Give
Maroon 5 considerable credit for letting themselves be heavily remixed on
Call and Response: The Remix Album, letting hipsters from
Mark Ronson to
Of Montreal cut and paste, turn and twist the original tracks into something that says more about the remixers than the band itself. Now, whether the end result winds up entertaining either camp -- either fans of the band or the remixers -- is another question entirely, but at least
Call and Response is interesting, letting ?uestlove,
Pharrell Williams, and Bloodshy & Avant rub shoulders with power poppers
Phantom Planet and experimental rockers
Deerhoof. This wide net says more about
Maroon 5's fashion than it does their music -- they're sharp and smart enough to know what will get them club play and blog mentions -- but it's nice to have a band so big try to tie together these two niches, even if neither the R&B nor the indie rock winds up relating to the happy mainstream hooks of the group's hits. This disconnect isn't disconcerting -- often, the album is pleasant enough as background music -- but it does mean that
Call and Response doesn't have much lasting interest for fans of anybody involved in this curious project. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine