It's time someone adapted the Now That's What I Call... compilation formula to fit dance music's pop surge. But on this remix-heavy collection, pop stars are subsumed to the machine, e.g. Sidney Samson reducing Nicki Minaj to stray syllables on his remix of David Guetta's "Turn Me On." Many hooks are annoying: Arcade Eastside speed up Tinie Tempah's "Written in the Stars" without improving it, and Eric Prydz vs. Floyd's "Proper Education" clumsily layers "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2" over shiny house beats. The best tracks here bounce (Duck Sauce's disco-loopy "Barbra Streisand," Martin Solveig's guitar-hooked "Hello"); too often, the others just bludgeon. Upshot: no bottle service.

Listen to "Turn Me On (Sidney Samson Remix)":
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“More Than a Feeling”

Boston mastermind Tom Scholz was as surprised by anyone when he sent his unsolicited demo to record labels and got back a positive response. Scholz said, “I couldn’t believe it. Nobody knew who we were, so I wouldn’t even say we were struggling. It was groveling.” Part of the credit for the interest must go to the anthemic rock number "More Than a Feeling." Inspired by the Left Banke's 1966 hit "Walk Away Renee," Scholz worked on the song for five years in his basement studio before it was released on this album.