E.Town Concrete "Time 2 Shine" CD
[Razor & Tie]
I can't believe this is the third label that's pressed and repackaged this CD since it came out seven years ago, this time remastered with two bonus live tracks. And I must say straight off the bat that in its original form on Back ta Basics I'd give this record a 10/10 without blinking, because I fucking love this CD and I've listened it to a million fucking times since I got the original when it first came out. What makes this one worse? Well, for one thing, even though the new layout looks great - it's consistent and there's a lot of really clean, easy to read text - I still think the original pressing on Back ta Basics looks the best out of all of 'em. Though this one is far superior to the second pressing on Resurrection A.D. Some lyrics that weren't included on previous pressings are in here this time around (the rap break in "Juswatchastep", for example), as are some liner notes about the band's early days. I think the lyrics are pretty damn good, they're personal, and a lot of the hip-hop lingo can be over the top, but I remember at the time that this came out that was way controversial, so it's interesting looking back on that now. But more importantly, the remastering is a little weird. I usually can't hear that much of a difference on remastered CD's, but I can here, and I'm not into it. They've made the basslines more distinguishable, which is great, and it's a little clearer to some degree, especially vocally, but the guitar tone doesn't sound as good. On the first press the guitar tone on this record sounds like a million fucking bucks, but here there's more other shit going on and the guitars lose some of their dominance. The vocals also sound strange at times, almost like they've been fiddled with a little bit with effects or something, I don't know. It just doesn't sound as good. But the songs on this disc are fucking classic, and absolutely among the band's finest. For my money they'll never top "Juswatchastep", and "Cycles" and "I Got This" are right up there as well. Aside from the two live tracks (useless - the sound's not that good and they're not a proper representation of the band's performances) every song on this disc is awesome, and I'm not sure the band will ever top this material. It's much harder and more in your face than any of their other records, and something about it just has more power... they were able to be catchy and memorable without using any real melody per se. In the end, you already know whether or not you like or would like this band. If you like 'em and don't already have this record, you're fucking nuts. If you can't track down the first pressing definitely snag this one, unless you're not that picky on the details, in which case this reissue suffices just fine. (9/10)
Running time - 42:04, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: 4 the Fame, Cycles, Juswatchastep, I Got This, End of the Rainbow, and all of the others...]
E.Town Concrete - http://www.etownconcrete.net

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