Earplug

Jan “if I didn’t windsurf I’d be the singer in a metal band” Sleigh joins as guest music reviewer this month.

We asked him to do three album reviews:

• Music that has accompanied or influenced his windsurfing. He choose White Zombie from Robbie Naish’s R.I.P video.
• A review of a latest release of our choice. We choose Velvet Revolver as fans of Gun ‘n’ Roses.
• A review of an album of his choice. Jan chose Marilyn Manson, naturally.

Robby Naish’s R.I.P. video has got to be one of the all time, best ever windsurfing videos if not the best and it is from this video that I discovered one of my now favourite bands: White Zombie…

If you know R.I.P off by heart then you’ll know the Kona winds section of the video with Robby sailing Lanes. The powerful track that accompanies it is “Blur the Technicolor” and as the guitars chug away, Robby rips and White Zombie front man Rob Zombie growls to an infectious metal groove.

The track is taken from Astro Creep 2000, an album that defines a unique blend of metal with a funky kinda groove to it. The album opens with sinister samples, backwards music and an organ like you'd imagine in an old black and white horror movie. Then they kick straight into a fist pumping anthem: Electric Head: The Agony (Pt 1). Pause for a quick breath and then: "Look I know the supernatural isn't something that is supposed to happen but it does happen" and Rob Zombie roars through “Super Charger Heaven” before careering through a stream of catchy heavy tracks. More Human than Human just makes you want to dance - it’s quite simply a groovy, metal, dance track. The album takes you on a fast paced rock and roll ride all the way to “Blur the Technicolor” before slowing down with the final track “Blood, Milk and Colour”. Be careful, if you are listening to this album on the way to the beach then you might just get pulled over for sympathising with the adrenalin-fuelled beats of a funky fusion type of industrial metal that only Mr. Zombie can craft.

To be honest I think I got off very lightly with the “review something that we tell you to”. I may be heavily (sic) into music but my taste is wider and probably more eclectic than you might expect for one of Satan’s little wizards. As an example I have bounced around near the front of the stage at both Marilyn Manson and Robbie William’s concerts and own all of their albums.

So to be asked to review Contraband by Velvet Revolver was a pure joy as I was expecting the latest from “Girls Aloud” or maybe some completely random disposable boy band that have jetted to stardom through their hard work, song writing, musical instrument playing, oh and a TV programme designed to jet random boy bands to stardom and CD sales.

In contrast Velvet Revolver may all be male but the similarity stops there. They are probably twice the age of the latest teen sensation and they rock; hard.

I’d heard ‘Slither’ on the radio and thought yeah! The Stone Temple Pilots (STP) are back with a track that could have been taken from their debut album ‘Core’. But no, the radio said Velvet Revolver. I rushed out and bought the album and forgave myself as the vocals were indeed, Scott Weiland singer from STP but joined by none other than Slash and Duff of G’n’R infamy and had accompanied him to form Velvet Revolver.

Contraband opens with a guitar intro and sirens wailing that reminded me of the intro to the opener “Welcome to the Jungle” on G’n’R’s awesome Appetite for Destruction, and for sure you can tell Slash is on guitar but VR is more a perfect blend of G’n’R and STP than a rework. It’s modern, good old fashioned rock and roll with punchy anthems like “Slither” and “Illegal I Song” accompanied by mellow but moody and none the less hard tracks like “Fall to Pieces” and “You got no right”. Get a copy.

To review an album of my choice was actually the hardest thing to do. Not so much the review but the “What album would I review?” Ironically I have chosen one of my “mainstream” favourite bands in the sense that Marilyn Manson recently appeared on Top of the Pops with his gothic industrial cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”.

In a recent Radio One interview Marilyn Manson described, "Lest We Forget - the Best Of", as a collection of songs that has shaped his career rather than a "greatest hits album". Yet to a fan of MM this album is definitely a collection of some of his greatest achievements and all the tracks would be on a list of favourites.

For some, its hard to get beyond Manson’s provocative if not downright scary persona, so much in fact that a) they have never listened to the music and b) they have never listened to the lyrics.

Occasionally someone will be sitting in my van and the stereo will be on and the conversation will go, “This is good who is it?” “Marilyn Manson”, and I then get an “oh…”, as if they were ashamed of liking it.

Lest We Forget allows the uninitiated to get a taste of MM’s ten year career with all of his anthems like “The Beautiful People”, “Disposable Teans”, “The Fight Song” and “mOBSCENE” along with his twisted but awesome re-interpretations of "Sweat Dreams (are made of this)", "Tainted Love" and "Personal Jesus". Even if you are not a fan of MM or you liked the singles but are not really into this genre of music then “Lest we forget” is the safest way to access it. My prediction is it will stand the test of time and work its way into most peoples collections as a must have iconic, industrial, glam metal album reflecting the end of one millennium and the beginning of the new. It's a “Long hard road out of Hell” and "Lest We Forget" is a great tour guide.

As a fan I bought the Digital pack that comes with a Bonus DVD of 21 videos including the rather disturbing and previously unreleased SAINT. The DVD makes “Lest we forget…” hugely more valuable than many other artists “best of albums”.