List | V/A | 'To Cut A Long Story Short' CD 1995

'A Tribute To The Pioneers Of Electronic Pop'

Track:	Name:	Artist:	Time:
1.	To Cut A Long Story Short	Elegant Machinery	2:46
2.	Planet Earth	S.P.O.C.K	3:58
3.	Underpass (Click, Click, Drone)	Attrition	3:28
4.	Being Boiled	Awful Noise Corporation	3:46
5.	The Damned Don't Cry	Psyche	4:53
6.	Space Age Love Song	Dark Distant Spaces	3:49
7.	Are 'Friends' Electric?	Devoid	3:54
8.	White China	Biomekkanoid	4:43
9.	Electricity	Page	3:51
10.	20th Century Promised Land	Diesel Christ	4:21
11.	Living On The Cealing	Mortal Memories	4:58
12.	Love Needs No Disguise	Moulin Noir	4:07
13.	Seconds	All For One	5:06
14.	Sweet Dreams	Automatic	3:55
15.	Love Parasite	Brain Leisure	5:23
16.	Visions (Of China)	Wallin & Tisa	4:01
17.	International	Blue For Two	3:39
	Total		70:49

Comments:

Another cover collection from Energy, in theory not unlike their Depeche Mode tribute. However, this is generally a bit more bland and uninteresting, and I'd prefer the original versions any day. A few covers are rather good though, and one or two stand out as being really excellent, but mostly it's not too exciting. Here are a few words about the covers, track by track:

Elegant Machinery does a very good cover of the old Spandau Ballet song, at the same sounding very much like EM and SB; it's almost as if EM had written it themselves. Very synthetic and blippy, quite a lot more so than the original, but somehow the original "character" is still maintained.

Apparently, S.P.O.C.K has played this old Duran Duran song live, which somehow seems quite appropriate. Like EM, S.P.O.C.K has made the original synthier and blippier, more in the style of their own. It's slightly weaker than the average S.P.O.C.K tune though; maybe that's just because I was never too heavily into Duran Duran?

I've never heard of Attrition before, and I wouldn't cry tears of rage if I didn't hear of them again. They do an OK but quite frankly a bit boring version of the old John Foxx tune. It's probably somewhat into the EBM/industrial territory, with spoken and/or whispered vocals. It's not especially interesting.

Now, 'Being Boiled' is an excellent old Human League song from back when they were a really good band. It's quite strong and funky in original, so it should be outlawed to make a pale and bland, boring, grey and dull cover version of it. If it was outlawed, Awful Noise Corporation could quite easily be charged and convicted. What's with the name, anyway? This isn't exactly awful noise, it's just... bland. Dull. No energy, no power, no focus, no purpose. I'm sorry to be so harsh, but I really love the original and it hurts me to hear such a bad version of it. It's like eating a piece of cardboard with a picture of a steak on it (or carrot, if you prefer the vegan approach), knowing full and well what it should taste like but quite clearly doesn't.

The big problem with Psyche has always been the singer's inability to stay in tune, but in spite of this they've done some really good songs. Apparently, they're still working, and here do a cover of an old Visage song. Considering the competition on this compilation, it's actually a quite good version. I can't exactly remember the original, but this version sounds like a healthy mix of Psyche and Visage.

Dark Distant Spaces is another band I've never heard of before. They do a quite good version of the old A Flock Of Seagulls song, almost as if AFOS themselves would have done a re-make of it, making it more '90:s style. I still prefer the original, but this is a good substitute when you get a sudden craving for old AFOS and that old album is out of reach and this compilation isn't.

Devoid did a few really great songs on Virtual Energy Vol. 2, but rumour has it that's the only good stuff they've ever done. Well, I don't know about that, but this cover of an old Gary Numan track is quite... interesting. The Numan purists would probably call it blasphemy; I'd call it an industrial machine-rock noise cover. It's not excellent, but quite good if you can get over how the original sounded. At least it's a bit amusing, if you're into that kind of humour.

'White China' starts off suspiciously similar to the original, but it turns out it's just an Ultravox sample, which is cut short and the Biomekkanoid version starts. It's an OK electro version, reminiscent of the Ultravox grandeour, but with slightly weaker vocals. The band name seems a bit silly to me, though.

Page doing an OMD cover - doesn't that sound like something that could work out very well indeed? Unfortunately, it's a bit tired and weak, sort of slow, and although it's an OK cover (and better than most on this compilation - I just expect more from Page) it feels like there's something missing. Energy, speed, excitement... I get the feeling Eddie did this with one hand while watching old Star Trek reruns on TV or something. He's done better. Lots.

I can't quite remember the original, but Diesel Christ have a certain Simple Minds like quality, especially in the vocals. I don't think it's an exact copy, but a fairly faithful cover, at least in spirit. It's quite good.

I've never (knowingly) heard 'Living On The Cealing' (isn't that supposed to be "ceiling"?), so I can't compare this cover to the original, I can just say that it's pretty dull and boring and I wouldn't miss it if it suddenly jumped off this CD and out into bitspace heaven. It's a bit oriental sounding, mixed with weak vocals over some semi-noisy backing. It doesn't catch my interest.

I'm certain I've heard the original 'Love Needs No Disguise', but I can't for the world remember with what band. This cover does strike me as being quite close to the original though, and quite good. It sounds like something by Japan or Visage, or possibly Gary Numan. Wait a minute - didn't Numan record this? I can't remember.

More Human League; this time it's from after the "split". Still, it's one of the better tracks off the otherwise rather cheap-sounding album Dare. The vocals are a bit uninspired and weak, otherwise it's a pretty good cover. Some charactersitics off the original track have been kept, like the chords and pitch glides, but the drum machines are funkier and the backing is more 'electro-style'. And this band, All For One, are not to be confused with the black smooth soul band with the same name.

Given how good their cover of 'Friday I'm In Love' was on Fictional, I somehow expected more from Automatic. This is a really bad version of the Eurythmics classic. I guess this track could be done in several different interesting ways, but this isn't one of them.

I have no idea who Brain Leasure are, but the name sounds like a joke to me. The track, and old Fad Gadget tune, is sort of half-interesting; not bad, but not really exciting either. It's OK, I guess.

Wallin of Cultivated Bimbo teams up with some person named Tisa to cover an old Japan song. The vocals are so similar to the original I'm wondering if they're not sampled. Either that, or my senility has made me forget exactly how the original sounded. The music is very Japan-ish, but updated to a more funky '90:s style. Quite a good cover.

Without a doubt, Blue For Two does the best cover of the compilation with their version of Thomas Leer's 'International' which I had not heard the original version of. This version is mainly Freddie's excellent voice over a sampled break-beat loop, some acoustic guitar, a synth bassline and some synth blips with some additional female backing vocals in the chorus. Very simple, yet very good. It was also released on their album Earbound. It makes me kind of curious of who Thomas Leer was and what else he wrote. I guess the runner up in the "best cover" competition would have to be Elegant Machinery, then Page, then it's all a big blur.

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