another fans take on EMS...

wide open road is wonderful... unknown to my ears until now, Triffid deficient i was... great song and quite possibly Kilbey's finest vocal delivery ever imho... precisely because it's not his song, just a song he loved for a long time, and he just pours himself out on it...

it's no reason gets an interesting treatment, which i know sounds like a diplomatic demure, but it's just not the rewrite i was thinking of... cool drum piano intro, in fact i love the drum sound on this track... it's an elizabethan "paint it black" is the best way i could put it... time however is being kind to this track, and i must say i love it!!!

hmmm, never been a reptile fan... still not, but if smarmy lounge lizard is the reptile in demand, then the nail has been hit on the head... can i take my tongue outta my cheek now... the solo at 2:50 is drop dead gorgeous, and steve's vocalese after that is drop dead funny... it's cute and campy i guess, but what do i know, i gotta blow... i love you people, any birthdays in the house?
tip your waitress, good night and god blesssssssssssssssss......

tantalized is reborn, redefined, re-experienced and re-known... this is truly beautiful to my ears...

electric lash... ladies and gentlemen, keef churchbane!!! a favorite from the back catalogue, but i'll stay back there for this tune... especially for the break, which is kinda weak on this version... to me...

aent... i may like this more than the original, which i like a great deal... but this is maybe a more honest and bare telling... the counterpoint between sk's voice and the piano is fairly divine, all surfing along on a bed of strings... and the break at 3:05 ripples out to space and back on a silver string through the darkness...

song in the afternoon, a new 'un... reads like the blog on a space cake day, nice simple dreamtune for the afternoon...
a little rough round the edges, which i happen to dig... i know i'll be singing that catchy as hell intro line as i roll along on the skateboard after a few cones in the afternoon, cause it's got the flow baybee!!!

gotta take a break...

ok, back to it...

two places at once... glad they took another look at this one, for some of the same reasons stated already... i like Marty's vocal on this one far better than the original... i'd get "the cringe" at times from the overemotive qualities in the old vocals... both Steve and Marty sound rather sublime and distinguished on this version... and EXPERIENCED, which fits the subject matter much better... great strings!!!

appalatia... ah, the unheralded genius of Peter Koppes... well i'm here to sound the bloody trumpets!!!
while not as stunning as EMD's A New Season, PK shows more inate ability at song restructuring than anyone in the band... and that mandolin!!! pretty fucking sweet...

bordello... twisted darkish little number... my jury is out, or hanging from a limb in the breeze... i can still see this being used in a film or show while something really NASTY is going down... but i'll probably not listen to it often... 'nuff said...

pure chance... a gem to me off ULTC, which for me ended up a fairly mediocre album... i like this direction songwise, and this version with the lovely female vocals stands up quite well alongside the original... doesn't surpass it, just compliments it... tres dreamy...

grind... WOW!!! rebirth at full acoustic throttle... another one retranslated through experience and a feeling of luck at getting another crack at it... really raises the hairs on the back of my neck... the drums just rock and i love that sound in the back around 3:30... treated vocals??? elysian fields not far behind...........

nsew... i love this take on a Starfish tune... really nice and so different from the hyped up L.A. version... truer perhaps... trippy little sounds send me into orbit... ah, could go on a bit longer for my tastes....

comeuppance... fine little closing jam, wraps it up nicely... a warm feeling seeps into the headphones from a studio far, far away, where dreams are made....

so in closing, i like these revisitation albums and i think they've pulled them off well... i would in no way call them rehashings, and i'll even refrain from my usual drug references on that one... i for one appreciate the improvisational quality, closer to the heart...
if you're looking for ultraproduced and overrehearsed albums, you may need to look backward...
they are not...

ta ta,
erik