Customer Reviews

Electricity Vol II - (Amazon.com only edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the variety and price you can't go wrong with this double CD sampler. Great bands such as Soviet, Ganymede, and Spray are well respresented here. I was surprised at the sheer variety of artists. Quite often I complain that synthpop continually emulates Depeche Mode or Gary Numan, but these artists embrace a variety of styles ranging from the breezy pop of NASA to the anthemic dance of Heaven 17.

The high points are many including Heaven 17 "Hands Up To Heaven", Cosmicity "The Dreamer", Spray "Don't You Know Who I Am?" and so many more. There are two low points for me, the absolutely vapid "It Couldn't Be Further From My Mind" by Macondo and the odd inclusion of a noodling, spacey piece by Symbion Project which seems so totally out of place in this collection of primarily pop and dance tunes. Still -- two duds out of 29 tunes sounds like a bargain to me. Highly recommended if you want to get a quick overview of some of the synthpop out there today.

Okay, I admit I'm not head over heels over EVERY track on the compilation, but there are more hits than misses. My personal favorites are Heaven 17, White Town, Nukleon, and Exhibition. Turd Furguson is a hilarious spoof! And with 29 tracks including the bonus CD, you really can't go wrong.

This is a pretty good comp. It is fun to listen to and it doesn't have too much filler. However, note that some 3rd party sellers are asking $80+ for the item (at least at the time I am writing this review). Is is worth $80? No. $15 is more like it. Although this is certainly pleasing and fun synthpop (one of my favorite songs is: hands up to heaven by heaven 17) there are many equally good compilations out there. Some of the ZYX Italo Disco comps are priced at $12 for 3 disc. Another good comp is Tangent 2002: Disco Nouveau. There is absolutely NO filler on that comp. Electro Nouveau, the Synthpop Club Anthems series, and the Synthpop for a darkened room series are also quite good and are cheaper than $80 and worth checking out.

Two things this compilation does have that guarantee that it is not completely interchangeable with similar comps are the songs:
tracy gold by freezepop
alan cumming by turd ferguson

If you are really obsessed by the hysterical "Alan Cumming" track, you may want to shell out the big bucks. I am not sure you can buy this track on CD anywhere else. Tracy Gold is also not just your average synthpop song. Musically it is standard fare (as is "Alan Cumming")but the lyrics may make you crack up (depending on your age and your knowledge of bad 80s sitcoms). However, this track can be found elsewhere (such as on one of Freezepop's albums).

Very seldom do sequels meet the same level of greatness as their predecessors, and this one falls victim to the same fate.

The first "Electricity" compilation was fantastic. With the exception of the pointless, meandering and completely out-of-place "orchestral score" tacked on at the end of what was supposed to be an "electronic pop" sampler album, that compilation was filled with one great song after another. The highlights for me were NASA, Color Theory, Plastic Orgasm People, Freezepop and Intact. I felt this was the perfect representation to show people the best of what the current generation of Synth Pop music had to offer.

Naturally a sequel was in order, and I couldn't wait to get my hot little hands on it. I figured more music in this vein from some of the same artists was a step in the right direction. And starting off with a newer Heaven 17 song?! Bring it on!!

Unfortunately I was very disappointed in this new compilation. The Heaven 17 song "Hands Up To Heaven" sounds like an eletronic homage to 70s disco (barf). Freezepop, who's song from the last compilation ("Plastic Stars") I completely loved, has a very boring song this time, which I'm guessing, is some admiration of the actress Tracy Gold (???). I really don't know what to make of this group; I just don't understand what direction they want to go.

NukleoN submits a remake of their song from the previous compilation, and it turns out to be over-produced, slick and severely unnecessary. There was something quaint and appealing about the simple production of the first version that it didn't need to be remade.

The other artists have songs featured here which aren't remotely worth remembering. Maybe they have better material; it's just not on display here.

Now there were a few bright spots. Cosmicity is always nice, though I would have liked to have had some vocals here as opposed to a mostly instrumental song. Fr/action has a good song. And it's nice to see that White Town has more to offer than his one huge hit. And Empire State Human's song is good.

My favorite song on this compliation is "It Couldn't Be Further From My Mind" by Macondo. See - THIS is what I like to see on my Synth Pop compilations - light, simple and catchy songs. Hook me in with a great song that I'll remember, and I'll check out more stuff the artists have to offer. It's like if you have someone that's never heard Depeche Mode before, you're not going to introduce them with "Blasphemous Rumors", "The Things You Said" or even "Somebody"; you'll play "Just Can't Get Enough", "Strangelove" or "People Are People."

I would love to be able to say that this was a great package for the price because it contains a bonus CD of more music from some of these artists (somewhat odd that they would include
"Nexterday" by NASA, which was on the first "Electricity" compilation....I guess it's for those who missed it. Though....who would invest in "Electricity 2" if they weren't familiar with the first one?). And I wonder if Ganymede had a role in producing the bonus CD, since there are 4 songs by this artist, rather than giving some other artist a chance at exposure.

