It's easy to say that
Bush released the electronica remix album
Deconstructed in late 1997 because they wanted to diversify, since their trademark grunge-by-numbers was losing steam. It's also probably accurate.
Bush have never shown an inclination toward dance or electronic music -- if anything, they were the most traditionalist and conservative band in grunge, keeping their music hard, simple, and loud, lacking even
Stone Temple Pilots' psychedelic flair. They also lambasted any guitar band that wanted to stretch beyond what a traditional guitar-bass-drums lineup could do, so it's easy for the jaded observer to be cynical about
Bush's leap into the world of drum'n'bass and trip-hop. And there certainly are an abundance of awkward moments on
Deconstructed, but the surprising thing is, there's actually a handful of tracks that work. Of course, that's due to the remixers --
Tricky and
Goldie turn their contributions into dark, menacing, unpredictable exercises in paranoia that
Bush's original versions never suggested. Ironically, that's exactly the reason why many
Bush fans will hate not only those particular tracks, but
Deconstructed in general -- it's not the
Bush they know and love. Furthermore, dance/electronica fans will find too much of this album unimaginative, so the band winds up satisfying neither audience. Only the dedicated will need to travel this road and they probably won't like where it leads. [
Deconstructed was remastered and re-released on CD in 2014.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine