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regular fries - phone in sick

(unreleased, rare & classic tracks)

 

i make no apologies for this. i love(d) the regular fries.

the moment i heard their second ep 'fries entertainment' (from which lost classic track 'mars hotel' is included here) i knew i was in for the long haul with the band. from the eps' weird spaced out psychonauts mix to the hidden tracks ambience and the shambolic combination of pink floyd space rock  clashed with happy mondays vibes i realised i had found a band that appealed on many levels. i could chill out, get vibed up, rock out, freak out, or just plain old pass out to the noises created by the media monster machine that mashed up everything into the mix.

over the bands 3 lp's, countless ep's and several almost hits there were the flashback beats to the days of baggy euphoria pitted against the post clubbing comedown  (semi-hit  'eclipse' was single of the week on the old school mark and lard show dontcha know), to the full on hip hop rock collaboration with kool keith on 'supersonic waves'. so, hopefully this compilation goes a long way to open the doors of perception to those that didn't hear the appeal first time round.

cos, quite simply the fries were the best band to mix shuffling dance beats with a rock and roll band attitude.

ever.

as ever though, this type of compilation is for the bands fans who will surely have most of these tracks (king kong, eclipse, supersonic especially) as they were featured on the bands two major label albums, and were released as singles. but, where things get really interesting is in the unreleased last full band recording 'vitamin x' showing that the band were definitely still onto a good distorted hammond organ groove with their instrumental excessive overload with the classic rock guitars and spacerock synths. from this we move onto the other side of the bands oeuvre the sheer fried funk of the richard fearless mix of dust it. this stripped down mix has a heaviness and depth while maintaining the songs addictive structure. i never heard this mix on first outing (originally a 12" vinyl only release) so, i am chuffed that this one has been dropped into the list as this along with the opening track justify the entry price, and the full length version of 'the prayer' some of which was part of the bands debut 30 minute ep 'free the fries' (ebay the fragger now!) is icing on the cake.

the rest of the compilation is far more familiar to me personally, but, despite having been exposed to these tripped out sonic adventures the boredom factor has still not surfaced. from the slow prog like build up in 'dream lottery' with the stone roses-esque pumping bass line and epic ambience, add a haunting david bowie saxophone line and you get a drop dead classic (is my bias becoming a little too obvious now?), to the spaced out freakiness of 'brainticket' and all bases are covered. even the dream pop brilliance of 'weird school' and 'supposed to be a gas' proves that the band were not just good with a groove but could also hold a fine tune which could indeed melt icebergs with their human warmth.

i wont go over every track here, as i think it's fairly obvious what i reckon, but, this is a perfect place to start before you realise that the band should never have been given the mauling that they were subjected to (see interview for details !). i would have preferred to hear a few more unreleased mixes. but hey .. rock music with a funky cosmonaut groove never sounded so good.

oh, and the inner sleeve collage is indeed very entertaining.

message ends.

link - interview

tracklisting :

vitamin x

dust it - fearless mix

the prayer

eclipse

dream lottery

mars hotel

king kong

supersonic waves (ft kool keith)

weird school

brainticket

supposed to be a gas

 

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