RECORD REVIEWS
The Smashing Pumpkins
Machina The Machines of God
Virgin
Smashing Pumpkins fans of the world ... disband. For your beloved,
melancholy Pumpkins are no more.
And while this news will come as far too late for parents worried out
of their heads about the incredibly gloomy music issuing forth from their
little darling’s stereos, you cannot help but feel a little sad that
one of the world’s truly consistent and quality bands will not be depressing
teenagers the world over any more.
They just survived so damn much - death of a band member, rumours of drug
use (yeah, rumours), rumours of breakups, bassist D’arcy leaving them,
their management dumping them. The list could go on like a deathcall. And
it brings a genuine tear to the eye.
All that finally took its toll when just a few weeks ago frontman Billy
Corgan informed a LA radio station the band would cease at the end of the
year, and in that moment millions of prozacs were downed by fans, adding
to the valium they had taken that morning.
But seriously, it is sad they are gone.
Their final album is a fitting coda to a career that spanned some 12 years.
It has some nice songs, most glum, a few that might be interpreted as lively.
Try, Try, Try is a nice song, as are Heavy Metal Machine,
probably the pick of the bunch and The Imploding Voice.
The Pumpkins probably reached their peak a few years ago, but this album
is certainly no limping mess. It is a fitting send-off for a band that has
delighted, or depressed, fans for years.
Remember, this is showbiz, and a lot can happen in a year. So next year,
this review may have to be burned when the Pumpkins return. Oh, well, such
is life.
Bug rating: 3/5
- Michael Gordon-Brown
Metallica (with Michael Kamen and San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra)
S & M
Universal
Ah. the gimmick!
Is there anything in entertainment that conjures up such a wide array
of emotions - how is it going to turn out? Is the band so boring they need
to try something desperate to revive interest? Who cares?
In this case, Metallica has blended their guitar driven rock tunes with
the violins of the San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra. And I gotta say, the
end result is, well, a fraction boring.
There is probably plenty here for fans, though they may be so horrified
at the thought of their Metallica singing with someone they may be turned
off them forever. Unlikely, sure.
But the fact remains that they have tried this and it just hasn’t quite
worked.
Sometimes it does, and the result is interesting.
But when you have nine solid minutes of lyric-less rock/opera, it does wear
thin after a little while. As in two of the nine minutes.
Their more well known songs come off best. And songs with lyrics. But the
question remains why Metallica need do something like this. Usually a gimmick
will mean the band needs something radical to try and stay fresh.
And Metallica does not need this. They are still near the top of their game.
At least, I guess, they tried something new. Pity it doesn’t work for
some 130 minutes over two discs.
Bug rating: 2/5
- Michael Gordon-Brown
Adam Brand
Good friends
Compass Brothers/Festival
COMPARISONS may be odious but if Graeme Connors is this country's
answer to Jimmy Buffet, if Kasey Chambers is our very own Lucinda Williams,
then Adam Brand is the emerging Australian John Mellancamp.
Brand, a good-looking and high personable young bloke, has a similar rocking,
folksy and honest approach to music. He rolls through foot-tapping tracks
as easily as he glides through slower ballads, all with distinctive vocal
style.
Some call him country, but this former dental technician, belt salesman,
sprint car racer and signwriter (now a Queenslander), has wider appeal both
as singer and songwriter.
Here on his second album Good Friends, Brand is joined in the writing
department by some highly credentialed mates including Connors, Don Walker
and the irrepressible Colin Buchanan.
There's a clever mix of fast and slow tracks plus enough steel guitar, fiddle
and dobro to remind us of both Brand's country roots and the talent of Australia's
backing musicians like Mick Albeck.
The boys and girls in town for the Ekka in a few months time will love I
did what? about the morning after the Big Night Out and the petrol heads
will take up You're a revhead.
There's the sex dripping through Every man likes you, the Bathurst
dream When I get my wheels and the sad and pretty Little Girl.
Then there's the album's highlight – the Brand/Connors composition
Good Things in Life, the story of his first marriage.
Good Friends has a well orchestrated mix and flow, some inventive
music and an ambience that proves Brand's three golden guitars at the 1999
Tamworth Country Music awards were no fluke.
Here is a talent with a long way to go.
Rating 3.5/5
- Bruce McMahon
Spiderbait
Grand Slam
Universal Music Australia/Polydor Records
If there is a single, redeeming feature of top Aussie band Spiderbait,
it would have to be that each of their songs offers something a little different.
Some bands come out, make their CDs and by the end of it you’ve
heard the same song 12 or 13 times. And then the CD is banished to a corner
where it fulfills the role of dust collector for the next few years.
But this is not the case with Spiderbait. Band members Janet English (Bassist
and vocalist), Kram (or Mark Maher, drummer and vocalist) and Whitt (Damien
Whittney, guitarist and occasional vocalist) endevour to make each song
different from the one before it.
Their latest album, Grandslam, is an eclectic mix of alternative
songs that range from the energetic and upbeat, to the mellow and depressed
and to the just plain weird. There are even a few instrumentals (Buster
and Tallygaroopna) thrown in for good measure.
The picks of the bunch would have to be Shazam!, Dinnertime, Stevie
and King of the Northern though all songs have their own charms.
And for those still wanting more, there is a special bonus CD featuring
remixes of various songs on the main album.
It is probably impossible to say whether this album tops 1996’s Ivy
and the Big Apples. And a little unfair too, as each album is different.
So let’s just say that this CD is a good one, and end it at that.
Bug rating: 3.5/5
Michael Gordon-Brown
28 Days
Here We Go
Mushroom
If 28 Days and their album, Here We Go, had have been remotely terrible...
well, there would have been endless, clever ways to commence this CD review.
28 Days Only, Here We Don’t Go... Well, you get the idea.
Ok, so maybe they weren’t so clever. But at least it would have turned
out to be a remotely interesting way to begin this review. As it turned
out, the album was a respectable mix of punk/rap/techno type songs.
Certainly not everybody’s first choice for Saturday night’s party,
but it is a decent, if not entirely original, compilation.
28 Days were formed in Melbourne in 1996, and consist of Jay (vocals), Adam
(drums), Damian (bass) and Simon (Guitar).
Here We Go has five songs - two originals and three that have been
mixed in a variety of ways.
The opening Sucker is undoubtedly the star of the album, while of
the three mixed songs The Right Place (the Frank Stoner mix) grabs
top honours.
28 Days is the sort of band with a small but loyal fan base. Further, the
fan base would more than likely be weird uni students with different colour
hair, probably studying journalism. And that is fine.
For those who aren’t fans, there’s not much here at all.
Bug rating: 2.5/5
- Michael Gordon-Brown
