Story has it that when Chicks On Speed heard the full length that their many friends from the worldwide music community helped them put together, they were horrified at how they actually sounded in a grouping. That record is the currently extinct "the un-releases" CD. This disc is the release they put together in its stead. There are 13 songs on offer here totalling 43 minutes. Only 2 songs are unique to this disc, although mixes on others may be slightly different. The two new songs are my personal favorites on this record. They are "Little Star" and "The floating pyramid over Frankfurt that the taxi driver saw when he was landing". Both are completely great songs that appear to have been pulled out of the hat, as 'the un-releases' and "Will save us all" came out only a few weeks apart. My least favorites are the covers: "Warm Leatherette", "Mind Your Own Business", and "Give Me Back My Man". I guess these songs are important as they have gotten people to listen to the band who might not have, but I am tired of them, though the B-52's cover does have a sharp new mix for this record that makes it sound better than on 'the un-releases'. 'Eurotrash Girl' (which originally appeared on the 'Live At The Social, volume 3' comp) and 'Glamour Girl' (originally a 10") have lots of mileage on them but still sound fresh and thrilling. Where 'the un-releases' had lots of little vignettes, 'Will save us all' only has 2: the opening track "Stop Records Advert" which is an ad they did for their record label (they used to put out their stuff on one of their two labels: Stop Records and Go Records) and "Pedstang (re)issue", which is a noise and silence version of 'Night Of the Pedestrian', one of the great songs that did not make it on to this LP. The remainder songs are great songs that appear on both LP's and are worth your listening time or your consumer dollar. They are 'For all the boys in the world", "Kaltes Klares Wasser" (some extreme imagery!), "Yes I Do!" (my fave outside of the 2 new songs), and "Procrastinator".

This record has been highly anticipated by many. Clinic had put out 3 singles on their own label 'Alladin's Cave Of Golf' before being signed to Domino Records. They put out 2 singles on Domino before this full length. Both the A-sides of those are here ("The Second Line" & "The Return Of Evil Bill"). Clinic come off an less electronic Add N to X's. When they play they wear surgical masks. They cross genres comfortably, with the only limitation being their grass roots production values. At times they sound very much like early Gang Of Four minus the spiky guitar, at other times like The Violent Femmes. They have both instrumentals and vocal songs. The production (which isn't exactly bad, it just does not sound contemporarily huge) adds to the feel that this record could have come out in the early 80's with tracks on an Earcom sampler, where they would sit happily alongside such bands os The Flowers.

The followup to their first volume. Volume 2 also is a retrospective of Early Synthesizer Music. This volume is dedicated to Bruce Haack, of Dimension 5 and Hush Little Robot fame. Tracks by Harry Breuer, Gil Trythall, Mort Garson, Jim Cuomo, Fred Weinberg, Bruce Kaack, The Mindexpanders, Tom Dissevelt/Hid Baltan, & Walter Sear are here, going back to the late 50's. This is not the type of electronic music celebrated in suck releases of the new triple CD "Ohm: The Early Gurus Of Electronic Music". This comp is more populist, containing the more 'fun' excursions into the possibilities of early synthesizer music. On the same label at the recently added "Love, Peace, & Poetry: Asian Psychedic Music" CD. This label takes their compiling seriously, and turns out high quality in content and packaging.

One sided clear glittered vinyl 7" which was released to coincide with a European tour Ma Cherie For Painting did last year. Now that all the interest in 'post-rock' has subsided and the cream has risen to the top with the myriad of acts forged in the ovens of Earworm and Wurlitzer Jukebox, the strength of Ma Cherie is especially apparent in a neat song like this one. It has a chunky strummed bass sound, slight circling vocal phrase, and a lifting beat. It's a mover, and the song doesn't outstay its welcome or de-evolve into a pit of reverb or some such thing.