The more astute of you will have noticed that this site was actually updated a few weeks ago, but I didn't get around to changing this welcome message. Well, I have now, so stop whingeing (not that any of you have. Are you still out there? I can hear you breathing....!)
So, after 4 years, Farscape has been cancelled, because it's not getting the viewers and it cost too much to make. I think this is a real pity, because it was one of the most innovative shows on TV. On first glance it may not look like it - Buck Rogers meets Blake's 7 meets the Muppets may be the high concept definition, but it certainly became more than the sum of its parts. I urge you all to watch the final season on BBC2 on Mondays (I'll try and remember, but keep forgetting!) or season 3 on Sci-Fi on Sundays (and some other time during the week too). You never know, it may get a last minute reprieve, but I doubt it. So farewell John, Aeryn, D'Argo, Chiana, Rygel and all the others. We'll miss you.
I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner (2 months away at the time of writing). It doesn't seem that long ago that we were putting all the decorations away! And what the frell happened to summer? I'm still waiting for it to get warm! Ho hum, still, there's plenty of new stuff to keep us all busy in the dark evenings - Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man on DVD, plus TV will start to get better soon, but we have to wait until January before we get new Buffy, Angel and Enterprise on Sky. Boo. But, considering the way things go, the next time I'll update this site, we'll be well into 2003!
Right, I'm going now. Adios Amoebas!
Saturday, 19 October 2002
Wednesday, 11 September 2002
Review: "Never Enough - The Best of Jesus Jones" by Jesus Jones
Well, here it is. After five years in the wilderness (most of them without a record contract), the Jones boys have returned (sort of) with a greatest hits compilation to support their recent tour of the UK and the US. This album contains the best bits gleaned from the four EMI albums they recorded between 1989 (Liquidizer) and 1997 (Already) and contains some real classics.
Aside from the singles, a few albums tracks have sneaked into the mix (personally selected by lead singer and songwriter Mike Edwards) as well as the obligatory new track ("Come On Home") to ensure that the album is bought by those fans who already have all the albums. Darn their dastardly tactics. Still, if you have got the albums already, there's always the second disc to listen to. This contains a collection of mixes and alternate versions of the singles, mixed by the likes of the Prodigy and Aphex Twin (both supplying versions of "Zeroes and Ones" from 1993's Perverse). However it's the first three tracks that get the attention. "Info Sicko", "Enough - Never Enough" and "Beat it Down" are all rougher versions of "Info Freako", "Never Enough" and "Bring it on Down" and show what the band were like when they first started - all thrashing guitars, raw samples and attitude, but with a great ear for production and a tune.
Jesus Jones probably got recognized with the release of their second album, Doubt (1991) and the slew of chart singles that came from it. Starting with their first top 20 hit, "Real Real Real" (a song which was actually a piss-take - but nobody noticed) and continuing through their biggest hit to date, "International Bright Young Thing" (also my own favorite) and "Who? Where? Why?" the band established themselves both at home and abroad.
Apart from the singles, some of the choices Edwards has made for the track listing come as a bit of surprise. Instead of using the original version of "Move Mountains", Liquidizer's opening track, Edwards has chosen a remix by Ben Chapman, which is a lot more dance orientated and loses some of the passion and originality of the album version. Again, with "International Bright Young Thing" and "Who? Where? Why?", the remixed single versions have been selected. I feel that once again, the album versions are better, but less familiar to casual fans. Of particular interest is the inclusion of "Blissed" (Doubt) and "Idiot Stare" (Perverse) both brilliant album tracks that have appeared on my own car-tape compilation. "Blissed" is a chilled pulsing ode to doing nothing: "If the sun shines today, I think I'll stay in anyway", while "Idiot Stare" is a twisting, frenetic anger-ballad: 'I don't know if I care, / I can't feel, I can't speak, I can't think, / Caught in an Idiot Stare."
Already, the much underrated fourth album supplies three tracks, the excellent but unpopular single "Chemical #1" and the album tracks "The Next Big Thing" and "They're Out There", which are OK, but there are better tracks on the album. The new single, "Come On Home" is classic Jesus Jones - samples, harmonies and a bit of thrash thrown in for good measure.
