"Anyone who has any affection for Information Society will avoid this abomination at all costs. This is not Information Society; this is a sleazy record company (Cleopatra) using Kurt's ill-advised and poorly executed re-recordings of the vocal parts of our old songs, and then getting local DJ's and a few small-time industrial luminaries to recreate the music tracks.
Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against Kurt's post-Insoc work, even though it's not really my thing. But this wretched mess is nothing but a cheap attempt to sell a few thousand records, and dupe the remaining fans into buying something that is NOT AN INFORMATION SOCIETY RECORD, and as such, it's an insult to both the band and the fans.
Post-breakup Kurt fans take note: Kurt Harland Larson had nothing to do with this record. If I had known something like this was possible, I never would have agreed to let Kurt have the group name.
Anyway, please don't reward the scoundrels at Cleopatra by buying this record.
And, oh my God! Check out that dreadful cover art.
-Paul Robb"
The end of Insoc.
Jonathyn R. Brown | Hollywood, CA | 08/29/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
"When I saw this CD in a store (No cover art yet on Amazon), I was immediately thrilled and surprised.. It looks cool and hip and very invovled. You can only imagine my disappointment when I listened to it. This is not Information Society. This is Kurt Harland doing one-man dinner theater somewhere outside the Catskills. The tracks you know are re-done (embarrassingly poorly) and the tracks you don't know, the newer stuff that this label has access to, are so dark and dreadful, they will push you even further away from this disc, if the dreadful karaoke attempts at the Tommy Boy classics haven't already caused you to eject this CD and boil your player in an attempt to sanitize it. I have been a follower of Insoc since 88, and Kurt should just let go of the Insoc name after all this. Insoc is OVER, and until he accepts that, he will never be considered the talent he deserves to be.. He now officially sounds like your creepy goth older brother trying to sing along with your Ashlee Simpson CD.
The elements that made Information Society a successful GROUP are GONE.. One man is not Insoc.
This is no "Strange Haircuts.."
...It's just strange."
A complete waste
Anthony Kilna | San Diego, CA. USA | 02/03/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This CD is simply terrible. For pretty much all of the classic InSoc that got radio play, check out the Tommy Boy released Greatest Hits album, which includes a decent newer remix of Running on it as well. If you're interested in more of Kurt's InSoc after Don't Be Afraid, there's pretty much nothing. If you're desperate, there's two good tracks on InSoc: Recombinant (the Rosetta Stone mix of Closing In and the Astralasia mix of Empty), but the rest is just bad mixes of DBA and of kurt's sub-par re-recordings of early InSoc."
Disappointment
Jonathyn R. Brown | 05/02/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This sounds like an attempt to record the greatest hits, rather than the greatest hits themselves (as Tommy Boy released in 2001). As such, it has potential, but so much of the lyrics seem SO VERY out of sync to the music, it's really a grave disappointment! I found the first couple of tracks to be completely unlistenable....
I honestly have to wonder if the recording or remix equipment got out of sync with itself. I'd really recommend the Tommy Boy release instead, for fans of InSoc."
Don't Be Afraid??
scott | Toronto,Canada | 03/30/2005
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Im not sure what this album is yet.Ive had to listen to it twice to understand and here is my diagnosis...The album title should be Dont Be Afraid 2 basically NOT..(PURE ENERGY)considering most of the songs on here are remixes of Dont Be Afraid and this does not even pay tribute to all there hard work and where insoc came from.Why not put remixes from all albums and put them on a 2 disc set and give the fans a tribute album instead of this.The only track on here i liked was the remix of walking away that's where my 2 stars come in everything else im sorry but i was disappointed i hope cleopatra can put together another compilation that doesn't focus on just 1 album."