The folks behind Britney Spears marketing campaign are either very greedy or very savvy (or more likely, both). Since the release of Spears' last album, 2003's In The Zone, this collection marks the second "Greatest Hits/Best Of" permutation the artist has dropped. But then that's par for the Spears' course. She's cranked out an album just about every year since her 1999 debut. When you're taking a hiatus to be a mom there's no better way to stay in the ears of the masses than with a brash collection of remixes of your most recognizable hits (though Spears' might've entertained making an acoustic album of lullabies. It worked for Sinead, remember?).The entire philosophy behind Spears' career seems accurately summed up when she snakily croons "I need a hit, baby give me it" on Peter Rauhofer's Reconstruction Mix of "Toxic." Spears domination of the radio waves and tabloid pages has been inscrutably rooted by her hits and totalizing command of her sexuality. But then such is the pop star lifestyle and you gotta give it up to the new mom and her camp for milking it for all it's worth. While B In The Mix is teeming with vapid pop songs, the one thing you can't deny is that in many instances the remixes are far superior to the original versions, sonically speaking, that is.The bump and grind has been juiced up, so we're given an ample dose of Spears on steroids. Thankfully many of these reconstructions are previously unreleased, making this something of a worthwhile purchase for Spears diehards and club junkies looking for their next pop Lolita fix. Rauhofer's refit of "Toxic" is filled with slinky churgle and plenty of repetitious thump. Sadly he didn't tweak Spears' voice much, so she's crooning in a high pitched strain over the pounding beat. The Justice Remix of "Me Against The Music" fares a little better, injecting chug and blitz that accentuates Spears' Madonna infatuation (the Material Woman is on the track, too, further drawing the comparison of pupil and teacher, though often it seems as if Spears might have cut class a few times too many).Bill Hamel tries his hand at "Touch of My Hand," slipping in some nice ethereal synth swoons and speed freak rhythms that feel like a 4 a.m. ecstasy train wreck, which is good, trust me. Spears' voice has been given the robotic echo flange, which is seriously cool as she sounds like she's warbling underwater for much of the song. Englishman with the French DJ name Jacques Lu Cont further cements the Madonna/Britney connection (Lu Cont is all over Madonna's new disc) with his serpentine remix of "Breathe On Me" (although this reworking brings Britney closer in sound and style to Kylie Minogue than Miss M.). The low-key synth burples mold themselves to Spears' whiney twang nicely and the track is elevated to a hypnotic intersection of time and space. "I'm A Slave 4 U" becomes a mock house blitz thanks to Dave Aude's Slave Driver Mix tactics. The chorus is a bit musically cheeky, and it may be the most accessible retrofit on the album, but it's still light years of an improvement on the original. Junkie XL comes in with some sonic niceness on "And Then We Kiss," making the remix an understated swatch of atmospheric neo-goth poing and staccato rhythms. In stark contrast Valentin opts for a very Euro cheese ball treatment of "Everytime." Spears' voice is tweaked to the point where she sounds incredibly like Madonna as Night At The Roxbury-styled generic synth pulses underneath. It's kitschy beyond belief, but will no doubt reverberate on the more cheese incrusted club circuit.
Gary Lightbody and crew look to shake things up on their lat...