All in all, this is an excellent testament to Jesus Jones' work, which has survived longer and with more stamina than some of their contemporaries (such as EMF or Ned's Atomic Dustbin). I would have liked to have seen more rare tracks and B-sides on the second CD, such as "Broken Bones" (from the US version of Liquidizer) or "Maryland" (the B-side to "International Bright Young Thing") or even their version of Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" from the NME Ruby Trax album. Where the band go from here is anyone's guess. A free download of their single "In the Face of All of This" from their US-only album London is available from the official website (www.jesusjones.com) so you can judge for yourself!
Aside from the singles, a few albums tracks have sneaked into the mix (personally selected by lead singer and songwriter Mike Edwards) as well as the obligatory new track ("Come On Home") to ensure that the album is bought by those fans who already have all the albums. Darn their dastardly tactics. Still, if you have got the albums already, there's always the second disc to listen to. This contains a collection of mixes and alternate versions of the singles, mixed by the likes of the Prodigy and Aphex Twin (both supplying versions of "Zeroes and Ones" from 1993's Perverse). However it's the first three tracks that get the attention. "Info Sicko", "Enough - Never Enough" and "Beat it Down" are all rougher versions of "Info Freako", "Never Enough" and "Bring it on Down" and show what the band were like when they first started - all thrashing guitars, raw samples and attitude, but with a great ear for production and a tune.
Jesus Jones probably got recognized with the release of their second album, Doubt (1991) and the slew of chart singles that came from it. Starting with their first top 20 hit, "Real Real Real" (a song which was actually a piss-take - but nobody noticed) and continuing through their biggest hit to date, "International Bright Young Thing" (also my own favorite) and "Who? Where? Why?" the band established themselves both at home and abroad.
Apart from the singles, some of the choices Edwards has made for the track listing come as a bit of surprise. Instead of using the original version of "Move Mountains", Liquidizer's opening track, Edwards has chosen a remix by Ben Chapman, which is a lot more dance orientated and loses some of the passion and originality of the album version. Again, with "International Bright Young Thing" and "Who? Where? Why?", the remixed single versions have been selected. I feel that once again, the album versions are better, but less familiar to casual fans. Of particular interest is the inclusion of "Blissed" (Doubt) and "Idiot Stare" (Perverse) both brilliant album tracks that have appeared on my own car-tape compilation. "Blissed" is a chilled pulsing ode to doing nothing: "If the sun shines today, I think I'll stay in anyway", while "Idiot Stare" is a twisting, frenetic anger-ballad: 'I don't know if I care, / I can't feel, I can't speak, I can't think, / Caught in an Idiot Stare."
Already, the much underrated fourth album supplies three tracks, the excellent but unpopular single "Chemical #1" and the album tracks "The Next Big Thing" and "They're Out There", which are OK, but there are better tracks on the album. The new single, "Come On Home" is classic Jesus Jones - samples, harmonies and a bit of thrash thrown in for good measure.
All in all, this is an excellent testament to Jesus Jones' work, which has survived longer and with more stamina than some of their contemporaries (such as EMF or Ned's Atomic Dustbin). I would have liked to have seen more rare tracks and B-sides on the second CD, such as "Broken Bones" (from the US version of Liquidizer) or "Maryland" (the B-side to "International Bright Young Thing") or even their version of Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" from the NME Ruby Trax album. Where the band go from here is anyone's guess. A free download of their single "In the Face of All of This" from their US-only album London is available from the official website (www.jesusjones.com) so you can judge for yourself!
Monday, 27 May 2002
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the kinkyMachine?
I'm glad you asked that. Well, the kinkyMachine is a website, chock full of stuff that interests me, that irritates me, that excites me and makes me laugh. It's also a place where like-minded and bloody-minded people can have a scrap. Feel free to contribute anything you want to the kinkyMachine.
How do I do that then?
Send me an e-mail! That's the quickest and easiest way.
Where did the name kinkyMachine come from?
Well, that's kind of a strange tale. When I signed up with FreeNetName they gave me a free domain name, so I had to think one up quite quickly. I'm a big Jean-Michel Jarre fan, and he recorded a track called "Erosmachine" (only available on bootleg CD now) which I thought was a cool name, but I didn't want to rip it off directly. Long time viewers will know that this started off as a fetish website (another of my, ahem, interests!), so I wanted something to suggest that - and so kinkyMachine was born! Only later, when I typed the word into Google, did I find out about kinkymachine.com (a really quite rude, but cool website) and the fact that there was an early nineties band with the same name. So there you go. Totally unoriginal, as it turns out, but I thought it was cool. I still do, so there!
