9th September 2002
IntroductionAlec Turner, a friend from my old job at SSL, wrote rather a good review of Spirit of TECC, which I put up on this site. So I was delighted when he sent this review of Volume 3. (I'm pretty sure he has a copy of the Volume 2 CD, but doesn't seem to have got around to reviewing it.)
- Mike.
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 10:38:52 +0100 (BST)
From: alec@ssl.co.uk
To: mirk@ssl.co.uk
Subject: review of Spirit of TECC volume 3
Something for your website ...
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If memory serves, when I wrote my last SoTECC review I was very very drunk. For
this one I'm left stone cold sober (although I have been taking anti-biotics
for about 2 months). How does that affect my reviewing skills? You decide.
P.S. I've decided to test my CD collection by trying to find at least one
serious "If You Like That You'll Love This" for every track.
1) The Prodigy - Narayan (7/10)
Ah, the mighty Prodigy ... fabulous stuff. Plus, Crispian Mills of
Kula-Shaker fame - the finest perpetrator of sanskrit mantras outside
of the Krishna's. Altogether now ...
Om Nama Narayana, Om Nama Narayana, Om Nama Narayana
I love this, tho' personally I'd have chosen Climbatize or, what the
hell, FireStarter.
IYLTYLT: Chemical Brothers - Music: Response
2) Ronan Hardiman - Breakout (5/10)
Interesting ... funnily enough I've got the Flying Gardiner on the TV
in the background while I'm listening and this goes with it perfectly.
I quiiite like this (a bit), the 2nd half reminds me of something ....
ah, got it!
IYLTYLT: Cozy Powell's Over The Top album ... no, seriously (in a Rock
drummer vs. trad. Irish kind of way)
3) Blur - Ernold Same (6/10)
Yeah, it's alright tho' (as I think I've said before) I prefer Blur's
faster stuff (e.g. Bank Holiday). I wonder whether you'd think this
was as good if it weren't Ken Livingstone?
IYLTYLT: Pink Floyd - something from The Wall? (nah, that's pathetic
sorry, all I can think of are other Blur songs ... have you heard
Closet Romantic from the Trainspotting soundtrack?)
4) Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me (5/10)
Nah, this seems pretty average to me (actually, I'm just listening to
it again and that's a bit unfair ... it's "nice"). However, in its
favour it does remind me of ...
IYLTYLT: anything by the Sundays (and frankly, You'd have to be insane
not to Love everything by The Sundays).
5) Simple Minds - Someone Somewhere in Summertime (3/10)
I wonder what I'd have thought if I hadn't seen that it was Simple
Minds? See the trouble is that I HATE Simple Minds who are a pathetic
posturing trainspotter's Y-front of a band compared to the thrusting
leather pants of ... U2, however for this particular track ...
IYLTYLT: Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down
6) Coldplay - Panic (9/10)
Bastards! ... sorry, it's just that (for me anyway) Coldplay are to
music what Hugh Grant is to film. That is, I really want to hate them
but, damn it, they're just too good at what they do to dismiss.
IYLTYLT: Starsailor - The Way Young Lovers Do
(yeah, the Van Morrison song)
7) Joy Division - Transmission (6/10)
As a music snob I really should praise this most highly (important,
influential, ground-breaking, blah blah blah) but the fact is that it
just doesn't quite do it for me (even if it does lay the foundations
for a lot of stuff I love).
IYLTYLT: Cabaret Voltaire - Nag Nag Nag
8) Alexander Scriabin - Opus 8 (7/10)
(nice sequencing Mike)
Beautiful, stirring, passionate.
IYLTYLT: any Silent movie soundtrack
(I bet I've really shown myself up with that comment)
9) Rush - Closer To The Heart (4/10)
I'll wager Mike likes this one. Is this a later Rush track? Only
I can't help suspecting the earlier ones would be better. It reminds
me of those bands that try to sound like early Genesis - they've got
the right metaphorical clothes on but can't disguise the fact that
underneath they wear the uniform of a Sommerfield shelf stacker.
IYLTYLT: Genesis - The Musical Box
10) Aaron Copland - Rodeo: Hoedown (5/10)
Isn't this an Emerson, Lake & Palmer track :-)
So this is what the original sounds like. I'll bet it's been used as
background music to more slightly humorous "roof raising and/or cattle
round up" scenes than any other piece of music. Yeee Ha!
IYLTYLT: god knows ... Back To The Future 3 soundtrack?
11) Richard Cheese - Creep (8/10)
YES! I am SO glad that someone's put this on a CD. It's probably the
single best cover version EVER!
Altogether now: a PIG in a CAGE on anti-BIOTICS (ooh, very appropriate)
IYLTYLT: Sex Pistols - My Way
12) Queen - Bohemiam Rhapsody (9/10)
Isn't this just superb? It's funny but people rarely put the "obvious"
tracks onto these CDs (I was expecting to get bored and skip it) and
yet, when you hear them ... man! they're not called "classic" tracks
for nothing are they?
Have you ever seen Lee Evans' comedy routine for this track? So funny.
IYLTYLT: Muse - Feeling Good (for the sheer vocal/musical excess of it)
13) Chopin - Ballade No. 4 (7/10)
(nice sequencing, again ... having a piece of classical music after a
rock track just works so well doesn't it?)
This is great, I like this a lot.
IYLTYLT: (I'm not even going to embarrass myself)
14) Linkin Park - Points Of Authority (4/10)
Eurgghhh! (I bet he does that in a minute ... no? oh well, for a great
track where the singer does go "Eurghhh!" ...)
IYLTYLT: Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name
15) Dean Martin - Ain't That A Kick In The Head (7/10)
Nice! (in a Fast Show kind of way)
Not at all dissimilar to one of my own SoSSL choices ...
IYLTYLT: Frank Sinatra - I Get A Kick Out Of You
16) Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (6/10)
This would be a fabulous track, but for me, Levis have tarnished it
forever. Not because the advert was dreadful (far from it) but just
because they have permanently re-wired my brain to associate the two
(which probably counts as an act of advertising genius in fact).
IYLTYLT: Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman
17) Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me (9/10)
Oh man, as soon as I saw that this track was on here I had to skip
ahead to give it a listen. Utterly brilliant as ever.
P.S. just got around to this again in the proper sequence, still
brilliant, if Levis ever go near this I'll shoot my television (very
Rock'n'Roll).
IYLTYLT: Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (sort of)
(have you got Days of Speed? if not - get it! now!!)
18) Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper (6/10)
Not bad. Better than Rush. This REALLY reminds me of something. Some
60s hippy thing with a lyric like ".. and all the leaves are green".
If you know the track I mean PLEASE put me out of my misery.
IYLTYLT: Chris DeBurgh - (Don't Pay) The Ferryman (which I don't own
I hasten to add)
19) Mylene Farmer - Desenchante (4/10)
Was this a eurovision contender? A nice enough song but it's "se tenir
sur les épaules des géants" ...
IYLTYLT: New Order - True Faith