1. Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower - Pleasure Heads Must Burn
2. Das Oath - Friend Catcher
3. T Cells - Deep in the woods
4. Cattle Decapitation - Sonny's Burning
5. Year Future - Blundertown
6. SSION - Nick The STripper
7. Ex Models - Mutiny In Heaven
8. Les Georges Leningrad - Riddle House
9. Rah Bras - Mr. Clarinet
10. Melt Banana - Faint Heart
11. Chinese Stars - The Plague
12. Celebration - King Ink
13. Kill Me Tomorrow - Junkyard
14. Get Hustle - A Dead Song
15. Numbers - Cry
16. Error - Wild World
17. Daughters - Marry Me
18. Some Girls - Release The Bats
I've been listening quite a lot to The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower lately, maybe the only band who ever could be described as playing Punk/Jazz, for real. The band deserves their place on this compilation, without a doubt. The original is a very punk-y song and The Plot really gives it the interpretation it deserves.
Das Oath's version of "The Friend Catcher" is actually less evil than the original, some of the subliminal threat gets lost when they try to pound the shit out of the song.
T Cells' version of "Deep in the woods" is a lo-fi synth/digital version of this song with crooning, moaning, chanting vocals, which is probably just the same thing I have wanted to do with this song. T Cells have so far done the most impressive work on a BP composition.
In my mind Cattle Decapitation shouldn't have been on this compilation. Their Death/Gore/Grind seems so wrong for interpreting this kind of groovy, odd postpunk. So Cattle Decapitation's version of Sonny's Burning actually isn't good at all.
The time has come for Year Future to take on "Blundertown", and it's really a good one. The signer captures some of the emotional angst that Cave was a master of in BP. It's more beat-y than the original, and a bit speeded up.
Then SSION starts working on Nick The Stripper. I didn't expect to hear a 80's Dancefloor/Funk version of BP on this compilation. But this is actually great. Sometimes sounding like pure Funk, at least as far as the bass and guitar go, pounding digital drums and teasing choirs just chanting the melody of the song. At the end, I can't help to wonder if they've sampled Queens "Another One Bites The Dust".
Being one of my favourite BP songs, interpreted by one of my favorite bands these days, I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with Ex Models. Mutiny In Heaven has one of Nick Cave's best lyrics, ever, and Ex Models just presents an industrial neubauten-like hammering that completely drowns the lyrics (if there are any), I can just hear spastic screaming from time to time. Of course the chorus is clear, but the chorus isn't what I want to hear.
Les Georges Leningrad performs "Riddle House", with their synth/postpunk, but it's more laid back than their usual stuff. Rather clean and not the gripping.
Rah Bras does one my favorite interpretations on this compilation, complete with snotty, arrogant vocals. The song transforms into something like arabian surf-guitar-melodies from time to time. The french translations here and there just gives the song another psychotic dimension. It's a great fucking track.
Melt Banana has been very and up and down in my book, it wasn't until Cell-Scape 2003 that I really started to appreciate what they were doing. The following albums is more to my liking than the previous, this song is in that vein. The vocals sometimes remind me of a chihuahua, and this guitar riff really suites this band.
Chinese Stars (former 'Arab On Radar' more or less) gives "The Plague" a sad, guitar based outfit, but it sounds very 80's soundtrack, think "Escape From New York". A great interpretation, but not that broken that I want it to be. The drill noises towards the end is a really cool touch.
I had expected a bit more from Celebration, since the singer and the guitarist had Jaks almost twenty years ago, which was like BP twenty years later, I had expected the cover to be more in that way, less deep-sounding and more shrieky. More like Jaks in other words, but it's more like what they did in Lovelife and of course Celebration. A really good one though, but as said, I had expected more.
Junkyard has a raw intro live with Cave's screaming, when BP performed this already 1982. I am expecting to be disappointed with just this part before the song even starts, since it starts off with like a Marilyn Manson/Neo metal song. But just getting past that first impression, and opening ones mind, it's very enjoyable. A dirty semi MM/NIN sounding, chaotic version of Junkyard that has my full respect. Kill Me Tomorrow surprises me, with a competent and cool cover.
Get Hustle freaks me out (in a good way) with "A Dead Song" done like a primitive soul/jazz/rock outrage. It's way more chaotic than their own stuff, and it's great to hear, this is excellent.
Numbers and "Cry", a very club-ish interpretation, almost danceable. Definetely not one of the best ones on this compilation.
Error performs "Wild World". But not to my liking. NIN-ish approach, but they can't pull it off, just a half-assed attempt, and the vocals are a bit shitty as well. The guitar play in the chorus sounds like a Marilyn Manson theft.
Daughters fucked-up howling rock interpretation of Marry Me (Lie Lie) is great track. I really love the deep voice, but I think I prefer the vocals more than the music on this one. A little to modern sound maybe?
Some Girls - Release The Bats, maybe not the best interpretation of BP, but just the rawness of their own sound, and approach to this song, turning it completely into one of their own hits, is cool. It sounds like it could be one of their own tracks.
This is a compilation different from the rest, it's not a standard "metal bands tribute to an older metal band", it's an attempt to cover a progressive and experimental postpunk act that sounded insane. Half of the acts gets my fullest support, some just isn't right for this compilation and the rest falls in under approval but not more than that.
