Word: blacks
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Where Nine Inch Nails are black, Skinny Puppy were brown. They had an industrial sound but Canadian accents, guilt but no sex appeal, jumpy synth and Depeche Mode drums but little popular success. Drugs and varied hardships put them in deep decline starting in '93, just as they were signing to major-label American Recordings. Now they've returned to their roots with Nettwerk Productions' double-release of their greatest hits and the corresponding B-sides, although it's mainly an excuse to eliminate the band's singles from the catalog. The two albums, with earlier tracks containing more guitar...
...their first four albums, and all tracks are solid Zep hits, including the ubiquitous "Stairway to Heaven." From the smooth "Dazed and Confused," the band's bluesy influence shines through, in almost all tracks, including the laid-back "When the Levee Breaks." Rest assured, there are songs such as "Black Dog" that feature Page's trademark banshee wail, not to mention Plant's scorching guitar riffs, all of which became synonymous with the band's earlier studio sessions. The visceral thrills in "Rock and Roll" and "Communication Breakdown" hurtle with the subtlety of a rhinoceros on amphetamines, impelled by Bonham...
Throughout the album, Apple's sultry black-widow vocals make quick transitions between seething anger, casual indifference and sensitive longing. "I let the beast in too soon, I don't know how to live/Without my hands on his throat; I fight him always and still/O darling, it's so sweet" explains Apple on "Fast as You Can," and yet you still don't know whether her sexual prey should flee her in fear or approach her with curiosity. Apple draws heavily on old-school R&B and the instrumental support, led by Jon Brion, effectively complements her wandering voice...
...when I found out that Hsing-Hsing, suffering from kidney disease, was euthanized at the zoo Sunday, I was sad. When you are five years old and go to the zoo and see a big, black-and-white fuzzy bear, you don't think Nixon. You don't think China. You think cute. And you think forever...
...black and white and dead all over," my editor said, when I told him I was in mourning...