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Jan 17, 07
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Blast From The Past, July 2006: Pendulum "Jungle Sound Gold"
Here's a review I wrote about six months ago that didn't end up getting published (I write around 200 reviews a year...naturally, they don't all get published). I think it may be midly relevant to some of you. Please try to enjoy it for what it is:
Pendulum http://www.planetpendulum.com/ styles: drum and bass others: Hive, TeeBee, Photek, DJ Craze, DJ Zinc, Klute Jungle Sound Gold Breakbeat Kaos, 2006 rating: 2.5/5 reviewer: filmore mescalito holmes This mainstream drum and bass release is way more complicated than I knew when I picked it up. It looks harmless enough. But, before I get started, a word from the message board on DogsOnAcid dot com (the main forum for Breakbeat Kaos, essentially a sub label): “just gotta clear this up: a) We had no prior knowledge of the release of this CD. The first we heard of it was on discussion forums linking it to the product being sold in shops. b) We mixed the CD back in mid-2004 - therefore the mix, as well as our tracks included on the second disc, do not reflect the Pendulum sound of today (for better or worse, that’s up to you ;]) c) We never intended nor agreed to release 'Masochist VIP' - I did it in about 30 minutes as something special to play out at a show. It was only given to Fresh and Adam F in low quality mp3 format for them to play out as DJ's - not to be released. d) We didn't approve and in fact strongly disapprove of the Jungle Sound Gold artwork, especially in relation to our name being unfairly used as an advertisement - plainly an attempt to link Jungle Sound Gold to the recent success of Hold Your Colour. As a result of the above, we do not endorse Jungle Sound Gold at all. Pendulum” Now the weight of most of these claims rests squarely on how Jungle Sound Gold is marketed. You see, the bulk of Gold was already released by Breakbeat Kaos once back in 2004 under the full title Adam F & DJ Fresh Present Jungle Sound Vol. 2: The Bassline Strikes Back. That was an early release for BK, one of the first records Adam F and former Bad Company knob Fresh put out as label owners. On the earlier version, the owners are the biggest names repeated on the cover. While their eleven track unmixed compilation was listed as disk one, the two-part Pendulum mix was, for all intents and purposes, tacked on as a bonus disk. Glaringly shifting focus, the former bonus mix is number one on Gold, while the haphazardly altered compilation is now number two. The layout also no longer attaches the label’s names to the project except as track contributors. Coupled with the timing of release, this clearly adds credibility to the claim this album is being released purely to cash in on the surprising success of Pendulum’s last long player Hold Your Colour. Also released by BK, Colour is not only the highest selling release ever for F & Fresh’s imprint, but one of the biggest drum and bass CDs of all time (closing in on a suitably gold record in Australia as I type this review), so to see this old mix gussied up like a five dollar whore just over half a year later makes the intentions of that gesture pretty obvious. There would be nothing wrong with it if Gold was being sold as a reissue with bonus tracks, but official write-ups for it are cloudily worded at best. The proof for the listener comes when MC Darrison, like every other substandard DnB emcee, announces the year as “two-zero-zero-four” over “Circle VIP 2000,” which I would suspect will come as a surprise to many buying this package new. Ironically, Darrison also makes sure to shout out DogsOnAcid dot com, where anyone with enough time can read the previously posted Pendulum denouncement of this very release. It would’ve been so easy to sell this as an enhanced re-release too. The unmixed disk had three tracks that were already on the Pendulum mix removed while five were added and two were ‘updated’ but with no explanation whatsoever. The newly included John B remix of Guru’s “Karma” is copyrighted for five years ago and was used on an Adam F fronted DJ Craze mix in 2002. As good as that cut is, who knows why it’s here now? Several other comp cuts are from this year. While the Pendulum mix remains all 2004, the unmix is now a lazy survey of post-millennium DnB. Regardless, complaint B would not be relevant if Gold was a reissue (in all fairness, though, it’s not like Pendulum really pushes the boundaries of their chosen genre all that much so their 2004 ain’t that far off from their 2006, but I can understand the desire to present progress and growth as an artist). Complaints A and C both address the same basic issue. I don’t know what kind of contract the three members of Pendulum signed but you’d think you would have to be made aware when a new CD by you is about to be sold. Don’t you read everything you sign? How could Adam & Fresh release “Masochist VIP” without permission? The liner notes say it was published and it’s in Pendulum’s name. You would think you’d have to at least sign a waiver. Whether or not there were legally in the wrong, I cannot say, but as label heads you would think you’d extend a small amount of professional courtesy to your newly highest selling act and give them a nod before you start beating them in the back of the head with that fat capitalist dick. Don’t you want them to keep making unit shifters for you? You [Adam & Fresh] are not Suge Knight and even he can’t get away with that kind of shit any more. Selling a track that was never meant for wide release is a real asshole move, disrespectful in a way one would assume fellow recording artists would understand. But, on the other hand, it’s not like the track was never meant to be heard by anyone ever. In fact, to the man unaware of the issues surrounding Gold, inclusion of the VIP cut of “Masochist” adds greater and, which is more, relevant depth to the re-release. Furthermore, to split complaint D, the pimped out Star Wars vehicle laden artwork for Gold is far more enjoyable than the cheap Lucas-less cover of The Bassline Strikes Back, whose name alone parodies George as much as the cover of the new album. They’re right to bitch about the cover name switcheroo but leave the dope new art out of it. The “disk one” mix sounds just as good today as it did two years ago and Pendulum has to be getting royalties –unless their contract allows it, in which case they can only blame themselves– so Jungle Sound Gold is definitely not the end of the world. Though, unless this is all an attempt at creating controversy to push sales, this is probably the end of Pendulum and Breakbeat Kaos. What the hell happened to manners, eh? 
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Jan 17, 07
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anyways, i think i've been quite enough of an asshole in these threads, but maybe Mangle, you should think about why that review has elicited such a bad response from pretty much everyone who has read it, or seen you post it. (and now repost it)
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Jan 17, 07
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Jan 17, 07
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You can delete the other thread, but we still remember what was in it, and your writing is still uneducated, speculative, boring and poorly put together.
Before you start spouting off "why don't you give it a try, wah wah wah," like you do every time someone criticises you, I received a grade of 99% on my English 12 AP exam and have been published several times. Not that I need to justify my opinions in the slightest. Last edited by prozac; Jan 17, 07 at 01:10 PM.
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Jan 17, 07
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Jan 17, 07
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At least he's doing something, give him props for that. And personally, I don't think his writing is bad at all. It's straight forward opinion in the traditional review format.
And Jess, I also received excellent English grades and, for what it's worth, had several of my pieces printed in local mediums but I find review writing to be something entirely different. I'm also working with a friend right now on an independant magazine... does that make my opinion more credible than yours now? Not at all. There are key guidelines which need to be adhered to, as well as very trivial, specific qualities that apparently seperate a poor review from a great review.
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Jan 17, 07
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Jan 17, 07
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But on that note, what DID you think of it, Mangle?
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