I can't really recommend this compilation for the music alone. I'll give it 3 stars because any exposure Synth Pop music gets is helpful because I know there's tons of other great Electronic artists out there which could have been given some space here (no Neuropa? no Elegant Machinery? no Equatronic?). The ingredients worked for the first compilation; hopefully the magic will be able to be captured again on a future CD.

Did you know that MASQ is now known as Alan Replica, with album "Clockworks, Juliet" now available here at Amazon.com

Ninthwave Records brings us another excellent collection of synthpop/electro/nu-wave music that is a must for any serious synthpop fan. Dubbed an "electronic pop sampler," this double-CD includes some of today's hottest new electronic bands from around the world, including Heaven 17, Ganymede, Spray, Fr/action, Soviet, Electrosquad and Cosmicity and more. The songs and the album are well-produced and a lot of fun (loved the artwork/jacket design by Todd LeMieux) -- and all but one are new mixes that are previously unreleased by the artists. So get yours and spin it at a party or throw it in your car - you'll be glad you did.

I did not like this CD. I listen to bands such as De/Vision, Wolfsheim, VNV nation, Iris, Mesh, Beborn Beton, Neuropa, and most of the Different Drum label bands. I saw in many reviews on amazon.com that people who like the music I do, listened to this and liked it. Im not saying its a bad CD (or I would have given it a one star.) To me, its sounds like the b-sides from 80's bands like Soft Cell (which I also gave a fair chance and did not like.) Some reviews say this is the current state of synthpop or the future of synthpop but to me it sounds too much like a past that hasnt evolved. It reminds me of the background songs in every John Hughes film from the 80's. I gave 3 stars because it is well done and gives a great variety of music from Ninthwave so that I dont have to go and spend 10$ per cd to found out that I dont like these bands. I guess my bottom line on this one is.....
If you liked Soft Cells other music besides Tainted Love, then buy this, you'll love it, its very well done.
If you like current synthpop and more progressive music (bands like Sweep, Mesh, Iris, ect) then you will hate this as much as I did.

So, where to start? This is a compilation beyond description. If ever you needed proof that the electronic pop scene is alive and well, one needs only point to this compilation. Like the previous "Electricity" compilation of 2000, this sequel takes a lot of established, and unknown acts in the genre and exposes them at their best.

The opening track is from the classic synth-funk outfit Heaven 17 (you might remember them from the 80's) ... "Hands Up To Heaven" is classic H17, right down to the funk-disco stylings ... just like it used to be! Also especially great is the Astromill track "Stranded in Manchester" ... Sheryl McMillan's voice has a distinct Neil Tennant sound to it, and the music is totally energetic. Other powerful dancefloor tracks include Cosmicity's "The Dreamer" (sung entirely on vocoder), Fr/action's "Guardian", Nukleon's "Homewrecker", and the excellent track from Exhibition, "Extraordinary".

The album has it's mellow moments too, of special note is the White Town track "Whenever I Say Hello" ... A nice little melancholy ballad which reminds me alot of old Thompson Twins stuff.

And of course, in an attempt to cater to the Electroclash scene, we have "Alan Cumming" by Turd Ferguson ... this was actually a joke song that was done by Cosmicity (Mark nichols) and his wife, spoofing on Miss Kittin's "Frank Sinatra" ... but you know, it's got a good beat too.

There is just way too much to go into, but ... suffice it to say, one listen to this and you will wonder why NONE of this music has been played on the radio ... this could be the best electronic compilation of 2003, easily.

Once again, just like they did with the original Electricity CD, Ninthwave Records have put together a sampler with some of the hottest synth sounds from around the globe.

First off there is a new song from Heaven 17, the first new track in ??? years. Not only that but a track from one of my favourites, the highly under-rated White Town (who could forget the classic "Your Woman"?). Joining them are some of the staple synthpop names, Fr/action, Cosmicity, Empire State Human, Spray, Soviet...the list goes on. A real bonus is "The Machines" by a guy who goes by the name Masq, described as the French Numan. Look out for big things from this artist.

Electricity II has 17 "electric" tracks in all, highlighting the best from today's synthpop world. This is a great CD to play at a party, and also a great introduction to some artists you may not have heard before. The liner notes have links to band websites, so if anything takes your fancy you know where to start looking for more music.

But that's not all!! There is a bonus CD containing some great tracks from Ninthwave artists including Ganymede, Empire State Human and NASA. There is also a must-have track by the Symbion Project which is ambience at it's very best. Unbelievable value for such great music. If you don't buy Electricity II you won't know what you are missing out on. Do yourself a favour and order one now!!!

well the ninthwave records crew have done it again. another great compilation of some of the best newest names in synthpop. this is especially great because the artists featured on this masterpiece are not necessarily top of the chart names, so you get to sample some great new bands that are up and coming. David Richards always puts some rare remixes or versions of the songs on his compilations, so even if you have the individual cds, there will most likely be a different version on here.

the added bonus (as if it needed yet another bonus) is the inclusion of a second cd with some outstanding tracks.

so if you want a solid sampler to hear some new music, or alternate versions of some favorites, this is the cd to pick up. it will be in my cd player for a long time to come