Reviews by markjazz

This is my first listen of anything that Joe Meek was a part of and I mainly bought this for two reasons. The cover artwork attracted me and also the fact that these were all instrumentals. When I was buying this compilation I asked the guy what the story was behind this producer and he told me he was one of the first to use effects with rock music and make it sound appealing to the average listener. I never listen to this kind of music but I sure liked these songs, well, most of them. Because they're instrumentals I don't find myself wanting to skip a track and both of these discs are over 70 minutes so I sure got my monies worth. In saying that though I'm not sure if I want to, or even need to explore this type of music further because I have 60 tracks here and I'm not a HUGE fan of it. I think if I ever saw a 7" vinyl I may buy it but that's about it.

This was one of my first buys from the classic experimental label Vinyl Communications. It was also a release I had rated very high but now, as the more I listen to it, it's pretty average sounding and boring at times. To my knowledge Lesser makes his tunes from skipping CD's and he does a damn good job of making it sound interesting to say the least. Most of his tracks on this split are pretty good and I prefer them over kid606's tracks overall. They, however, are too long at some points and I just get bored past the half way point. I remember trying to duplicate this type of noise back in 2002 and I couldn't do it so bravo for Lesser on doing a good job because I still don't know how the fuck he does it. Maybe he circuit bends old Discmans....who knows.

kid606's side is more musical/ experimental material, which he was known for back then. Some of his tracks have some pretty good rhythms going on, like in Catch a Lucky Star, Shyness Is Golden and Fuck Off Sarah. Some tracks have distorted beats, which I'm more of a fan of, but again, some of these tracks are pretty boring and don't go anywhere for me.

When I got this CD it had this annoying little thing about it that I couldn't get around. The track listing was a sticker that you had to rip apart in order to get to the CD. Sounds like a cool gimmick but it left the track listing ripped a bit and now it looks like shit. There was also two business cards that came with it inside. Odd. Overall this is a pretty cool disc and I would grab it if you see it out there but don't go forking over a huge amount for it. It's pretty average stuff.

To me this album seems to be a nicer version of Leæther Strip. The lyrics aren't the same as they use to be and even on albums after this one he comes back with more offensive lyrics and songs. This album isn't all that bad but it actually seems fluffy at times, which is something I didn't expect. If I was new to Leæther Strip I wouldn't start with this album at all and like the comment states below it does seem to drag on too long.

This album kinda surprised me because I didn't know that Claus Larsen did an instrumental album, but that part did shock me because he is very good with keyboards so why wouldn't he do a whole album of orchestral-industrial? I like this album a lot but it's one of those one's you have to be in the right mood for, simply because it's a fairly slow paced album. I think it might have been better if he released a double LP with every second track containing one of the songs from this album. This is a dark sounding album as well and a very good choice to play for helloween, or raising up some zombies. There isn't too much else to say about this album except for that it's good, dark and very well done and makes me wonder why Claus Larsen never got a movie contract to make music for it. It would fit perfect for a movie, like Night of the Demons.

Swing was never my thing but this is a nice collection of swing music from when Gene was hot! I prefer the later music from Krupa when he was allowed to go crazy and do his own solos but that wouldn't really happen until his involvement with Norman Granz at the Jazz at the Philharmonic sessions. Get those if you can!

Credits:

Bass - Horace Rollins (tracks: 11 to 20) , Isreal Crosby (tracks: 1 to 10)
Clarinet - Benny Goodman (tracks: 1 to 10)
Drums - Gene Krupa
Guitar - Allan Reuss (tracks: 1 to 10) , Ray Biondi (tracks: 11 to 20)
Piano - Jess Stacy (tracks: 1 to 10) , Milt Raskin (tracks: 11, 13, 15, 17 to 20)
Saxophone [Alto] - Mascagni Ruffo (tracks: 11 to 20)
Saxophone [Tenor] - Dick Clark (tracks: 1 to 7) , Sam Donahue (tracks: 11 to 20) , Sam Musiker (tracks: 12, 14, 16, 18)
Trombone - Bruce Squires (tracks: 11 to 20) , Joe Harris (2) (tracks: 1 to 7)
Trumpet - Nate Kazebier (tracks: 1 to 7)

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Took me a few years to find this album and I'm a fan of The Knife so it's no shock that I liked it. I was in a book store that just opened up, called "Untitled Books", and it was very small and looked liked shit inside. However, the music playing in the store was a voice I had recognized. I asked the cashier if this was the girl from The Knife and she said it was her solo album. Fucking A! I love finding out good music by fluke. So I thanked her, bought two books (an Ace Double Novel and a Roger Corman bio), and then I went home and downloaded this album. It's not a 5/5 album but there's some damn good tracks on here! I really only love tracks 1, 2, 9 and 10. The rest aren't that great. Had those four been on an EP this would have been a 5/5 for me.

Overall I'd give the original version of the track a 4/5 but the whole disc is a 3/5 for me. The remixes are pretty much average and don't add much to the single. However, the original version of Earth Song is pretty awesome. I'm a big Project Pitchfork so it comes as no surprise to me that they would do a track about saving the Earth from humanity, which has been done to death mind you, but they pull it off nicely with the whispering vocals of Sara Noxx. The extended version is my personal favorite because it keeps building and building until the end and it never seems to run 7 minutes long because the structure is so well done. This probably wouldn't work as a whole album but it's nice to see these two working together.

My Gods! I don't even like this genre generally but this song just moved me in ways I can't describe. Such a masterpiece. The way the orchestral chords creep in is so lovely and Drake's voice is just as beautiful as any other instrument on this piece. Easily my favorite track from this man.

I definatly prefer this groups older material than this release, but it's still some unique sounding industrial music. It has their usual blend of orchestra pieces mixed with a good style of drum beats. Good vocals too but the album as a whole just doesn't do it for me overall. There's really only 3 tracks I love on this album, those being Uterus, Schwazer Stern and the Sehnsucht remix done by Asche. This remix happens to be my favourite track on the album and it sounds nothing like the original, which I don't like at all. The :wumpscut: remix of Vulkan is his usual bore. I liked his older remixes better.

The Enhanced features on this album include a 2002 US Tour video and a live segment from Pestillat 2002. It's pretty cool but I've only watched it once so it's nothing special. I'd prefer it as a seperate DVD with extra shit on it, even if it meant paying a bit more for the album. Personally, this album is OK but it's my least favourite from these guys so far. Still, it has me wanting to hear what they'll do next.