quoted 7 lines Yeah, that's how I feel about the new Meat Beat. Been around sooo long,> Yeah, that's how I feel about the new Meat Beat. Been around sooo long,
> yet still putting out albums which are only "half-full" in the musical
> approach theory stated above. But I know most all of the idm'ers love
> this double pack. It still seems like just "O.K" material to me. But I
> was surprised at their live show; it captivated me and made me pay
> attention. I found a new liking for them after seeing them live (thank
> god there weren't any leather - clad dancers!)
I think you (James) misunderstood me. When I say the-cup-is-half-full, I'm
saying I try to look for the good in everything now, rather than trying to
ferret out (and focus on) the bad. I could say that the Chemicals bug me
because their "songs" are just loops, but I liked the loops, so I liked them.
That said ...
As for Meat Beat, they were the big question mark for me at Organic. Unlike
you (James), I've loved all the Meat Beat records. But the last couple of
singles ("Asbestos Lead Asbestos", a pointless cover; and "Transmission")
made me go "Hmmn". But based on what people said here, I decided to detour
on the way to Organic to pick up "Subliminal Sandwich". Listened to all of
disc one on the way there. Not too bad, but nothing earth-shattering, either.
Then, on the way into the mountains, slipped disc two in ... and ...
"HOLY HELLFIRE BATMAN, what the PHUQUE is THAT?" I exclaimed as the most
slammin' Techno track I've heard in *eons* came blasting outta da speakers.
"So THIS is what everybody's been talking about!" Well, I didn't get to
hear all of disc two before we got to Organic, but I heard enough to make
me wonder: which Meat Beat Manifesto was gonna show up?
Well, the answer to that came quickly enough, when Jack came out with a
real (human) drummer and a guitarist/saxaphonist. Instead of the disc two
"Subliminal Sandwich" Meat Beat, we got the "organic" (no pun intended)
Meat Beat. The sound was horrible for them (probably since they were the
only ones using real instruments like that), I couldn't hear Jack's vocals,
the guitarist/saxaphonist was utterly pointless, and the rhythm patterns
that sound perfect booming out from the records sounded lousy when played
by the live drummer. Old favorites like "Helter Skelter", "Radio Babylon",
"God O.D." and "Original Control (Version 2)" (Tam, this is the real title
of the "I am Electro" sample track) just sounded like pale imitations of
the originals. To add insult to injury, later on, Underworld came out and
played a couple of tracks that had the funky Meat Beat thang going, only
done all electronically. And I stood there thinking, "Now why isn't *Jack*
doing his tracks like this ... " (And of course, there was the Chems later on
doing *their* take on the Meat Beat funky drummer thang, done electronically)
In short, I was disappointed by Meat Beat's set. Given that I wasn't
disappointed by anyone else at Organic (well, The Orb annoyed me, but they
didn't disappoint), this was a bit of a bummer. I think Jack's "organic band"
approach might have been more suited to the "Satyricon" tour (listen to some
of the tracks on that album and hear all the organic instruments), but this
is 1996, the 2nd disc of "Subliminal Sandwich" is stupendous and clearly in
the here and now, and if Jack had come out by himself and played that stuff,
he would have blown all the Techno kids away. I would have liked that *grin*
- Greg