Call and Response: The Remix Album

Album Review

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.