Elastica - The Menace

Elastica's second album, The Menace, comes a full five years after their million-selling, self-titled debut. A long wait, to say the least, but The Menace doesn't find Elastica making a radical change from the angular pop of their first album. The departure of guitarist Donna Matthews (who still plays on two tracks, "How He Wrote Elastica Man"--which also features the Fall's Mark E. Smith--and "Image Change") steered the band away from their punkier leanings and allowed them to fully explore the new wave path that they started down way back in 1995. Keyboards and synths now blend more completely with their spiky guitars, as do cheesy Casio tone beats and retro-futuristic samples, resulting in such hyperenergetic numbers as "Mad Dog" and "Your Arse My Place." Elastica still wear their influences on their sleeves--yep, they sure do like Wire--and they even manage to fit a legitimate cover onto the album (Trio's 1982 hit "Da Da Da"). Five years on, The Menace sees Elastica on the same ground as their debut, but rather than simply retreading it, they just dig deeper and unearth more treasures. --Robert Burrow Amazon.com

This is a MAJOR disappointment!!!

I remember loving Elastica's first album when it came out. The whole CD was great, but "Stutter" was especially a standout. Back then, Elastica had a sound that was reminiscent of classic British punk bands like the Buzzcocks.

I've been "out of the loop", musically speaking, for quite some time now. I saw this CD on Amazon, and decided to give it a shot. I was concerned about the departure of guitarist Donna Matthews, but figured I'd give it a chance anyway. Well, all I can say is that DONNA MATTHEWS must have been to ELASTICA what MICK RONSON was to DAVID BOWIE! This album is totally WEAK. No songs, no guitars, no punk attitude--just cushy synths and little else.

A REAL bummer.

I seriously want to throw this CD against a wall... March 19, 2008

Still fine after all this time

After a hit first album, which remains a classic and great favourite, there was a five-year gap before the follow-up arrived in 2000. Studio perfectionists, after some eventful years of work, they had ditched the lot and re-recorded the bulk of the album in a few weeks, only to see the album flop upon release.

A tour followed in which the band felt they were regularly blown off stage by the support act, Peaches, who was accompanied only by a beat box, so, considering wryly their banks of equipment and teams of support, they split up.
 
I suppose the market must have changed after the first record, because the music is still fine, highly entertaining in fact. I had been surprised not to come across it in second-hand shops - perhaps those who did buy it had hung on to it. Justine Frischmann and Elastica are much missed and needed at the present time February 14, 2005

An overlooked gem

Post-Punk perfection. I have read many bad reviews of this album on other sites. I don't understand. Much better than their first. September 11, 2004

I tried to love this cd

There was so much to look forward to on The Menace. Unfortunitely where Justine et Elastica delivered one of the best albums of the 1990's, they fall very much off the mark here. But is it a bad album? No there are certainly enough songs that are good and fun, but it is not the overall listening experience that their self titled debut was. A debut so good that invariably everyone will compare their second and only album to.

But in Defence of Elastica, this is a different album with a different goal and a nearly soap operetic change in the band. Unfortunitely even taken as its own entity, without comparison to the first Elastica CD, The Menace is an average effort at best and perhaps a harbinger to the band's destruction shortly there after.

Elastica is dead, long live Elastica. April 27, 2004

one of their best!

This is art-punk at its best! March 6, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...