Customer Reviews

Replicants

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album shreds! Who gives a crap if they're covers? The opening track has been stuck in my head for at least a month now, and is far better than the original (which I still love mind you; but like a previous reviewer stated: Tool kicked ass on No Quarter, so why can't these guys kick ass?). The guitar effects are very remniscent of Orgy..... only good. The synthasizer really adds an effect to say the least. This isn't a cover band, this is a band in itself, and though Paul D'Amour is overshadowed by his previous band Tool, he is a great musician and has a great voice as heard on the last track which is a Pink Floyd cover. Also check out his band Lusk. This album is good, and if nothing else should be given a listen at least once.
(oh; and for all you die-hard posterboy Maynard freaks; he's on here too.)

This album has become one of my favorite "Hmmmm, this will probably suck, but I'll give it a try" I have ever purchased. The selection of songs, given an industrial/rock interpretation, cover an interesting span of music (including some fairly obscure songs). Immediatly I was drawn into the CD when the familiar yet refurbished version of the Cars' "Just What I Needed" started and the "extra" drum beats and keyboards kicked in. The cover of "Destination Unknown" with its narrative is ultra-cool , and just the fact that a (fantastic) cover of "Are Friends Electric" is on the CD is a treat. I highly recommend this CD to others who like well done covers as a fresh take on good music.

I bought this CD because I am a fan of Tool. I didn't know what to expect from the other songs on this CD, but after listening to it a few times through, you begin to wiggle your bum to it which proves it's a good album.

When this record was first released, many critics were quick to trash it as being as a somewhat trite and pretentious side-project for the participating members. A lot of the reviews were geared around pointing out that the covers contained on _Replicants,_ while not being sacred-cow slaughters, simply did not work because of the intense familiarity of the music-consuming public with the original versions. Slightly more highbrow reviews tended to make an example out of this album, using it as a measuring stick by which they could indicate their weariness of postmodernly smug, ineffectual irony contained within the arena of alt-metal.

Time has passed since then, and things haven't exactly gotten much better in retrospect. Although some of the more obscure covers work decently, the original critical opinion of the material has turned out to be correct. A song as immensely popular as the Cars' "Just What I Needed" may be a good cover for a band to do in a live situation, but not a good choice for album material, as the general public has a very well-seated idea about what the song should sound like. The same goes for popular songs by artists with well-established, artist-specific fan bases (like Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl")--the fans of the original artist will immediately reject the cover on principal alone. The better tracks are the ones that are originally written by artists whose works are more obscure (Syd Barrett's "No Good Trying"), or from genres more given to cover songs (like their almost-as-bombastic-as-Bowie's-original "The Bewlay Brothers").

The other point of critique is still valid, though not as much as it was at that time. When the CD was released, "alternative," as a post-punk pseudogenre, was breaking into splinters, with many first-wave bands calling it quits and the charts being filled up with imitators attempting to replicate the sound with only a flimsy facade of the meaning. Because of this, irony within popular music was examined with intense scrutiny. Although the arena is different, a lot of the Replicants' work continues to look at least somewhat mediocre under that sort of criteria. For example, they commit the postmodern-to-the-core trend of covering straightforward, positive songs in an opposite context, using the lyrics in jest to point out their assumed vapidity. However, this gets annoying extremely quickly, and, for example, it is difficult to listen to guest vocalist Maynard James Keenan sing "I loooooove you" against a backdrop of minor-key synth chords and a wall of seethingly distorted guitars more than a few times ("Silly Love Songs"). Speaking of McCartney, their cover of John Lennon's infamous attack on McCartney's character, "How Do You Sleep," sounds entirely out-of-place, and the sarcasm expressed therein sounds plastic and forced--not surprisingly, considering the number of thinly-veiled references to McCartney within the song, but the band's assumed lack of personal vendetta against McCartney himself.

The CD passed nearly entirely unnoticed by everyone but fans of the contributors' respective groups (Tool, Failure, Triangle, and Zaum), a large portion of that owing to the fact that cover CDs themselves never sell as well as original material. This may have been in the right after all, since the people most likely to get any enjoyment out of this release are those already entrenched in the alt/neo-metal genre. Some of the arrangements of the songs are quite pleasing and well-done, and the CD would make a fine addition to any neometalhead's collection. Everyone else can skip this release and buy original work by the involved parties and/or the original songs themselves, secure in the fact they're not missing anything.

I have had this cd for years! I came across it on someone's Maynard list, and thought I should tell you how good it is. Yes, as you can tell all the songs are covered, but better than any cover I have ever heard. Great buy, by far!

Cover tunes are a tough sell. Either a band retools an old song so that none of the original shines through (what's the point?) or the cover sounds so much like it's predessesor there's no updated creativity (again, what's the point?). REPLICANTS inject their own flavor into some old tunes and the result is a refreshing, rocking record with zip. The variety of old songs is a real treat, ranging from classic and folk rock to new wave. The band pulls off this 'novelty' with style and respect to the material they've covered. Features then members of FAILURE and TOOL, and an unforgettable redo of PAUL McCARTNEY's SILLY LOVE SONGS sung by maestro MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN. A fun record for any alt rock appreciators. If it's covers you're into, also check out- TOOL's cover of LED ZEPPLIN's NO QUARTER on their release SALIVAL, and the cool band SHINER does a sweet version of BAD COMPANY's MAKING LOVE that is hard to find (try online) but well worth it.

I listen to a wide variety of music, but I am very particular. Nothing too old, too new, too metal, too folk, but something with a message, with creativity and talent. Okay, so I only bought the album cause Maynard is on it, as I'm sure a lot of you did, and I admit I've yet to hear Faliure or any of the other guys' work, but I will inevitably get the next Replicants album! These guys rock! They give old has been songs a pulse again, a mind again, like electro shock therapy or something. Not only bearable but they get stuck in your head all day long and I like it. I recently read a magazine which crown Maynard the Dark Prince of Art Rock. These guys are the common folk of that category, and I mean no disrespect.

For those of you familiar with the songs that Ken Andrews and the rest re-record in their own unique voices, these new musical visions will not disappoint. If you liked the originals, then consider them in the light of such bands as Tool and Failure. If you think that sounds interesting, then this album is all for you.

The Replicants are the masters of cover-bands! And so obscure... I love whipping this CD out at parties! ;)

My mom surprised me on my birthday with this album! I had been pestering her for a while about how much I wanted it so she finally gave in. I really enjoy this one. Even if the songs are covers, they don't seem like it. My favorite would have to be "Just What I Needed", the keyboards add a spooky feeling to the song. The production is great and I think they knew what they were doing when they decided to do a cover album. Ken Andrews is the man!