Spinal Tap - This Is Spinal Tap
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Free Music Notes for This Is Spinal Tap
Free Music Review: Mott into Tap
Hit: 5 Stars
"Smell The Glove" is Spinal Tap's seventeenth album, and probably their finest to date. However, don't bother buying this newly digitally remastered, ultimate, gold edition, strictly numbered, black edged C.D unless you have a suitable player which will go to 11 on the volume control, or you will miss the point of this masterpiece of Big Hair music. What first attracted me to this music was the fantastic artwork that had gone into the cover. I mean you cannot get more black than this (forget parody band Metallica's Black album, the cover was actually just dark grey). Mott is the proud owner of an original Vinyl copy of this 1982 release, signed by the members of the band. Although you do have to hold it at a forty five degree angle to catch a glimpse of them as the band signed in black marker pen. Well, at least I think it was the band, it was a bit dark at the time.But what of the music? Well, it's good, in fact "Very Good". But I will not leave you with a two-word review as my competition from Rolling Stone did when reviewing "Taps" tenth album "Shark Sandwich", which, whilst very succinct, was completely misunderstood by the general public.
What you get from "The Tap" here is full throttle Rock & Roll, firing on all seven cylinder's (not six.... seven!), where all five Taps play as loud as they can, except for the quiet bits.
Co-founder David St. Hubbins (who looks nothing like actor Michael McKeen) plays the best air guitar ever recorded, and you can hear the Dandruff fly on Rockers like "America". Nigel Tufnel (who does actually look very much like actor Christopher Guest), the band's lead guitarist, excels on all the solos here, especially whilst playing with his feet, or the breathtaking solo spot playing his Stradivarius electric guitar with a Renoir violin. Bassist Derek Smalls (who doesn't care if he looks like actor Harry Sheoer) made famous the Gibson flying triple bass, the instrument designed to give real "Bottom" end to some of Taps better known songs. The other two musicians on the album were Vic Savage, who joined the band on the condition he had so many keyboards that neither the band nor the audience could actually see him, so he may still be a member of the band or not, nobody knows, and drummer I.C.N.O Evil. Unfortunately he is not with us anymore due to a nasty moment involving a horse, a game of water polo, a rubber ring and an old World War One Torpedo. No suspicious circumstances were found.
These days you can hear "Taps" influence on many of Hard Rocks top bands, including Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, The Wombles, and Fat Boy Slim. But none can live up to the true glory of Tap at their best, losing their way to the stage, the echoes of a dwarf trampling all over Stonehenge, Derek Smalls caught in a cocoon, or Nigel throwing his back out on stage.
For the purist, a wee hit of Trivia for you. The album cover is not just black but actually a very very close picture of a lady's black leather glove.
For those of you that haven't seen the movie, I apologize (but get out and see it).
Mott The Dog
Free Music Review: Crank It To 11!
Hit: 5 Stars
I pondered wether or not to write this review as a parody. As if the band were real. To go along with the movie. Nah. What was a great parody in film, is also a great parody in music. And just like the movie and some reviews there, I am surprised, and somewhat bemused, when people think that it was real. The movie and the music that is included here on this CD. It just goes to show how perfectly Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Rob Reiner achieved their goal of trying to make it seem real and come off that way. A lot of people were duped, and still are to this day. The music isn't bad at all, even if it tries to be at times. There are sounds in Spinal Tap's music that sound like The Who and Led Zeppelin and others. Proudly boasting themselves as England's loudest band ever, the guys don't disappoint on this nostalgic trip back to a brilliant movie and a time when music was just fun. Guest, McKean, and Shearer all wrote the music on this disc and that's another great plus for their talent. They wrote the music and played their own instruments. These guys are dedicated to their craft. And still are, especially if you have seen "A Mighty Wind". The band members of Spinal Tap consisted of David St. Hubbins(McKean), who is the band's vocalist and one of two main guitarists. Nigel Tuffnel(Guest), is the other lead guitarist of the band, and Derek Smalls(Shearer), is the band's bass player. Being in the band isn't easy as they have gone through 37 musicians in their history. They began life as The Originals, before becoming Spinal Tap, and the music here gives an overall view of their "hits" and their "sound". The earliest is "Listen To Me(The Flower People)", a trippy little '60's song that is a complete 180 from the remainder of the album. The band became known as the loudest, and in some circles, the most talentless, band in England. Whatever you think, you can't resist the hilariousness of "Big Bottom", the classic tune that has lyrics that prelude to "My pink torpedo". Then there is "Sex Farm", and really, can you go wrong?. Many of these song titles have more zest and character and fun in them than in most of the type of music they are parodying. "Stonehenge", while the oddest concoction from the band, is still interesting to hear. Even funnier is how the "Stonehenge" concept idea tanked in the movie. And there lies the one problem this CD has going for it. If you haven't seen the movie and don't know anything about the music or characters, then you will be lost and not appreciate it in the proper way. Even though their is more than could probably be included here and in future releases, their reputation as having little talent gets in the way of future material. The CD is a great, hilarious companion to one of the best and funniest films of all time.Free Music Review: Where can I get their other albums?
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a great band with great music though the documentary showed them to be sort of buffoons otherwise.
Anyway, the documentary introduced me to their humorous music so I bought this and was not disappointed. It is really unfortunate that they did not achieve more success.
In the CD cover, it listed the albums these songs came from. I found the album covers to mostly have the same Spinal Tap humor.
