Apollo 440 - Gettin' High On Your Own Supply

YOURZ

This is another of those discs I listened to many, many times when it first came out but haven't really bothered playing for the last few years.  For the sake of maybe repeating myself (which I do often anyway), this is not because it's tasteless or dated (well, maybe a little dated but not in a bad way) but because there's been so much more music come into my life, it got left behind.  However, I've been rather pissed to hear Stop The Rock sampled and turned into some crap dance track I hear all the time at the gym. 

Segue: why do franchise gyms play the crappest music in the world?  Our local has a 'station' that plays the same rubbish dance music over and over, with very occasional forays into FM classics.  I occasionally try and give my poor ears a rest and not use my MP3 player but the music they play honestly makes me wanna pack up and get the hell outta there.

I remember hearing of Apollo 440 via their track 'Aint Talking 'Bout Dub', from their second album, which sampled the Van Halen track 'Aint Talkin' 'Bout Love'.  Being a big Van Halen fan when I was a wee lad, I was rather taken by 440's clever use of this song.  My girlfriend of the time (hi Maz!) really liked the band, consequently I heard that album quite a bit.  Gettin' High On Your Own Supply was the followup.  As I mentioned, I heard it a lot too. 

It's packed full of hits and is one of those records you can put on at a party and forget about until it's finished.  It has a little bit of something for everyone (except maybe for you metal-heads - I know how hard you are to please) for most of us, it's a real crowd-pleaser.  While I was listening to it at work, I was actually smiling and nodding along.  And their take on the Lost In Space theme is probably the best reinvention since Doctorin' The Tardis (who remembers that one?)

VERDICT: TURN IT UP, Will Robinson...

MINE

Again and again I write - I just don't listen to this enough.  But how can I?  There's so much great music we own and I can't listen to all of it all the time.  I mean, I spend eight hours every Monday to Friday in a job where I'm just not allowed to listen to large chunks of music - although I do sneak in the odd tune via YouTube or by previewing tracks on Amazon to remind me which ones I like and which are making me gag.

Anyway, I saw Apollo 440 some years ago at one of Sydney's best music venues - The Metro, for those of you considering a visit to our sunny shores.  To say they rocked would be an understatement.  They have TWO DRUMMERS.  This was one of those rare gigs where the front row - where I was - was there to DANCE, not to stand and stare, and I recall asking one girl who hadn't gotten the memo about this (she was standing and staring in the middle of a group of writhing lunatics) if she'd mind either dancing or stepping back.  (I actually said "Get moving or get out of here, will you?" which surprised me because I'm not usually that assertive when someone's larger than me, and most people are.)  (YourZ sez: yeah, so you say, you big bully!)

This band do the music I love the most - when guitars and drums and real live rock combine with electronica and dance to create the sort of Hi-NRG stuff that just don't quit.  So get moving or get out of here, why don't you?

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.apollo440.com/

Regurgitator - Mish Mash

YOURZ

This isn't the best Regurgitator album. But for the barest millimetres, the pointy stick could have landed on a number of better ones, like their debut Tu Plang or their poppy follow-up, Unit.  But it didn't.

It's not a bad album, as 'Gurge albums go. It could've been covers of Oasis songs or Dan Brown put to music but thankfully, it's not. The big(ish) claim to fame regarding this album is it was recorded during their 'Band In A Bubble' show of a few years ago, where the band and a few extras locked themselves in a glass house for three weeks in the middle of Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia.

They were filmed from every angle as they struggled to write and record songs and also cope with the fact they were being watched 24/7.  There were inspirational moments, arguments, fights, silliness and lots of malarkey.  The tracks written and recorded in the Bubble were then polished and released as Mish Mash.  At the end of the three weeks, the band came out of the Bubble to perform to a huge live crowd.  Quan Yeomans, guitarist and vocalist for the band, soon moved to Hong Kong, where he currently resides.  Make what you will of this.

Mish Mash is an appropriate title for the album as is does seem to be bits and pieces of everything lumped together.  This isn't a particularly bad thing as throughout their career, Regurgitator have made a habit of reinventing themselves, sometimes numerous times within a single disc.  Previously, this added to their overall charm and kept the listener on their toes.  With this album, though, I think there's a bit more mish than mash.  But the energy of their tracks is undeniable.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (at least for the first half of the album, anyway)

MINE

When I think of Regurgitator, one emotion always flows to the top of my consciousness - regret. You see, I had the chance to see them play for free in '96, when I left accounting to study broadcasting, but because I hadn't heard any of their music I opted out of following my fellow students to the concert. I was a bit older than them, and frankly the name of the band just put me off. They came back raving about how good it had been.

And then I heard Tu-Plang. And I realised this was exactly the sort of live act I love - mixing genres, providing a good hard dance beat with some rockin' guitars and unafraid of electronica. The sort of sound that prompted me to be up front for Primal Scream and later got me to fall in love with Apollo 440.

However, I'm not that keen on Mish Mash. The first song's really good, the sort that reminds me why I like them so much, some are so-so and some are a little patchy. But it's reminded me that I need to establish exactly which songs from all the albums in our collection are the booty-shakin' variety, and put them on my Shuffle for pumping at the gym.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (skip the boring ones)

For more information: http://www.regurgitator.net/

In our collection we also have Tu Plang, Unit, Eduardo And Rodriguez Wage War On T-Wrecks and Love and Paranoia