't Help Myself," beautifully reconstructed as a dreamy rance-like anthem by beXta, as is Ivan Gough and Colin Snape's "Cafe Latte" mix of "Don't Believe Anymore." "Street Cafe" and Skipraiders' take on "Electric Blue" also translate well, the latter's poppy-ness actually sounding more like Icehouse now than its shameless original '80s ock version. There are casualties, though, and the Germanic disco thump of "Hey Little Girl," "Icehouse" itself, and the normally fabulous Josh Abrahams' dark variant of "Crazy" don't bode well at all. Interesting but for diehards and dance slaves only.