Revolverlution

Reviewed by:
David Peisner

Everyone talks about how the fans are a part of their music, but Public Enemy puts their money where their mouth is. For Revolverlution, the group invited fans to remix classic PE cuts and submit their productions via the band’s Web site. It’s a good thing they did. The four fan remixes included here are largely what keep the album from sounding like a mere resuscitation of PE’s trademark sound. Much of the rest of the record echoes the group’s tried-and-true, It Takes a Nation of Millions–era sonic assault: a whirring buzz of turntable scratches, thumping beats, noisy samples, and swaggering bass lines, brought to life by Chuck D’s authoritative raps and Flavor Flav’s comic goofs. With the exception of the tough, sparse, post-9/11 manifesto “Get Your Shit Together,” though, few tracks bring the sort of menace PE are capable of. But the fan remixes—which include a cacophonous, disconcerting “B Side Wins Again,” and a wild, pulsing “Public Enemy No. 1”—breathe new life into the PE formula. How’s that for audience participation?