Um, who the heck are you, anyway?
Who, me? Oh, well, my name is Craig Stevens, I was born in Chatham, Kent on 25th February, 1974, so feel free to send cards and presents at the appropriate time of year (heck, send them all year!) After living in Kuwait for three years (1980-83) I went to King's School, Rochester for the next nine years where people tried to teach me Latin, where I totally lost the ability to speak to girls and suffered a case of mistaken identity involving the "A" team for Rugby (they thought I was someone who wanted to get his head stamped on at every opportunity and I didn't!) After all that, I went to the University of Wales in Swansea where I studied American Studies and English. There I relentlessly pursued most available (and unavailable) females in the first year, for which I would like to apologise! In my third year I went to Northern Arizona University, where I shared a room with three other guys (one of which could watch a whole episode of The Simpsons without cracking a smile, and then say afterwards how funny it was - go figure!) After that I came back to Swansea for my final year, spent most of it in my room with my girlfriend Emma (ah, those were the days...!), managed to get a degree without really breaking into a sweat, and found myself unemployed for six months. Then the fickle finger of fate pointed itself at me and I found myself with a Christmas job at D-D-Dixons. Things transpired, as they do, and I found myself on their graduate development programme. After five years, I realised that I was fed up with going nowhere fast, and being shouted at everyday just because someone didn't get their dishwasher (ever heard of Fairy liquid?), and so I 've got myself a job as manager of a bookshop in Harlow. Which is nice. In the meantime, I bought a house with Emma in Chelmsford, and we got married in August 1999. Which is even nicer. If you want to know more about me and my life, then you must be quite sad or an obsessive stalker. Either way, hello!
I'm glad you asked that. Well, the kinkyMachine is a website, chock full of stuff that interests me, that irritates me, that excites me and makes me laugh. It's also a place where like-minded and bloody-minded people can have a scrap. Feel free to contribute anything you want to the kinkyMachine.
How do I do that then?
Send me an e-mail! That's the quickest and easiest way.
Where did the name kinkyMachine come from?
Well, that's kind of a strange tale. When I signed up with FreeNetName they gave me a free domain name, so I had to think one up quite quickly. I'm a big Jean-Michel Jarre fan, and he recorded a track called "Erosmachine" (only available on bootleg CD now) which I thought was a cool name, but I didn't want to rip it off directly. Long time viewers will know that this started off as a fetish website (another of my, ahem, interests!), so I wanted something to suggest that - and so kinkyMachine was born! Only later, when I typed the word into Google, did I find out about kinkymachine.com (a really quite rude, but cool website) and the fact that there was an early nineties band with the same name. So there you go. Totally unoriginal, as it turns out, but I thought it was cool. I still do, so there!
Um, who the heck are you, anyway?
Who, me? Oh, well, my name is Craig Stevens, I was born in Chatham, Kent on 25th February, 1974, so feel free to send cards and presents at the appropriate time of year (heck, send them all year!) After living in Kuwait for three years (1980-83) I went to King's School, Rochester for the next nine years where people tried to teach me Latin, where I totally lost the ability to speak to girls and suffered a case of mistaken identity involving the "A" team for Rugby (they thought I was someone who wanted to get his head stamped on at every opportunity and I didn't!) After all that, I went to the University of Wales in Swansea where I studied American Studies and English. There I relentlessly pursued most available (and unavailable) females in the first year, for which I would like to apologise! In my third year I went to Northern Arizona University, where I shared a room with three other guys (one of which could watch a whole episode of The Simpsons without cracking a smile, and then say afterwards how funny it was - go figure!) After that I came back to Swansea for my final year, spent most of it in my room with my girlfriend Emma (ah, those were the days...!), managed to get a degree without really breaking into a sweat, and found myself unemployed for six months. Then the fickle finger of fate pointed itself at me and I found myself with a Christmas job at D-D-Dixons. Things transpired, as they do, and I found myself on their graduate development programme. After five years, I realised that I was fed up with going nowhere fast, and being shouted at everyday just because someone didn't get their dishwasher (ever heard of Fairy liquid?), and so I 've got myself a job as manager of a bookshop in Harlow. Which is nice. In the meantime, I bought a house with Emma in Chelmsford, and we got married in August 1999. Which is even nicer. If you want to know more about me and my life, then you must be quite sad or an obsessive stalker. Either way, hello!
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