Elastica's five-year break yields no original sound
By TODD CALLAIS
Scene Music Critic
In 1995, Elastica's self-titled first full-length release became one of the fastest selling albums in United Kingdom history, and did fairly well in the United States as well. The band's girl-vocals-meet-raw-British-punk sound created hits such as "The Car Song," "Stutter," "Hold Me Now," "Connection" and "Line up." Then the band seemed to fall off the face of the planet for five years, although they did release a couple rarities and live tracks in 1999.
However Justine Frischmann, Annie Holland and the rest are back with their second full-length album, The Menace. This album is a textbook example of a hit or miss record that will have some fans claiming "Elastica is back!" but most wishing that they had worked on the album for another five years.
The Menace has some definite high points. The opening song, "Maddog," is one of the strongest on the album and is reminiscent of the Elastica of old. This song has an awesome beat that appeals to guitar junkies, techno aficionados and euro-punk fans alike. The most impressive part of this song is actually that the opening and chorus feature sound effects from the old GT-9 keyboards from 1984 and 1985.
The second track, "Generator," is another high point that has great keyboards and increible vocals that seem inspired by tracks from one of the newer euro bands, Bis. "Love Like Ours," displays lead vocalist Frischmann's depth in writing slower songs.
This track combines dreary vocals, really cool but basic guitar rifts and eerie keyboards to create a great listen.
In a lighter and more nostalgic look at television commercials, Elastica covers the car commercial theme (a song originally produced in the 1980s by Trio) "Da Da Da" in surprisingly entertaining fashion. However, this time around, the vocals are no longer as monotone, and you discover that there are actually more lyrics to the song than just "da da da."
Also worth mention are the songs "How We Wrote Elastica Man" and "Nothing Stays the Same."
Despite such great efforts by the band, there are still some serious problems with the album.
Tracks like "Image Change," "Human" and "KB" are so bad they should be buried. "Miami Nice" is just a long, drawn out instrumental that could be described as three minutes of build up with no climax. The songs indicate that Elastica has not yet managed to master the electronica movement in guitar.
Another potential problem with the album is its lack of originality. They cover one song, borrow the guitar parts for two songs from a group named Wire and on another song, they borrow guitars from the Velvet Underground.
Now, of course, this does not mean that the album is not worth hearing, but it does serve to make one wonder what on earth Frischmann and Elastica have been doing over the past five years.
obviously not coming up with any original music.
In a 1997 interview, Frischmann stated that eight of the 13 songs on the album were completed and that the album would be out soon. Then apparently everything that could go wrong did.
The final call on this album will inevitably go to the consumer. It seems that there are two great songs, four decent songs, four bad songs and three downright wretched songs. Hardcore Elastica fans will probably love the album, so will those with a completely open mind and are into experimental-sounding punk techno music.
The album has seemed to get mixed reviews but definitely does not hold up to the original. However, perhaps much like Episode 1: The Phantom Menace too much was expected.
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, October 10, 2000
