Grumpy because the new Soundtrack of Our Lives CD won’t be out domestically until spring 2005?
Worn out all the CDs of theirs you do have? Fretting
because yr pining for Swedish rock of that caliber
and don’t know where to turn? Fear not. It’s
kinda like Yoda said when they thought Luke was done
for: "No. There is another."
Union
Carbide Productions: kickass rock band from Sweden
dating from the late 80s (but soaked in Detroit
Rock City 70s punkage/boogie rock, plus some 80s hardcore,
plus the odd bit of skronk/scree a la Sun Ra, plus
some acoustic guitar, plus some I don’t know
what, but whatever it was it was very appealing to
those in the know back in the day) who very ably synthesized
their influences and preferences into the kind of music
that’s like lust AND love at the same time – quite
rough in spots, unexpectedly delicate/poignant in others
but most of all... much-rumored but rarely experienced.
Sounds kind of like The Soundtrack of Our Live, eh?
Makes sense, since TSOOL frontman Ebbot Lundberg was
UCP’s voice and Bjorn Olsson (and Ian Person
after him) were UCP’s guitars and primary songwriters.
Though
some of UCP’s finest moments -- “How
Do you Feel Today” and “Mr Untitled” from
1993’s Swing, for example, or “Financial
Declaration” from 1987’s In the Air
Tonight (covered a couple years ago by Monster Magnet as a
b-side to one of their singles), or “Let Me Come
Down” from their 1992 opus, From Influence
to Ignorance – appear here, this “new” compilation
(it replaces, with sugar on top, The Golden Age
of Union Carbide Productions) isn’t seen by the
band members as a “best of”. It’s
more like a sampler, a primer for the unfamiliar (and
a taster for the geeks) to prepare them for the eventual
release of a 4 CD UCP box set. ::ohpleaseohplease::
Several
of the songs here have been tweaked and remastered,
and there are a couple new additions – a cover
of MC5’s “Future Now” and a heretofore
unreleased demo from the Swing sessions, “Anytime”.
Whatever. It’s just a cleaned-up rough – wearing
a tie, perhaps, but still unshaven and rakish and smelling
of cigarettes. This CD is the perfect backstory to
TSOOL’s eventual rise – maybe they should
have called it From Punk-Ass to a Grammy Nomination.
There
is no better record to play for your friends on a
Friday night in your living room; there is no
better record to blast through the car stereo’s
speakers as you go searching for Northern Lights (“Here
Comes God” would be especially good for that);
there is no better record to ponder the state of the
world with.
It’s both brainy and hedonistic. It’s
both lust and love.
------
Also
enroute: restock on the four proper UCP albums.
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