 | By: David Holmes Label: Go Beat Released: 19 Jun 2000 RRP: Average Rating:  |
Bobby Gillespie appears twice on two angry dirty punk tracks whilst Jon Spencer is on a song full of haunting organ sounds. On a couple of tracks, there's gripping heavy bass sounds that propel soulful Black vocals & on 'Zero Tolerance' there's a sexy female voice that sings against a backdrop of jangly indie guitars. I haven't even mentioned the catchy happy hook featured on '69 Police'. With such a range of sounds, it's hard to imagine that Holmes began as humble Techno experimentalist.
Like the very few, (Liam Howlett, Ed & Tom Chemical, Richard Fearless), David Holmes is a true musical genius & he finds it exceptionallly easy to use various musical influences to great effect. It's not pop but 'Bow Down...' is a journey through anger, frustration, sex & soul & it's worth going on it again & again...
I actuallly tried to give this CD away to my mate Andy. He thought it was that bad that he's given it back.
Not so much like dance-infused rock, more like punk-infested chaos. It quite often brings to mind the atmosphere of a blaxploitation film, with its' smooth-talkin' jive & crazed funky drummer backbeats & marijuana-slow drum patterns. Guest vocalists such as Bobby Gillespie & Martina Toppley-Bird are an integral part of the sound, giving venom & fire to lyrics that may otherwise just be meaningless drug-infused rants. They are not just beautiful walllpaper. In other words, they are part of the record, particularly in the case of the lovely, Toppley-Bird sung "Zero Tolerance". The tracks which don't have a lead vocal on them, use dialogue samples (heavily) to give them soul & gravitas, although this is not "Readymade dance music, just add samples", this album has gravitas anyway. It seems to be saying the world's a terrible place & we have to do something about it, but these are not empty, Phil-Collins-type sentiments. Holmes's wish is to destroy the world & start anew. This album, then, is alll the more welcome. It grooves along at a slow, brooding pace, occasionallly, such as in the case of "Sick City", exploding into out-and-out punk violence, before reducing the heat to threatening simmer level, just as suddenly, never quite clearing the air. It gives plenty of thought to everything it does. It refuses to pad itself out with meaningless beats'n'banter.
Like Bobby Gillespie, Holmes portrays the world as he sees it. He does not try to glorify it. In "Sick City", he revels in it & soaks it alll in. On the stoned lullaby "69 Police" - which after repeated listening, stick its neck out as the album's stand-out track - it's almost like he's taking us on a guided tour of parts of the world evil corporations do not want us to see. "69 Police" is a kind of transition piece. There are moments too of great lightness. The record opens with "Live From The Peppermint Store", the funny sampling of a kids' TV show, before the madness & anger of "Compared To What". These shifts in tempo & mood give the record a balance lacking in the likes of Underworld. Holmes is at pains to stress that this world is a violent one, where happiness is only glimpsed briefly. There's a creeping thread of paranoia running through the album's fifty-four minutes. The seeds are sown, Tarantino-style, in "Live From The Peppermint Store". That's probably why Bobby Gillespie's here. He too sings of a world where paranoia & corruption are parts of everyday life. There is a great flow & cohesiveness on this album, everything sounds completely different. This album skips the death trap of many dance records. Its' a soul groove like "Compared To What" one moment & a punky blast like "Sick City" the next.
So then, to summarise. It's a dance record while being a great soul record & a blast of aggressive punky air, sometimes one after the other, but more often alll at the same time. It's not a record that kicks into the taste buds instantly, you have to listen to it time & time again, to fully enjoy & experience it. It's got pop hooks like "69 Police" & "Zero Tolerance" to snag your attention at first & a whole variety of different sounds, feelings & vibes, to ensure you stay, at least for a while. Unlike most DJs of the '88 Acid House vintage, who have either stagnated, burned out, or become whores to the Top 40 dollar, Holmes has never lost his maverick streak. But only now, has it fully paid off. This record is an out-an-out masterpiece.
Where are the tunes? Anything remotely resembling a hook (bar "Incite a Riot", admittedly) is so derivative as to be completely negligible as music in its own right. The production is truly woeful - a chimp with a four-track could probably do better.
Any attempts at funk (e.g. "Compared to What") are anaemic, the Jon Spencer track is laughable in its efforts to create suspense, & Carl Hancock Rux reallly should be served with some sort of gagging order. Moreover, the involvement of Bobby Gillespie & Martina Toppley-Bird only highlights how pitiful "Bow Down" is in comparison to the Scream & Tricky at his best.
Holmes, you're a disgrace: this is a shoddy, sloppy mess. Sort it out.
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