Includes Indispensable Rarities Not Available Elsewhere
Stephen B. O'Blenis | Nova Scotia, Canada | 11/02/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sometimes referred to as "Collection: Rarities & B-Sides", in actuality most of the tracks here are either on the 1991 S/T DiVinyls album or on the longer (20 tracks compared to 14) compilation "Make You Happy 1981-1993", but for the true rarities here, "Collection" becomes a must-have album for DiVinyls fans.
Among the standouts are two live tracks, "Bless My Soul It's Rock'n'Roll" and "Temperamental" which are true live tracks in contrast to the filtered, studio re-processed, lip-synced 'live' material favored by many current mega-stars. Usually on a live album I don't really care how the result is achieved as long as what's on the disc is good, though it certainly speaks higher for the artist's inherent ability if it's transferred to disc with no or as little tampering as possible. But on the DiVinyls live material, the...I can't think of a word for it except 'genuine-ness'....it's just so overpowering and so real and defining that it explodes through the speakers like a supernova. As an example, on Bless My Soul there's a part where vocalist Christina Amphlett apparantly forgets a line and repeats the previous line right over again, not even sounding like she knows she's doing it but just all caught up in the moment. On 98% of live recordings that would have been edited right out of there and overdubbed with either something from another performance of the song or from a studio take, but it stays intact here. Many would call it a flaw, but, as in the natural world, sometimes it's the so-called flaws that so greatly enhance the experience and the beauty. It makes the live recordings sound so much less like a manufactured product and just so much more personal and real. It's the same case with the sharp little intakes of air you can hear Chrissie doing right before certain vocal passages in a large number of songs, including on this album - again, on most albums most things like that would be deleted in the editing room, but with DiVinyls, who exercise much more control on their own albums than many artists (much to the clucking disapproval of record labels who prefer music that is precision-manufactured to match demographic marketing studies, over music that is created and performed) have kept things from becoming overly editing-room-sanitized, and the results show in retaining the genuine feel in the songs (a number of which, over the years, have been recorded live in the studio on 1 take). Unfortunately, the group suffered for their creative integrity in more recent years, with very little promotion on some latter material and much not even officially released in many markets, including North America (I feel most 'major' labels tend to save their hardest pushes for artists they can largely control)
"To Sir with Love" is a track that is, I belive, not available elsewhere, and is a fine cover song. There are new (as of when this was released anyway) versions of "Pleasure And Pain" and "Lay Your Body Down" here, the latter less revamped than the former but both brilliant, wonderful examples of what can happen when you take a familiar, beloved song and re-record it from a new angle. The songs from the self-titled album I've already raved about in my review of that album so I won't repeat myself here (but they're awesome). The 'soundtrack' songs - "Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart", "Love Is The Drug" and "Wild Thing" - all also on the Make You Happy CD and all cover songs - are al outstanding both musically and vocally. "Wild Thing" is particularly notable for the lyrics added in that weren't on the original version are on any previous cover version I'm aware of, and aren't listed in the liner notes - and many of which are partially hidden in the fade-out - a couple of things she says and the way she says them are so wickedly glorious they're almost heart attack inducing. NO ONE delivers these kind of lines like Amphlett.
Overall an essential album - not least of all for the liner photos - but since this was reportedly supposed to be a rarities album and is only partly so, might I use this space to suggest that a true all-rare and unreleased album would be a great idea? There's a ton of stuff that's never been pressed on CD - "Old Radios" (you've gotta hear this one to believe it!), the 'Live At The Ritz' EP, "Talk Like The Rain", "Sahara Rock" (even I've never been able to get hold of this one in any format), etc. - this stuff needs to be out there in print! Better yet, make it a CD/DVD combo set with all the DiVinyls videos, including, if they exist, the 'lost' videos from 'Underworld' (rumored to have been produced but never aired). Talk about a dream release - having seen the videos for "I Touch Myself", "Make Out Alright" and a couple of others, it's pretty delicious to imagine what video clips Chrissie..uh, I mean the DiVinyls might have shot that never saw the light of day.
Hopes for future releases aside though, this is a heartily recommended album even if you already have half the tracks on other discs. Every Divinyls song is indispensable."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1