well, after a few too many weeks on the jazz tip i did the hop skip-n-jump through the archives today to find that all important music buzz.
and, to be honest, nothing hit the spot.
then i dropped ultra real by sigue sigue sputnik into the playlist, and felt good.
really really good.
such a shame that things all fell apart soon after the release of the album, as prior to all the personal politics and very public falling out that came soon after ultra real, the original trio of martin d, tony j, and neal x were self releasing albums that proved to be a lot more enjoyable than you’d have ever believed.
the first album after they reunited in, piratespace (released in 2001), while a great album in itself, it was very much a testing ground and clearly the guys tried to go off into new directions.
something that sputnik should never do.
basically, the drum-machine and guitars mix was given a little shake up, and a lot more techno was introduced.
the album still had that sputnik feel, but the results were very hi-tech and glossy sounding.
this was then followed up by an album of elvis covers, blak elvis.
an album i’ll be the first to admit, is for the hardcore fans only.
though amongst the covers is a classic sputnik sounding original, king of rock and roll.
so good its featured twice. the all important ingredients were back on track – the tinny simplistic drum machine, the movie samples, the cut up vocals, and those trade marked dub heavy clipped guitar licks.
the inclusion of king of rock and roll made sure the album was never totally dismissed offhand.
then a couple of years later came ultra real in all too cliched cover art, which even at the time of release just looked really cheap.
thankfully, it was a case do not judge the album by the cover, as this was a classic sputnik album from start to finish with track titles like mickey mouse is going to hell, fabulously wasssted, and the way too catchy, everybody wants what sputnik wants.
lyrics that make me laugh out loud, sing along, and generally prove what’s missing in a lot of todays pop music : fun.
as far as i’m concerned, sigue sigue sputnik were anything but the media baiting monsters that the press liked to portray back in the 80s, they were in fact a whole lotta fun.
simple as that, and i fully suspect tony james knew all too well that there was no way this was a band meant to be taken seriously.
it was all just good old entertainment wrapped up in shock tactics, simple riffs, big hair, and dual drummers.
so, thanks sputnik for giving me the all important shake up i needed today, now please patch up your differences (fat chance i know – but hey .. ), and let the rock-n-roll begin again.
to finish off, here is a track that has been available from the bands site for a long long time featuring neal x on vocals
of course in the last few years, tony james has gone off and done the serious rock star thing with his old pal mick jones as part of carbon/silicon.
however, i can’t help it, i still prefer the beatbox t-rex-isms, and costumes.
mp3 : sigue sigue sputnik : into the unknown
more detail : here