Customer Reviews

Singles 93-03 (Bonus CD)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A friend recounted that he was searching through the personals one day when he came across the ad of a woman who claimed to be a Chemical Bros. fan. He was thrilled and I was mystified -- who are the Chemical Brothers?

And now it's love.

For casual listeners of electronica/dance music, there is plenty in this compilation to make it worth the price. Star Guitar is the kind of music you want to play when you're racing down a dark highway on your way into the city, Get Yourself High is head-bop fantastic and both Loops of Fury and Chemical Beats sounds like they should have made it onto a Matrix soundtrack.

In short, this is a great compilation for the Johnny-come-lately Chemical Brothers fan.

I love electronic music, and as far as I'm concerned "The Chemical Brothers" are the absolute best in the genre. Few (if any) other electronic acts have consistently delivered outstanding material over such a great length of time (this collection spans 10 years). Their music never fails to get my ass shakin' and expand my consciousness. And yet the brothers always seem to maintain some kind of a signature sound that lets you know that you're listening to the Chemical Brothers and no one else.

As far as the first disk goes, which is the actual singles collection, I already had most of the tracks in my music library, although it's still cool to hear all the singles together in one CD. The two new tracks on the first CD are both really fresh: "Get Yourself High" is a hip-hop energy boost, and "The Golden Path" (a collaboration with the outstanding "Flaming Lips"), is a stream-of-consciousness spiritual trip. For the tried-and-true fans (like me), the biggest draw to owning this collection is the second CD, which is filled with unreleased and live tracks. "Not Another Drugstore", "The Duke" and "Morning Lemon" are just as inventive, unpredictable, and brilliant as anything on the Chemical Brothers' last few albums. The alternate mixes of "Galaxy Bounce" and "Under the Influence" are sweet too.

The ending vocals to the track "Morning Lemon" sum up my feelings for this collection of superb material perfectly: "Take that, mtherf*%kers!"

Ok. The songs included in this compilation are the most know ones. The unmissable ones. What I liked a lot about this album was that they sort of made special edits to the song, which doesn't meant they cut parts or something. I loved how they selected them and put them together. It is perfect. Plus, this singles collection has 2 new tracks: The Golden Path (can be funny and beautiful at the same time) and Get Yourself High (a very distorted and electric hiphop-like song). The real reason why I got this Cd was because of the bonus album. It has 2 live tracks (so incredible because they are amazing and very original when they go live), some unreleased tunes and mixes, and includes other tracks that were singles. It's a wonderful tracklisting. If you have liked what the Chems have done in the past, you're gonna be happy with this cd, just like me. I am a fan, and I'm satisfied with this singles album.

This is an awesome compilation album full of the best album tracks from the first four Chemical Brothers studio album as well as a couple of EP's. The first two tracks are the original versions of "Song To The Siren" and "Chemical Beats". "Song To The Siren" is taken from the out of print 12" single and "Chemical Beats" is taken from the out of print EP, 'Fourteenth Century Sky'. These tracks are really awesome in its original form. The last two tracks on this compilation album are brand new tracks called "Get Yourself High" featruring the Canadian rapper, K-OS with rare vocal apperance by The Chemical Brothers themselves and "The Golden Path" featuring The Flaming Lips. The rest of the album tracks are taken from the first four studio albums. This compilation is awesome!

The real treat is the limited edition bonus disc. It has the remix version of "Not Another Drugstore", the original version of "Morning Lemon", the original version of "Galaxy Bounce" taken from the first Tomb Raider motion picture soundtrack, a few b-sides, unreleased tracks and two live tracks. The live tracks are really cool. This is a must have compilation album with the limited edition bonus disc for every true Chemical Brothers fan. You will not be disapointed!

If you wanted electronic music in the 1990s, and didn't want a DJ picking your tunes for you (how most dance music is sold these days), there were only three bands capable of going on stage and satisfy thousands of eager listeners: Orbital, Underworld, and The Chemical Brothers. Now with four artist albums and three compilations to their name, The Chems Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands have just released a 2003 two-disc retrospective of their work. Not bad for two chaps who met while studying medieval literature in college.

So can you really mess up a Greatest Hits album? Possibly, as there's two ways to go; either aim for the uninitiated by packing in as many top tunes as possible, or go for the established hardcore fan base by adding bonus b-sides, unreleased outtakes, and new material to the repackaged oldies (their decision).

The best hits of Singles pull from their 1995-99 peak. Early acid house moments Chemical Beats, Leave Home, and 1997 Best Rock Instrumental Grammy winner Block Rockin' Beats run squiggly lines over slow and low rock Zepplin-esque drums. Setting Sun's cacophony of sirens and fury, with biggest star of that moment Noel Gallagher from Oasis, tore through the British charts to number one. Joyous The Private Psychadelic Reel remains their shining moment, sitar riffs and sun-fueled guitar by Mercury Rev's Johnathan Donahue building to a momentous crescendo that still closes The Chems live performances. Even their later four on the floor, hands in the air anthems Hey Boy Hey Girl and Star Guitar match their prior work.