Since this one is basically a greatest hits album, I assume the individual albums are a little less spectacular than this one. But I also realized that other great bands could not compile a greatest hits of this level even with 15 to 20 albums behind them.
I have asked friends who are sort of experts in rare and hard-to-find music if they could get me "Intravenous De Milo" or "Brain-hammer" or ANY OF THE OTHER ONES? They laughed in my face. And I mean intense laughter! Obviously these albums are extremely rare. One record shop expert told me it would at least be $100,000,000.00 if I could ever find it at all. Is this possible? I don't know if to take him seriously. I know its rare but it seems strange to worth THAT MUCH!
People however did lead me to "Break Like The Wind" but that came after this Soundtrack. It is good but not at this level. I guess they broke up after that.
I now want to get more of their earlier stuff but it seems impossible.
I guess they must have been on a really small independent label that went out of business but never sold or released the rights. From the documentary they certainly seem unorganized.
I have to say, Spinal Tap is great. In my opinion, they should have become one of the monsters of rock, one of the legends. Obviously, they suffered severely from lack of promotion and support from their earlier label or labels whatever it or they may be.
This soundtrack captures proof that whatever career Spinal Tap had, they at least enough material to put out one masterpiece "greatest hits" soundtrack album. It intrigues me to no end to find more of this bands history with seems to be quite elusive.
I wonder if I will ever be able to inspect the history of this incredible band. It is as though this album is a testament to a music legend for which it is too late to resurrect and appreciate properly in its time. They say truely great artists are never appreciated in their location and time. How true this is with Spinal Tap. For me and I know for millions of others.
Free Music Review: A rock n' roll milestone
Hit: 5 Stars
The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin. Pink Floyd. Black Sabbath. Spinal Tap are all too often excluded from this list.Why their original albums are so difficult to come by these days is a mystery. It's a real shame for those young listeners who may never know the incredible energy of this wonderful band, one of the greatest, biggest, loudest bands rock n' roll ever knew. David St. Hubbins' presence and charisma, Nigel Tufnel's explosive guitar (with his trademark amplifiers in which all the dials went all the way up to eleven), Derek Smalls' creative and groundbreaking basslines. But for those who missed out on masterpiece albums like Intervenus de Milo, Shark Sandwich, The Gospel According to Spinal Tap and even the more recent comeback album Smell The Glove, this collection, inspired by Marty DeBergi's 1980s documentary film of Tap's comeback tour of the US, should give a general idea of the range of one of the most influential groups in modern rock.
A history of Spinal Tap's career is essentially a history of rock n' roll, and the collection covers every aspect of their long career, from the hard 12-bar blues of 1965's `Gimme Some Money', performed when Tap were still the Thamesmen (with drummer Joe `Stumpy' Pepys), through the memorable Summer of Love anthem `(Listen To The) Flower People' (with drummer Peter James Bond), through their conceptual period with `Rock n' Roll Creation' and the mystic epic `Stonehenge' to heavy metal classics like `Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight' and `Hell Hole', ending with the more sophisticated and mature 80s approach with the hit single `Sex Farm'. Every song is a gem. Each and every one clearly shows Spinal Tap's huge influence on rock n' roll and heavy metal.
What next, then? I'd like to see a Spinal Tap anthology. Some unreleased pieces which I'd like to hear are Nigel's beautiful classically-influenced instrumental `Lick My Love Pump'; Derek's experimental jazz-fused `Jazz Odyssey'; David and Nigel's `All The Way Home', a very classy tune from their skiffle days; and possibly (if they exist at all) any material from Derek and David's unfinished musical play `Saucy Jack', based on the life of Jack The Ripper. Tap did so much for music, it's sad to see them so criminally underrated. Re-release and remaster the complete Spinal Tap catalogue now!
Free Music Review: The University of Tap
Hit: 5 Stars
It saddens me to see that so many reviewers at Amazon.com have so badly misunderstood what is perhaps England's most literate and intelligent band. Few popular musicians of the 20th century have had the intellectual firepower to so consistently subvert commonly received opinions on such a wide variation of academic topics.
Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence:
1) 'Sex Farm' is often misunderstood as some sort of sexist song drawing puerile analogies between barn animals and women. Tosh! As anyone familiar with the settlement of the North American continent can attest, the Tap are offering an insightful perspective on the objectification of women during the settlement of the American Prairie.
2) 'Big Bottom' is often misunderstood as an even more sexist song based on juvenile delight at sexualised female buttocks. Never. What people fail to understand is that the Tap are issuing a satirical howl of rage at the reification of pseudo-anorexic 'Cosmo Woman', and are instead urging us to consider the beauty of the fuller-figured woman in line with their understanding of the role of the Goddess Image in proto-historical Europe
3) 'Stonehenge' shows the Tap's awareness of broader archaeological issues by serving as an academic historiography of outdated interpretations of the function of British prehistoric sites - play it backwards, and you can hear the academic citations.
4) And 'Rock and Roll Creation' - here the subtlely of Tufnell, Smalls and St. Hubbins is truely revealed through their attempt to offer a syncretisation of Christian sources pre-dating St. Polycarp's letter to the Phillipians with non-Mediterranean creation myths. Ultimately, the Tap's magnificent ambition perhaps exceeds their grasp, and it cannot be claimed that they succeed - but surely they should be applauded for trying?
Perhaps it is because the Tap's genius is so wide-ranging that so many people have misunderstood the true meaning of the songs. But their legacy will live on, hewn into the living plastic of my CD collection.