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56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
England's Loudest Band, October 17, 2000
Finally, here is a collection of sone of the greatest hits of one of Englands Loudest Bands, Spinal Tap. This is overall a great collection. It has 2 pre-tap songs, when David and Nigel were in the Thamesmen, and Spinal Tap's first, and only, international number one hit, Listen to (the flower people). It also has some of the fan favorites like "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You" from the classic Intrevenous De Milo album, and "Rock N Roll Creation" from my personal favorite tap album A Rock and Roll Creation (known to others as The Gospel According to Spinal Tap). Although many may disagree with me, they may be right, because I am a sucker for concept albums. Some of the other fan favoites are on here, like "Big Bottom" from their phenominal Brainhammer album, and "Sex Farm" from their rather disappointing Shark Sandwich album. ALthough the music is good, it seems that Tap was trying to recreated the magic they had during the Intrevenous De Milo period, and they didn't succeed. Despite some great songs on this album, there are some disappointments. There are no songs from their famous Blood to Let album. It may be because a young taphead was found dead while listening to this albums, and initial accusations were that they album made him commit suicide. However, authorities did and autopsy and found out the cause of death was boredom. It would also be nice to see the 19 minute live version of "Short N Easy" from their Silent but Deadly live album. There are also some old classics missing like "We Are All Flower People" "To Fly" "I Am Flight" "Get Me Away From the Ground" "The Incredible Flight of Icarus P. Anybody" and "All the Way Home". As well as the recent composition by Nigel entitled "Lick My Lovepump". Although this collection is missing some great songs which will never see the light of day since Megaphone has refused to release any of their albums due to "Lack of Talent", there are some great gems here, and this is a great introduction to Spinal Tap to any new Taphead.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The University of Tap, June 5, 2005
It saddens me to see that so many reviewers at Amazon.com have so badly misunderstood what is perhaps England's most literate and intelligent band. Few popular musicians of the 20th century have had the intellectual firepower to so consistently subvert commonly received opinions on such a wide variation of academic topics.
Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence:
1) 'Sex Farm' is often misunderstood as some sort of sexist song drawing puerile analogies between barn animals and women. Tosh! As anyone familiar with the settlement of the North American continent can attest, the Tap are offering an insightful perspective on the objectification of women during the settlement of the American Prairie.
2) 'Big Bottom' is often misunderstood as an even more sexist song based on juvenile delight at sexualised female buttocks. Never. What people fail to understand is that the Tap are issuing a satirical howl of rage at the reification of pseudo-anorexic 'Cosmo Woman', and are instead urging us to consider the beauty of the fuller-figured woman in line with their understanding of the role of the Goddess Image in proto-historical Europe
3) 'Stonehenge' shows the Tap's awareness of broader archaeological issues by serving as an academic historiography of outdated interpretations of the function of British prehistoric sites - play it backwards, and you can hear the academic citations.
4) And 'Rock and Roll Creation' - here the subtlely of Tufnell, Smalls and St. Hubbins is truely revealed through their attempt to offer a syncretisation of Christian sources pre-dating St. Polycarp's letter to the Phillipians with non-Mediterranean creation myths. Ultimately, the Tap's magnificent ambition perhaps exceeds their grasp, and it cannot be claimed that they succeed - but surely they should be applauded for trying?
Perhaps it is because the Tap's genius is so wide-ranging that so many people have misunderstood the true meaning of the songs. But their legacy will live on, hewn into the living plastic of my CD collection.
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The 2nd-Funniest Thing in the World, November 30, 1999
The funniest being, of course, the review posted by the woman from Colorado, who indeed was disillusioned and fanatical enough to slam a parody of "white-male misogyny" as the real thing. Indeed Rob Reiner (not Riener, proving once again that this 14-year old male can spell better than the average woman [knowing this will not change anything, I state now that that was also a joke... but that didn't change anything for the aforementioned woman, did it?]) made a "documentary" about Spinal Tap. Incidentally, this is the funniest movie ever, and also just happens to be a parody. Back to the CD, the music is very good, and the lyrics are hilarious. They also influenced my thinking. I must end this review here, because I feel the urge to break into one hundred houses and stick every woman I see with my pitch-fork because I'm only a male with a one-track mind and recognize all women as inferior and spend all my time with my beer-swilling white male buddies scratching myself and watching football games while my brilliant, beautiful, intellectually superior, yet violently oppressed girlfriend does all the housework and makes my food. I thank this CD for guiding my life along this path.
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