Customer Reviews

The Art and Craft of Popular Music

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

i'm a record store elitist, i confess. i sell music, and it pleases me to mention some obscure little band that makes wonderful music. more than that, though, i'm a christian, and to find a truly unique christian band that makes quality music happens once in a blue moon. yes, they're a wee bit obscure in my neck of the woods, but i love 'em. one of the few bands that i can revel in as i am accostomed to in my record store ways. Quirky, Christian, and Not Too Well Known. mmmmm...that's the way i like it.

This boxed set has something for everyone, much like the band it represents. Ronnie Martin has a genius for songwriting, so if you like beautiful pop songs, whether they be sugary sweet or hauntingly melencholy, you should pick this up. Don't be put off by the quirky arcade noises and the strange, child-like vocals. They are an integral part of the essential Joy Electric sound, which only grows on you over time. The first disc is for those who are fans already - gorgeous and undeservedly unreleased tracks alongside a couple cuts from the limited edition EP, "Starcadia" (which was a brilliant digression into late 70s electro-pop) topped off with three excellent remixes of what is arguably one of the greatest Joy Electric songs of all time, "We Are Rock". The second disc is for those new to the band, and is notable even too those who have heard these songs many, many times before just because it compresses so much of Joy Electric's best stuff onto one CD. For those who haven't heard them before, be prepared to be amazed as you take a short tour down the ever developing but always beautiful sounds of Joy Electric. This double-disc set can only continue to add to the number of the band's fans. Dare to listen to the artist who did what no one else was doing, and did it well.

This has gotta be JE's greatest work yet the new songs are ASOME! and the best of songs are asome too (but I have all the CDs those songs came from) but ''The Matterhorn'' (track 1 from disc 1) and ''Dance To Moroder'' (track 2 from disc 1) are not really new tracks, well their new but they are both from JE's ''Starcadia (ep)'' put out earlyer in 2002 and is now OUT OF PRINT (it sold out kinda fast) so for people who didn't get it it's cool that the tracks are on here and the remix's of ''We Are Rock'' are ASOME! so if you have never goten a CD from Joy Electric before or you have all of them (like me) you've gotta get this CD.

An excellent, excellent CD. Disc One, the unreleased songs section of the disc is of very high quality, with the sugary-sweet synthpop goodness that Joy Electric fans have come to expect. These songs are not "B-sides" in the least. They are on par with Ronnie Martin's greatest work. Disc Two, the greatest hits section, is a definitive survey of Joy Electic from their earliest song until The White Songbook. The three remixes of their synthrock anthem, "We Are Rock", are very good. Fans and those unfamiliar with joy electric will both like this CD.

My sister owns this CD and I think it is very creative. Joy electric just keeps getting better and better. If you have liked Joy Electric's older music, then you will definetly love this one!! My favorite songs on the first disc are the Matterhorn and don't forget the 3 We Are Rock Remixes!! AWSOME!!The second disc is a few songs from each of their previous alblums that are awsome hits!! Don't forget to check out Joy Electric's new alblum TICK TOCK TREASURY!! It is comming out march 25th!! Tommorrow!! -----I'm out Peace!!

Sorry Mr Mill Valley, CA...it's too bad you have to completely misunderstand JoyE and pass them off so quickly; your fault for missing out on some stellar, timeless music.

I've only recently become interested in the quirky, but genius music of Ronnie Martin. Buying this CD sealed my fandom. I'll forever be interested in what this man and his synthpop vehicle has to put out.

Ronnie has stated numerous times he doesn't care about genres or styles of music; he cares about songs. And his songs are as finely crafted, laced with hooks, and beautifully realized as they come. The quiet, thin, breathy and sometimes even creepy vocals and melody combine with the surprisingly ironic electronic beeps, whirrs and general synth goodness to transport you to Joy Electric land: where you'll be a refuge from the many lands of mediocrity in music today.

And this 2-CD set is as good an introduction as they come. But if you haven't already, buy JE's latest masterpiece, The White Songbook - which was labored on for over a year and a half.

Whether you hate electronic music as a general rule or not, I'm convinced that everyone needs to hear this album at least once all the way through. Even if you hate JoyE at first, I'm convinced that you'll come back. Like I did.

I was a tiny bit dissappionted by this cd. It's not bad, in fact these cds have great songs on it. If you are starting to be a joy electric fan, I highly recommend you get this cd first because the cd's have music that was never released or what was made before they became joy electric. On the other disc is all their hits from their other cd's, so you can know what their other albums sound like plus on the first disc there are three remixes of "We Are Rock" which sound really cool and diffrent than what they usally do. The first disc, like I told you, has songs that were unrealised and were made a while ago so the songs have an 80's or early 90's sound to them. The first two tracks though are new and they sound okay but why I was a little dissappionted was because I wasn't facinated with some of the songs on the first disc because they would be slow or boring in the music. That's pretty much what disappionted me but another thing why this is a great start to know JE is that there's a booklet that comes with it and the whole thing has Ronnie Martin(the singer and writer) talking about JE and each album they made. After reading it, I felt like I knew JE more than before because he talks about the good times and bad during the begining of joy e. and who they were before. This cd was well made and I do wish I could be 100% satisfactory but I guess I need to be honest. Enjoy the Music here!

Like Joy Electric? Getting into Joy Electric? This is a perfect 1st buy - you get a whole package of Joy Electric songs. A great deal!

I must say that Joy Electric is probably the best synth rock act out today. Not better than Depeche Mode or OMD at their prime, but given the other bands in the genre, Joy Electric are awesome. J.E. succeeds where so many other bands fail in the simple way that Ronnie Martin knows how to write hooks and melodies. This is why I love J.E. There are a lot of electronic bands around today that I like, but almost all of them have the same generic sound, and are devoid of almost any melody, tempo changes or creativity (see Metropolis records catalog). You can tell that Martin puts a lot of thought and effort into writing each song--the melodies, the words, just the subtle technicality and craftmanship of each song is incredible. Also, being a Christian, I like the fact that he writes Christian music. Now normally I can't stand Christian rock whatsoever because it's just too jolly and happy for me, and in fact, J.E. are the only Christian band I would actually admit to liking. This is a great album for fans of old school Nintendo synth rock, and don't be afraid of the Christian label, not all his songs are about Jesus. The second disc is my favorite, it's a collection of a lot of older songs from his previous albums. Drum Machine Joy is probably my favorite song, but there's really no songs that I dislike. This is a great place to start if you're just learning about J.E. because you get a good taste of the old and new. Excellent, and recommended for fans of The Pet Shop Boys, Fad Gadget, OMD, Camouflage, etc.

No joy electric here. Being a fan of electro-pop from the early days and having read about these guys in Keyboard magazine, I was expecting more than this. In fact, I find this attempt at retro-electro quite superfluous. If you're new to the genre, then I suggest finding early Kraftwerk, OMD, Fad Gadget, YMO, or John Foxx cds. A good trivia question would be how many filter sweeps are there on this 2 cd set? Only a true masochist will be able to answer that one.