Pitchfork

Double Platinum just might be the first major remix album. I'm not sure, to be honest, but if you can dig one up from before 1978, lemme know. Kicking off with a re-recording of Strutter (oh so cleverly retitled "Strutter '78," paving the way for Real Life's "Send Me an Angel '89") that proved Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter came to disco. Hey, this was during the heydey of Saturday Night Fever; who could blame them for cashing in? It's amazing how much different a song sounds when you play sixteenths on the high hat. It's goodbye rock and "Hi, baby what's your sign?"

The rest of the songs are remixed (read: polished fiercely), or perhaps wedged together. (The intro to "Rock Bottom" is tacked onto the beginning of "She," and for what reason, I don't know.) "Black Diamond" gets its irritating, slow- down ending replaced with a repeat of the beginning and fade out. I think it's an improvement. The songs retain their glory for the most part, but lose their shine in favor of gloss.