Revisiting “Nightmare Revisited”

When I first heard some of these cover versions I had a gut reaction of dislike.  It could have been from being accustomed to the originals, or something else.  Only way to know for sure is to let time pass a bit, which I did.  What do I feel about this album, after letting myself stew on it for awhile?

First off, Sparklehorse’s (ugh) ‘rendition’ of Jack’s Obsession is still the worst noise I have ever heard in my life.

Secondly, all the instrumentals still rock.  The vocals?  Ah, that’s where the rub lies.  My playlist of songs on this album does NOT include:

2.  Opening- intro by Elfman.  Not really a song anyway, but mostly took it out because it slowed down the flow of songs.

 7.  Town Meeting Song-  This one is terrible.  The original version is 2:56 long.  This version is 8:55.  WTF.  How anyone could think a good revamp of an original is to triple it’s length is beyond me.  By the time they even start to sing it’s already been a minute and eighteen seconds.  That’s almost half the originals total length!  It’s so ungodly slow, I feel like Jack: “And as hard as I try, I can’t seem to describe, like a most improbable dream.”  Luckily I’m not singing it the way it is in this version, or that simple remark would have taken me sixteen soul-numbing seconds.  This one heartily earned it’s ‘Shall never be played again’  status.

 9.  Jack’s Obsession – This…this thing…this (for lack of a better word) ‘version’ is so terribly bad it could have meme’s attached to it for years.  Ytmnd.com, prank calls, gag gifts, annoying cell-phone-songs-as-messages, vanilla torture.  You name it, this unholy audio clip can do it.  In fact, this could very easily be the evolution of Rick Rolls.  Imagine the surprise of clicking on a youtube video only to be pelted with this steaming pile.  You were doing fine and dandy wasting time at work then *BAM!* 

Speakers crit you for Your Sanity! 

Next thing you know, your face is permanently stretched out like victims in The Ring.  Fortunately, I don’t even think a deaf person could stomach making a “Spark Roll”, knowing the chaos and agony it would cause on the masses.

16.  Poor Jack- It didn’t jive with me.  The vocals aren’t exactly emo, they aren’t exactly whiny…but, I just don’t like ‘em.  A throaty monotone does not a song make.  Elfman had emotion, great music, the whole package.  This one just seems…lacking?

19.  Closing- Again it kills the flow…and I prefer Picard’s version ^_^

Originally This is Halloween, Jack’s Lament, and What’s This? were also on that list, but have sense forged their way onto my playlist.  Reasons being:

This is Halloween is just a rehash of his version from years ago.  Not that it’s bad, it’s quite good, but it’s the same.  How is this “Revisiting” if it’s just a copy/paste?  Lost points for repeated use, but still a good song so it passed.

What’s This? almost didn’t make it due to the ever-increasing ‘idea’ of stretching out a song longer than it has to be done.  All the new versions I like on this CD are either the same speed or faster than their original, this being the only slower one I still listen to.  The only reason I still play to this one is that I really like her voice and style, I  just wish it was sung at a more brisk pace.

Jack’s Lament was originally in the same boat as Poor Jack, but it grew on me.  I was on the fence with this song for awhile as I like the band, but hearing their version I thought they could have done more with it.  I’m not sure if I have warmed up to the song, or simply got used to it.  Either way it’s on my playlist and I think it’s a good addition.

To summarise all the negative changes on this album I disliked:

• Slowing down these classics does not make you a revolutionary.  It makes for a bad song.
• Monotone is not the desired placement for your voice when singing emotional (happy, sad, etc) songs.
• When making a song your own, try pushing the envelope a little, while avoiding the two previous ‘ideas’.

All in all, great CD with more good surprises than bad.  I likey.

Reseach 102: Google FTW!

I don’t know why I find writing about writing so fascinating. To me, the writer, my perspective is different than you, the reader, this I understand. But for some reason, just seeing what I’ve researched today for a few hours trying to write makes me seem like I’m poking my head behind the scenes and taking note of clues that might affect…something. Even though there is no curtain to peek behind as I’m just looking at what I typed today. Maybe typing as different characters is making be skitzo. Hee hee hee. Anyway, here’s ten things I looked up today on wikipedia.

1. A-10 Thunderbolt II
2. Ancient Rome
3. Chain Gun
4. Drinking Straw
5. Formaldehyde
6. Gatling Gun
7. Plastic
8. Rome
9. Straw
10. Vulcanization

Research 101

Still looking up things to finish up my project, both to further explore and to make sure I’m not accidentally ripping off other ideas.  (There’s already a guy that pretends to be a bat that fights crime?!  No wai!)  My searches lead me to the classic bad guy, Venom.  I’m not the comic genius, admittedly, so thankfully I got the Cliff’s Notes version from wikipedia, as usual.  Everything was typical super dramatic storyline and ’shockers’ here and there, until I read down to minor hosts the symbiote joined with:

Angelo Fortunato

Angelo was the youngest son of Don Fortunato, a prominent Mafia capo of New York’s criminal underworld. Due to his frail physique and shy attitude, Angelo was frequently bullied and humiliated by his father. Tiring of his son’s weakness, the Don brings Angelo to a supervillain auction, where he purchases the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brockfor $100 million. Eddie warns of the dangers inherent in the symbiote to which the boy answers that he had nothing to lose in a life of non-stop ridicule.

Like Spider-Man, Angelo becomes the only other Venom host not to have a protruding tongue. Once bonded with the symbiote, Angelo learns the secret identity of Spider-Man, and plans to destroy him to prove himself worthy to his father. Angelo attacks Peter Parker during a high school reunion, injuring many bystanders in the process. They engage in a ferocious battle which brings them out into the streets of New York. Learning how to use the symbiote’s mimetic abilities faster than anticipated Angelo takes the advantage in the fight. However, when Angelo kills an innocent civilian he mistakes for Spider-Man, the superhero stops holding back and beats Angelo into submission.

In defeat Angelo’s old cowardly ways show through and he flees while the symbiote berates him for his cowardice. Irritated by the boy’s lack of resolve, the symbiote ruthlessly abandons Angelo in mid-leap, letting him fall to his death. Ironically, Angelo’s name translates from Italian into “Fortunate Angel”.

Venom quotage

Epic maneuver, Venom.  Epic maneuver.

My eyes…they bleed.

I’m trying to wrap up the ending to my current project and the human thought-process being what it is, ended up having me look up Trigun on google as I was looking up info on one of the Gung Ho Guns, and one of the pages I stumbled on was this one right here, and I can say that after scanning the page for the text I was looking for, finding it, and then mentally ‘clicking’ that the page is bright red I literally yelled “OW!” and just had to post about it.  I still see green ’shadows’ on the screen as I type this, sheesh.

Nightmare Repulsion (Revisited)

I was going to type something up eventually but this just…wow.  Very few things surprise me, but this cover CD certainly has for all the wrong reasons.

I don’t have the time to cut the garbage into manageable amounts, so I’ll just post a link to the worst thing I have ever heard in my life and call it a day:

 

In case you are at work so you can’t access it, or simply can’t take the pressure of having one of your favorite cult classics destroyed; it sounds like a female version of Tiny Tim singing “Jack’s Obsession” in the style of William Shatner, and constantly out of breath.

Not all the artists were terrible though.   Amy Lee, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Rise Against, and several of the instrumentals were pretty nice.  But others induce a sort of hearing gag-reflex, almost akin to how your brain says “hot” when your finger gets too close to an open flame.  When your ears get too close to the lack-luster tracks your brain says “bad.”