As the title and cover suggest, Prebuild is a compilation of leftover tracks from around the time of Newbuild. As that might suggest, Prebuild is not particularly great outside of being a historical piece. 808 State were very influential to electronic music after all, giving this some worth to anyone interested in the history of music and the beginnings of their favorite genres and artists. This and Newbuild aren’t acid house, but they’re still much different than the predominant styles of electronic dance music around the time of the ’80s and you can still hear them clearly trying to break the mold. They just didn’t stumble upon a substantial sound the world wanted to hear until 90.

That aside, from the perspective of someone who thinks Newbuild is just okay, loves 90, and enjoys the works that came after it, Rebuild is the worst 808 State “album.” It’s unlikely that I’ll ever choose to listen to it again before any other of their albums—especially Newbuild.