Search - Ritual Tension :: I Live Here / Hotel California

Thanks both of you

metajag | New York, New York | 07/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My brother stumbled on these reviews a few days ago. Hilarious. Taken together they sum up the reaction to our band over the years. To those looking for sweet and superficial harmony, Ritual Tension was talentless indeed. I would only add in defense that although the Eagles sound was generally too saccharine for my taste, we covered "Hotel California" because the writing is first rate, both musically and lyrically, and we thought we could bring new insight to it. In other words, even though our approach was "art-core" or post-punk, we worked the material with respect. (Our choice also had to do with the fact we were living in New York, with all that doggoned cacaphony, but had grown up in California.) Anyway, it's nice to be misunderstood and understood in print again. For the record, I'm making music again, this time with guitar in hand, and even trying for sweetness this time. Not too much, but a bit, anyway. Cheers, Ivan

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SORRY STROKES FANS!

metajag | 12/08/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"See my review of Expelled. The I Live Here album originally came out in 1984 or 1985 and the Hotel California EP (3 songs) in 1986, both on vinyl only. This CD reissue combines both releases and it's definitely worth picking up. Social Climber and the band's darkly beautiful mutilation of the Eagles' Hotel California are NYC post-punk classics. Btw, I think the NYC bands from this era were the logical inheritors of the sounds pioneered by Lou Reed/Velvets, Iggy, P. Smith & Richard Hell. (Sorry Strokes fans!)"