But that's it. New material Get Yourself High shows an ill-fated rap attempt to turn back the clock, while media-touted The Flaming Lips collaborative folk fable The Golden Path forgets the hooks or an actual ending. The bonus disc of b-sides are strictly that: repetitive, harder club material plucked from their numerous EPs. Granted, The Duke cleverly ties a Willy Wonka load of knob effects and Spanish guitar (!) together, but the rest holds space where other top moments Music-Response, It Began In Africa, H.I.A. and a host of other defining singles should be. In this case, exclusivity makes a poor sacrifice for quality.

Singles 93-03 is still a near must-have that captures their winning collide of rock n' roll with club ethos, but the uninitiated won't be able to fully appreciate their impact on electronic music off just ten top tunes.

Sure, these guys have pumped out many a dance floor filler. This collection of incredible singles is an undeniable testament to that. Buy this one for the singles, and the extra disc of rare-ish material. Then prepare to fall in love with Chemical Brothers, one of the most brilliant duos in popular music. Hopefully this "Best Of" will only be a jumping off point for the curious. Digging a little deeper into their albums you will find bits of heady psychedelia, rushes of shimmering electronica, tough slabs of hip hop, moody ballds, guest vocalists galore, and more than just a few curveballs thrown your way.

Why has no one mentioned the absence of "Life is Sweet"? It was definetly a single, and is definetly what got me into the Chemical brothers in the first place, being a big fan of the Charlatans.

I have all LP's from The Chemical and I must say that I would think whether to buy 1CD version or not, but when I found out that there is a limited edition containing 2 CD, I started to talk and talk about it to my girlfriend. Now I'm past my birthday and I have my own 2CD Version. The 2 last songs on the first CD are both great and Get Yourself High is more in the CB style. And the second CD just ROCKS!!! Every single track is great and a couple of them are previously unreleased. I don't mention songs 1-11 on the first CD, because everyone knows how good these tracks are. So if you are a big fan of CB, buy immediatelly the limited edition of Singles 93-03 by The Chemical Brothers

When I think of cutting-edge music, the work of the Chemical Brothers comes to mind. Here they collect 13 singles into once CD, making for one fantastic collection. A bonus disc also includes some other groovy tune. I strongly recommend "Singles 93-03." Just keep in mind that this music sounds best when played LOUD!

Disc one contains the singles, and its one great track after another. "Song to the Siren" and "Chemical Beats" both grab you, right from the start. "Setting Sun" has Noel Gallagher (Oasis) guest vocals, and I just love cranking it up when it comes on. "Block Rockin' Beats" is a killer tune that lives up to its title, and is a well-known Chemical Bros. hit. Gallagher appears again on "Let Forever Be," which is also a great song. One of my absolute favorites is "Out of Control," which features Bernard Sumner (New Order & Electronic) on guitar and vocals-with some contributions from Bobby Gillespie (Primal scream). It is simply a great track. "Get Yourself High" is enjoyable, and "The Golden Path" is a nice, quirky tune. Perhaps the only song on the disc I'm not big on is "Hey Boy Hey Girl."

Disc two contains plenty of cool and interesting tracks. Five of the eleven tracks are previously unreleased. Plenty of great electro-beats to go around here, making for a nice companion to the first disc.

Folks who've never bought anything by the Chemical Bros. should check this one out! In fact, everyone who likes good, modern, electronic music should have this in their collection.

A lot of people have said in other reviews of this collection, that the Brothers have left the best tracks off of this collection. This is true. Also, there really aren't enough new tracks or remixes to get longtime fans interested in this collection. With that said, I think this is an excellent CD set for new listeners to hear what the Chemical Brothers are all about. This collection serves as nothing more, in my opinion, then as a way to get new listeners hooked on the Brothers and convince them to buy some of the old CDs.
The only thing I think longtime fans would dig about this collection is the very detailed history of the band in the CD's liner notes. The CD booklet is loaded with rare photos and info about this reclusive group.
The only track I haven't found on another Chemical Brothers disc is the Mix 2 of Under the Influence which is really cool. For this track, the Brothers combined some of the sounds from Out of Control and used them in a creative way during Under the Influence, not bad.
New fans will love this and will get an education on the greatest innovators of dance/techno music. However, longtime fans will find the collection lacking and will just keep playing the Chemical Brothers CDs they already have, but may find the CD booklet very interesting.
PS - I also agree with another reviewer here that recommended mr.deviant's "Techno Obsession", that's a killer disc and Chem' fans should dig his material too.