From Che Sent Fri, Dec 5th 1997, 12:54
From Che Sent Fri, Dec 5th 1997, 12:54
Sorry for lack of quotes, but this is a longish thread & I'm PINEing it... Multsanta's review echoed my earlier one, though I think he conveyed what I was feeling better. :) I've got no problem with lack of melody, BUT, if you're going to have a melody, then for god's sake, do something with it besides repeat it for 6 minutes, unless you're the Black Dog, in which case you know how to wield repetition as a form of change. As for the record companies' antics, I get really tired of this sort of shit. Thanks to Astralwerks for releasing Risc Vs. Reward domestic, no thanks for waiting until after Ni-Ichi-Whatever was out to do so. No thanks to Virgin/Science/Rupert Parkes for putting out an album w/ so much retread material. Substitute the WipeoutXL tracks & a couple of new tracks and I'd be happy, but of course someone here will play the "artistic integrity and the right to think of an album as a single work" card, but I don't think RP/Photek is even close to mastering the difference between an album and a collection of singles, which is not to denigrate his mastery of the single. I guess the problem here is, CD buyers have a different set of expectations from 12" buyers. CD buyers expect value for their money - people are regularly issueing CDs w/ 70-80 minutes worth of music these days, so it's a big disappointment to buy one that has 30 minutes worth of new music. 12" buyers expect freshness, i.e., the flavor du jour. RP/Photek needs to realise that his big contract w/ Virgin has put him in a different market from the one he cut his teeth in, and adjust his release strategies accordingly. I would suggest releasing 12"s regularly, then collecting them onto CD periodically. Of course, this would probably not be to Virgin's liking, and they have the final say here. Let's face it, the music business IS a business. Maybe the answer is for Rupert to release 12"s as Studio Pressure to maintain his street cred and immediacy, and release albums as Photek. Che