Becoming X

Sneaker Pimps | Format: Audio Cassette

Product Details

• Audio Cassette (February 25, 1997)
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000000WCU
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,992 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Low Place Like Home

2. Tesko Suicide

3. 6 Underground

4. Becoming X

5. Spin Spin Sugar

6. Post-Modern Sleaze

7. Waterbaby

8. Roll On

9. Wasted Early Sunday Morning

10. Walking Zero

11. How Do

12. 6 Underground [Nellee Hooper Edit][Mix]

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The U.K.-based Sneaker Pimps combine standard rock guitar parts with trip-hop beats and clear white-soul vocals, and, when strumming an acoustic guitar (as on the first single, "6 Underground"), the trio is virtually indistinguishable from Luscious Jackson. While using electronica's signifiers--jungle's rattle, trip-hop's dark churn, ambient's synth washes, hip-hop's samples--Sneaker Pimps never stray far from the comfy world of the pop song. Becoming X's opener, "Low Place Like Home," is only one step from Alanis, while the rousing closer is as breathy and sunny as the Cardigans. --Roni Sarig

Product Description

English version featuring different cover art. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hint at what could have been., July 7, 2001

By 

Reticuli (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Becoming X (Audio CD)

This is a great album -- no doubt about it. Their music was dark and subversively sensual. In my opinion, it's a very different "feel" than either the Cardigans or Alanis Morissette. In fact, the Editorial Review above is a bit laughable. Anyway, the Sneaker Pimps mixed alternative, experimental rock with trip hop into what I like to call trance rock. The breathtaking spatial precision of the production and engineering is evidence of Howe and Corner's obsession with the psychoacoustics of stereo sound and room reflections. Becoming X is very unique in its atmospheres, but tends towards the subtle, minimalist side of things. Chris Corner, for instance, initially poked fun at the Nellee Hooper version of Six Underground as being too glossy and commercially oriented. Sorry Chris, but this is not "commercially oriented" music; I'd call Madonna and the Backstreet Boys commercial, not this. Becoming X has a great basic sound and structure to it, and I think Nellee Hooper could have been used to help produce and mix all of their future material to perfect results. If this album had been totally remixed by Mr. Hooper, it'd be an absolute masterpiece. Having songs "kicked-in in all the right places" is what music is about, not the lack thereof. The boys of the band gradually began learning this, and their later, lushly produced remixes and b-sides show it. Kelli was also taking on more songwriting duties as well as giving more production advice. Eventually, the band developed on their own into what Nellee Hooper could have instantly brought them to. Everything seemed to be progressing gorgeously, as evidenced by the track Velvet Divorce, then ZAP! The boys got overly paranoid about what they thought was a generic "2 guys & a girl" trip hop formula, seemingly oblivious to how truly special their sound was. Chris Corner also became increasingly possessive of their new material. Sadly, Kelli and the boys parted ways. ("And there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.") Because her wonderful voice was the backbone of the old sound, the new Sneaker Pimps are essentially a whole new band. The new Pimps, led by Corner, are good too, but the old pimps were becoming a revelation.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cool beats from the mid-1990s British Invasion, August 15, 2005

By 

Danno (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Becoming X (Audio CD)

Long before Zero 7 and Air shook up urban CD stores with their downtempo chill, the Sneaker Pimps released "Becoming X." Unlike Zero 7 and Air, however, the Sneaker Pimps were far closer to rock than ambience. In fact, the Sneaker Pimps were part of the same 1990s British Invasion that brought us Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Radiohead and the like. "Becoming X" was a promising debut for a band that, unfortunately, never went on to better things.

Unlike most trip hop, which uses largely anonymous female vocalists, the Sneaker Pimps boasted a charismatic and photogenic lead singer in Kelli Dayton. On the best songs on this CD, Dayton shifts through several moods - edgy one moment, playful the next, weary a moment after, and eager the moment after that. Dayton is so playful that unless you listen closely, you won't realise that much of the material here uses standard rock song structures. According to the credits, she didn't write a single word of the lyrics, but there's no denying that her unique voice soars above the exotic flute samples and drumloops that make up the usual instrumental backing here.

"Wasted Early Sunday Morning," "Post-Modern Sleaze," "Tesko Suicide," and the single "Six Underground" are the best songs here. Elsewhere, I found myself wanting more variety, both in tempos and in choices of backing instrumentation.

This is Dayton's only CD with the band. She's since changed her name to Kelli Ali and released two CDs that generally take her into tougher rock and electronica territory. I recommend "Psychic Cat" which is now available as a domestic release in the US. The rest of the Pimps, as mentioned earlier, never surpassed "Becoming X," but if you're addicted to the sound of this CD you'll probably enjoy parts of their later CDs as well.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sneaking In To Grab Attention, November 23, 2002

By 

Bubbles (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Becoming X (Audio CD)

In the era of trip hop, many of us (Americans that is) seemed to miss the influence this style had upon music. However, I got a taste of this band when I saw the trailer for the movie Cruel Intentions back in 1998 but I never really knew who sang the song until 2001 when I picked up a friend's mixed CD. I immediately fell in love with "6 Underground" (one of my all-time favorite songs still) and had to get the CD that housed the intoxicating hit. Becoming X still remains one of my very favorite CDs and actually introduced me to the world of trip hop. "Low Place Like Home" starts the CD off in an almost Garbage like sound but keeps to the trip hop genre while "Tesko Suicide" keeps you engrossed with Kelli's vocals. "Becoming X", "Post-Modern Sleaze", "Waterbaby", and "Wasted Early Sunday Morning" each prove to be very good tracks as well and "How Do" remains sort of haunting with the vocals and low tone and "Walking Zero" seems eery throughout, even in the lyrics. "Spin Spin Sugar", a song still played in the clubs, makes you feel like you are on a sugar rush and spinning but for all the wrong reasons while "Roll On" becomes a come on and proposition. Finally, "6 Underground (Nelle Hooper Edit)" still shines brightly on this album, very strong, passionate, seductive, all of it in one package. This is definately a strong CD with so much potential even years after it's release and it's a shame Kelli no longer sings for the Sneaker Pimps because this album truly was and is captivating to the last note.