TRANSYLVANIAN REGURGITATIONS

I believe this was intended to be some sort of promo maxi-single for Columbia following Rasputina's debut album on that label, 'Thanks for the Ether'. In fact, all the tracks here come from that album.

On the plus side the label did have the good taste to include the best of the studio album, including the cerebral "Howard Hughes"; a charming acoustic rendition of "Rusty the Skatemaker" that would become of the band's staple songs; and the first of many covers with a faithful recital of Melanie's early 70s pop hit "Brand New Key" (the Rollerskate Song).

The rest of the disc is comprised of three separate versions of the title track "Transylvania Regurgitations". There's the original from 'Ether', along with two remix editions.

Marilyn Manson did the remixes, and both feature his longtime bassist Twiggy Ramirez on electric guitar. Both are peppier than the original. The radio edit features plenty of power chords and programmed drum tracks, while the club mix.includes some guitar but mostly drum tracks again along with Manson on keyboards. Neither is either remotely progressive, folksy or anything like the band had done prior or would do much in the future (with the exception of their 2002 release 'Cabin Fever' which would also include guitars, programmed drums and a dose of industrial noise).

Not much else to say about this one. Obviously this is for collectors only; even the packaging is pretty sparse with only a single page insert listing credits along with a black and white photo of a screeching rhesus monkey. Weird.

Anyway, two stars for collectors but not much recommended for anyone else. Moving on now to the band's first live record, 'A Radical Recital', which looks to be much more interesting.

peace