that you've pulled out and listened to for the first time in many years, and your reaction to them.

me: Nitzer Ebb - Big Hit. 1995. Elektra Records.



Its hard to believe that its been TEN YEARS since this album has saw the light of day from up underneath the depths of my record collection.

(wipes off a thick layer of dust)

I think this was the last one they put out before they called it quits. With the perspective of of a decade's worth of time I can say that its an interesting look back. Harshly criticized by industrial fans at the time for being too glossy and "not hard enough" as compared to their earlier albums, Big Hit is a wild, panoramic, and experimental record where the band tries to explore new musical grounds and you have to respect them for that. While admittedly most of the tracks are misses rather than hits, in some ways it is much more creative and an interesting listen than their seminal albums That Total Age and Showtime for example which, though effective and powerful in small doses, is about as subtle as a brick to the head. (JOIN IN THE CHANT!...MUSCLE AND HATE!) Produced by the wizard Flood himself, Big Hit's sound is enjoyably phat, deep, and busy. Unfortunately however, I have to say that this where Nitzer Ebb is trying too hard to emulate their successful label and frequent concert mates, Depeche Mode and anyways by this time one can argue that industrial music had for the most part run its course. Instead of his usual bitter, hard-edged angst, vocalist/shouter Douglas McCarthy tries a different approach here of actually trying to sing, lowly croon, and growl in the background of lush synth and electronic waves, flutters, and bursts of noise. As a result of their efforts this album ended up alienating most of their fans and thus afterwards floated them off into obscurity.

the mid ninetys waz a angstful time and sh_uff like these guys got lotsa play, inna similar vein I have really revived my Orbital CD's

It's funny you mention Orbital because a few weeks ago I dug out their Snivelization album and was surprised to find how good it still was.

Primal Scream's Echo Dek - the dub remix album of their own album Vanishing Point. It's pretty good in it's own right, especially the remixes of 'Stuka' and 'Kowalski'

1995 isn't old!

to you maybe

Yet its been 1/3 of your entire lifespan thus far. Somehow it seems like a long time ago to me musically.

Agreed. It holds up very well.

It was a couple of weeks ago, but:

Blue Ruin - Flame

I always liked this, but it was even better than I remembered. I am now listening to it regularly. Sounds like JSBX, if they really were dangerous, instead of just pretending to be.

[img][200:200]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002E5OIW.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg[/img]

I can't believe how this one holds up. Released way back in '04, it started the whole southern rock genre. Now it still sounds both modern and classic - just timeless.

Cocktail Girlz... funk/pop band from Atlanta ca. 1987-88

Ren and Stimpy, You Eediot, 1993.

Man there's some great guitar hiding on this record. Seriously.

another Atlanta album... a 688 Club comp

Iceburn: Hephaestus



Angular, obtuse, somewhat jazzy metal three-piece. It's not the heaviest metal out there, yet it's extremely demanding and pretty brutal with lots of twists and turns. A very tight band, but they didn't function in this format for very long (or maybe just this release?) This is the only thing of theirs I bothered to keep, and I keep returning to it pretty regularly. I just added this to my Ipod this past weekend and was delighted when a few tracks showed up in shuffle mode. Highly recommended for technical-metal fans.

Adrian Belew "Mr. Music Head"
I love this guys solo material. Original release date May, 1989.
I've seen Belew several times solo, with his band The Bears and a couple of times with King Crimson. For my money one of the best guitar players on the planet.

Not quite the cover art on the original LP, but you get the drift. The Dave Vanian track slays, as well as Andy Partridge's brief history of popular music.

Thanks for the reminder...I think I'll give it a long overdue listen.



I listened to this last week. I always thaought it was a pretty weak effort, considering the source. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

I completely agree.
Although I always liked this album even more:

This sounds interesting, I'd like to hear it.

I honestly had not listened to this record in 15 years but our homeboy Katt-Nasty recently dug it out whilst drooling over my vinyl collection.

We were both excited to relive our yutes but HOLY CRAP!!!! WHAT A FUCKING PIECE OF CRAP!!!!

attn Peter Murphy and dude from Japan: I want my $$$$ back......

I don't have "Twang Bar King", but I do own "Desire of the Rhino King" which is sort of a best of "The Lone Rhino" (1981), "Twang Bar King"(1983) and "Desire Caught By The Tail" (1984). To my ear it's a very diconnected collection but there are some gems in there.

Remind me later tonight if I don't PM you about this. My mind is like a sieve, these things slip. Alternately, if you jump on Colinswood, it's available there in my stuff (tcj.)

And, unfortunately, not only are the three albums out of print in the US, but so is that collection now. There are some Japanese versions of them, but, of course, you have to pay a premium for 'em. I think Belew's site has or had a petition to rerelease all three, and I thought I'd read that Wounded Bird or some such label had finally picked them up for release in the US. Alas, I can't find anything about that on his site, so who knows?

Regardless, I highly recommend picking up his two new albums, Side One and Side Two. Pretty insane, odd, fun stuff.

Anyone else interested in checking this out? I'm uploading to YSI at the moment. If so, PM me and ye shall receive thusly.