Warning: Do not listen to on headphones and fall asleep while doing so, you will be rudely awaken after the end song. Nine minutes after that "sanitized" song "ends," the silence is broken by a collage of Casey Kasem's potty mouth spewing a plethora of foul words!
I have owned a top-quality CD bootleg of the original "U2" single since 1995, cover artwork included. For me, the 'uniqueness' factor for this banned record just went down a few notches... I no longer have anything to brag about, but at least Negativland fans everywhere can enjoy it now. My only wish is that the group continues to put out albums similar to this one. Say goodnight, Casey... "Good Golly, Miss Molly!"
But putting that bit of diversion aside, this is a little bombshell that's been about five years in the cooking. I've had the tracks for it around my dive/studio since early 1996, and have been laughing myself silly over this assemblage of aural trainwreckery ever since! It's good to see that, apparently, all of the hurdles to the eventual reissue/release got cleared. On here, you get the FULL ARC of the 'U2' fiasco, starting with the first hack-n-slash of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" on Negativland's "Over the Edge" KPFA show in '89, then a live bash at another surprise U2 fave before heading into The Tracks That Started It All from the banned 'U2' release from the early 90s. Following this, you then get LIVE Negativland from various dates circa 1993-ish, all dealing with the copyright law flapdoodle started by the 'U2' record, and winding up with a cartoon-SFX-savaged 'edit' (as if Negativland's stuff isn't an 'edit' already!) of the original Casey Kasem rant known as the 'Radio Mix'. It's an astounding offering, and one not only of considerable musical worth for those who like their music served up in a challenging way, but historical in that the 'U2' tracks ripped open a HUGE debate on the nature of sampling and fair use in pop music, as well as offering up an illustration about the nature of the relationship between the Majors and the little guys out in the indie music scene.
I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a good aural challenge. Plus, it shows some of the wide musical latitude that Negativland's capable of in their various guises...and that latitude can range from total Cageian goofery to some heavy electronic assaults to strange ambient-tinged unsettlement. They're still some of the best in experimental music and media barrage trickery, and this CD is a showcase of what puts Negativland up amongst the best out there. C. Elliot Friday can still be proud of these floptops!
Over the last decade, the original pair of tracks, yanked from distribution shortly after their release, have been available only through the collector's market and underground trading. This maybe-it's-a-bootleg-maybe-it's-not release augments the original studio work with four live versions, including two 1993 post-lawsuit editions taped at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. Four additional tracks from the band's post-apocalypse "Music For Lawyers Tour" examine the original controversy with a blenderization of the original participants. The disc wraps with a sound-effect bleeped-for-radio-play edit of the original, unairably profane, "Special Edit Radio Mix."
Available in surprisingly wide distribution, collectors who missed out on the original are advised to grab a copy while it's still beyond the industry's radar.
