Revenge of the Killer Bees

by Stewart MasonA completely remixed and resequenced version of 1993's Killer Bees, which had come out only briefly on the short-lived B&W label, 2000's Revenge of the Killer Bees improves greatly on the already impressive original by first dropping the weakest track, the limp guitar-funk workout "Nasty Moves," and then thoroughly remixing all of the remaining eight tracks (each mix by a different hot remixer on the New York acid jazz scene) in ways that amplify the free jazz edginess of the originals. The new mixes are fuller and noisier, with instruments jutting out at odd angles from the previously too-flat master tapes. Hiram Bullock's guitar work, which sounds louder and more fiery now, and Chick Corea's electronic keyboards particularly benefit from the enhanced mixes, as do Airto's own drum and percussion parts, some of which are looped and doubled for added dancefloor grooviness. Jazz purists might turn up their noses at these remixes, but they're done in the questing spirit of the original jazz-rock fusion pioneers (such as Airto and Corea themselves), which makes them both conceptually pure and musically solid. Revenge of the Killer Bees is not a replacement for the original album, but more of an intriguing enhancement.