Search - Pop Will Eat Itself :: Wise Up Suckers

Mostly ageless and infectious...

Sheryl Weidner | Redmond, WA United States | 09/27/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I listened to PWEI when they were "current", back in the late 80s and early 90s. Lamenting the fact that the stellar "Cure For Sanity" is no longer in print, I picked up this compilation in order to regain some of the tracks I'd lost when I lost my original tape of "Cure".Although a few of the tracks here are dated (most notably "Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me, Kill Me", "X, Y & Zee" and "92F (The 3rd Degree)"), what's impressive is how many of them are not. Even 10+ years later, PWEI is great dance music, great electronica, great grebo.One need only listen to the lyrics from "Can U Dig It?" to learn who PWEI's major influences are - musically, they list AC/DC and Run DMC among others; their pop culture diet includes comic books, superheroes, sports and car racing. The PWEI sound is a frenetic, enthusiastic mix of all of the above - white British boys adding their quick-tongued, five-dollar-word version of rap to relentless live guitar, mad drums and decks.Standout tracks on this compilation include "Wise Up Sucker", "Get The Girl and Kill The Baddies", and the hilarious account of James Brown's arrest, "Not Now James, We're Busy". "Wake Up Time To Die" is still one of my favorite songs of all time, lyrically smart and still danceable even as one of the slowest tracks on the album. No evening of techno party dance music would be complete without the ... closer, "Dance of the Mad."In my mind, PWEI did for the industrial/dance sound of the 80s what Digital Underground did for rap: made it masterfully, made it fun, and made fans out of people who would otherwise ignore the entire genre. If your current music collection includes the Propellerheads, Moby, The Crystal Method, or the Chemical Brothers, PWEI is not to be missed. Also check out their "This is This..." compilation."

WISE UP AND DON'T BE A SUCKER!

ahren | Ft. Huachuca, Arizona | 02/11/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I got this album because I am a die hard PWEI fan. They are my favorite band of all time. I new this was a "Greatest Hits" album when I got it and I already have all their albums so like I said I got it just cause I wanted to support the band. I must say I am greatly disappointed. Yes, this does have some of their best songs from their first three, u.s. released, albums. However, most of the tracks have been shortened or slightly remixed from the original versions. This is not good. The originals are MUCH better. If you already have all of PWEI's albums then there is absolutely no reason to get this compilation. If you are just getting into them, I suggest skipping this unless you are totally unable to find most of their earlier albums, such as "This is the Day...This is the Hour...This is This" and especially "Cure for Sanity". This is a very unique band with a unique sound and anyone who enjoys industrial music with some hip hop, jazz, techno, and rock mixed in will love the Poppies."