Search - Apoptygma Berzerk :: Shine on

Very Strong Single from a Weak Album

SandmanVI | Glen Allen, VA United States | 06/08/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very good single. And yes, it is somewhat unfortunate that the best track on APB's latest album is a cover. However, as in the past, Stefan is great at picking the songs to add his touches. In the past he's made other excellent choices whether as singles, album tracks, b-sides or live: The Cure's "A Strange Day", Metallica's "Fade To Black", DM's "Enjoy The Silence", and the list goes on.



With "Shine On" Stefan has chosen a House of Love masterpiece. "Shine On" not only was a great song, I believe it to be one of the great lesser known alternative pop singles ever written; see also The Bolshoi's "A Way". HOL is also a very underappreciated band - very cool of APB to pluck this diamond that is not nearly as widely known as it deserves. Just to add, HOL had 1 other unrecognized gem with "Christine" off of their brilliant debut which I think is out of print... anyway, it's very had to find their albums since their were all just self-titled (wacky, ain't it?). APB has chosen to remake "SO" as a melodic industrial metal track as opposed to shimmering alt-rock. The result is very good falling slightly short of excellent. The original is better but this is a great twist.



Given the lameness of the album from which this single is culled, I was very surprised by the quality of these b-sides. "Black Pawn" is a soothing minimalistic dance track with a catchy, trademark Stefan vocals; sounds like it could have been a single from his side-project Fairlight Children. "Freindly Fire" is also good but the background melody sounds almost exactly like the what he used behind his "Fade To Black" cover - take a listen. The "According To Phillip Remix" od "You Keep Me From Breaking Apart" is somewhat similar to "Black Pawn" with its alluring minimal approach... it's basically a simple, slow arpeggiated synth bass backing some very nice vox. The final trcak is my least favorite reminding a bit of "OK Amp..." with a big beat but little else.



Anyway, a very good single worth owning. I enjoy it far more than the actual album.



Note: this review applies to the version with 5 tracks not 2."