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I was just surfing Amazon looking for CDs. One customer had the
following comments about Brotherhood from the Chemical Brothers:
Greatest Hits albums are for the kind of people who don't really like
music. For them, music is that thing that makes a noise out of their
tinny mobile phone, or sits next to the nappies in MegaHyperGloboMart.
These are the type of people who would buy a DVD called "The Best Of
Star Wars" which contains only the battles, with all the dialogue taken
out, in some kind of 2 hour orgiastic overdose of explosions.
"Brotherhood", the Chemical Brothers second 'best of' album in fifteen
years, now ensures that shoddy Greatest Hits compilations now account
for one third of their official albums. Now, the Chemical Brothers are
perhaps what I can describe as an exercise in hyper-adrenalised,
mindlessly hedonistic minimalism : a monotonous, vibrating beat that
changes in some infinitesmal element every 16 beats - much like those
hyper-extended 12" Dub Remixes that lasted a quarter hour on New Order
B-sides in the mid Eighties. Live at least, The Chemical Brothers (who I
managed to see one and a quarter times : the quarter being whilst
walking through a field to get away from them at the 2000 Apocalyse Now
: Glastonbury Festival), are the equivalent of watching someone getting
very enthusiastic about a punishingly loud and garish gigantic statue of
a house whilst standing on the spot at midnight in a thunderstorm. For
some people, I'm in no doubt that it is great fun, but for me, it's
boring. Not only that, but to an extent, the music is of a very specific
genre : Music Made By And For People Who Used To Be Poor When They Were
A Bit Better.
Thanks to the impact of their collaborators, The Chemical Brothers have
produced some very passable electronic pop songs, but largely this is by
accident than design. When left to their own devices, they can and do
produce glacial and pounding epics of instrumental cacophony that also
manages to avoid anything resemble a sustained melody line. The songs
are all assemblages of beats and instrumental riffs created like a
skyscraper - one floor at a time with no real perception of a narrative
aside from just to keep going on. They sound great, but like an action
film, what does it all mean?
Some of the instrumental stuff is brilliant : "Star Guitar" and "Leave
Home" are entertaining diversions, but some of it is just plain and
dull. Where the best of their work comes into effect, it's largely where
the guest contributor - Noel Gallagher, The Flaming Lips, Bernard
Sumner, Beth Orton - bring a fully assembled song that The Chemical
Brothers just turn into a vocal remix of the original, with hooj drums
and mahoosive throbbing bass. This means that whilst the Chemical
Brothers have a distinctive sound, they are in effect a superior
production team with slight songwriting ability. The idea of a Greatest
Hits is a bit of an anthema. It would be akin to having a "Best of Shep
Pettibone 1983-1988" double vinyl album. Great to listen to, but what's
the point?
That said, "Hey Boy / Hey Girl" is always going to sound fantastic
coming out of a PA at 2am. Maybe not so amazing coming out of a mobile
phone on the 47 bus at 7.14am. Then again, very little is amazing about
7.14am on any morning.
I obviously missed the point of this Greatest Hits as I already have
"93-03" which is a fine and more artistically credible release.
"Brotherhood" whiffs faintly of contractual obligation, with a largely
minimal lack of effort in the packaging or the utterly random and
baffling sequencing. About the only part of the "Brotherhood" release
worth considering is the limited edition which contains a second CD,
this time featuring the rare (and previously only-on vinyl) Electronic
Battle Weapon series. The series is made up of prototype versions of
many songs from across all periods of the band released on largely
anonymous 12" singles in one-off limited pressings. It's good to finally
have them released in a wider fashion, and these 10 tracks will be the
large attraction of the set to a seasoned Chem. Bros. Fan, even if most
of them have been more widley heard in different forms and styles over
the years.
Most casual fans of the band would not have ever heard of the EBW
series. People who buy everything they do will be pleased with the
second disc, and somewhat bored of the first, whilst more general fans
may use it aimlessly plug a gap in their collection they can enjoy
whilst cooking or doing the housework. "Brotherhood" is by no means bad,
but a bit redundant : if you like the band, you've probably got the
previous compilation, and the band have not released enough material
over the past five years to justify a new Hits compilation. If you
haven't got the previous one, this is a great place to start. If you
have the previous one, buy the double CD set for the "Electronic Battle
Weapons" stuff or don't bother at all.
It's your choice. You could always buy food or or a donkey for a third
world country or something.
I can't help feeling that you would have to be really, *really* bored to
write such a huge amount of text to say that you don't like something. I
mean, really, if you hate the music of the Chemical Brothers so much...
why expend so much effort talking about it? I simple "I didn't like this
much" would suffice. :-P
It just seems a little strange to me. Sure, people are going to write
long epics about how much they *like* things, but dislikes??
Oh well... I guess people are strange! :-D
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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