The Chemical Brothers - Brotherhood

Following their fifth consecutive UK number 1 album last year, the GRAMMY® award winning We Are The Night, The Chemical Brothers return with Brotherhood, a Best Of collection with a kick and a twist. In a career that's spanned 13 years and accrued 9 million record sales, The Chemical Brothers have established themselves as true pioneers of electronic music as well as one of the most popular dance acts of all time. Now is the perfect time to take stock of their seminal output.

A limited edition 2XCD box version of Brotherhood will contain 2 discs. The first is a collection of 13 undeniable singles plus new track "Keep My Composure" featuring Spank Rock. The 2nd disc will exclusively feature Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10. Since 1996 Electronic Battle Weapons have acted as the laboratories for The Chems' devious musical experiments and laid the rhythmic and melodic foundations for numerous formidable tracks. These songs were released on very limited formats and this is the first time they are widely available. Disc 2 of the limited version also features "Midnight Madness", The Chemical Brothers at their most infectious, euphoric, report to the dancefloor best. Album Description

Money-motivated movements

(Note: I'm a huge fan of this band and my beef has nothing to do with the music.)

How much would you, dear fan, pay for two new songs from your favorite band? Does $22 sound right? Unfortunately, that is the going price of this Greatest Hits, a collection containing even fewer tracks than 2003's Singles 93-03. Billed as "DJ only, ten ultra-rare Electronic Battle Weapon tracks", the bonus disc seems promising until you put it in and find that the majority are demo mixes of previously released material such as "It Doesn't Matter", "Under the Influence", "It Began in Afrika" etc. - and these all sound fundamentally the same as the original versions! In defense of this disc, the new tracks are really good, particularly "Keep My Composure", a collaboration of the Chem's sexy, soul tearing bass, arpeggiated arcade synths and MC Spank "Can Do No Wrong" Rock. However, unless your hard dive and physical copies recently melted, this collection is for people who think that fancy CD packaging will get them laid. November 3, 2008

Electronic Battle Weapons is the dealmaker

The first disc is great, it's got all the classics in one place. But it's the second disc with the Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10 that really make this boxset sweet. I think if I had bought the standard one disc edition I would have been really dissapointed overall, because most of those tracks are on there other singles collection already. But I've been listening to the second disc constantly, it makes an awesome backdrop to my poi routine and for glowsticking. October 24, 2008

Electronic Battle Weapons or nothing...

"Brotherhood", or better titled "Singles 93-03 Part 1 1/2" is more of the same things any fan of The Chemical Brothers already owns. There are 7 songs from the "Singles" album that are repeated on the first disc of "Brotherhood", so you could conceivable own them 3 times. With so many good songs to choose from (and knowing what you've already recycled once), you'd think the track selection would have been better. A bit disappointing. I will also agree with torley.com that the order of them doesn't necessarily fit well.

The only reason to buy the box is for the "Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10", which is a long time coming for some of the tracks. A lot of these tracks you already own too as they've showed up on a few of the past LPs. But no matter, it's nice to have them in their original format.

Bottom line, buy the box for the "Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10" or go buy the "Singles 93-03" and get a better collection... September 21, 2008

Una colección con lo mejor de su carrera, todos los hits y además material inédito.

Disco Uno
1. Galvanize
2. Hey boy hey girl
3. Block rockin' beats
4. Do it again
5. Believe
6. Star guitar
7. Let forever be
8. Leave home
9. Keep my composure
10. Saturate
11. Out of control
12. The golden path
13. Setting sun
14. Chemical beats

Disco Dos
1. Electronic battle weapon 1
2. Electronic battle weapon 2
3. Electronic battle weapon 3
4. Electronic battle weapon 4
5. Electronic battle weapon 5
6. Electronic battle weapon 6
7. Electronic battle weapon 7
8. Electronic battle weapon 8
8. Electronic battle weapon 8
9. Electronic battle weapon 9
10. Electronic battle weapon 10
El segundo de los discos incluirá 9 temas publicados anteriormente en edición limitada como parte de las series "Electronic Battle Weapons".

Como primer single del disco se ha escogido el tema "Midnight Madness", que se incluye en el segundo de los discos, y que se podrá descargar de forma gratuita a partir del 4 de agosto.

The Chemical Brothers estarán actuando este verano en el Creamfields Vigo y en el Creamfields Andalucía. September 21, 2008

Fantastic compilation of signature "big beat" sounds and beyond... !

It's hard to believe it's been over a decade since TIME Magazine heralded the Chemical Brothers (alongside Prodigy, Fluke, Orbital, and others) as stateside ambassadors of "electronica". False hopes cluttered up expectations, but even as many groups (often 2- and 3-member duos, if not lone bedroom musicians) faded along the way, the Chems kept pounding on new doors, bursting beyond their original badge of "big beat" to encapsulate a sound that could, in the end, only be their own (and often-imitated it was!).

It's convenient to have many of their big singles on here, altho I would've sequenced them differently -- "Block Rockin' Beats" is such a wake-up standout that I wonder why it was placed 3rd. Also, it isn't entirely clear whether this is the 1-CD version, since the track listing doesn't say -- yet the header claims "[LIMITED EDITION]". To the latter's point, the "Electronic Battle Weapons" are a wonderful showcase of party mayhem, the Chems continuing the 80s spirit of rough, raw beats (then it was breakdance, which has evolved into krumping and other styles...) rocking the neighborhood.

Also unique and notable about the Chemical Bros. is how they've been able to create albums that work as such, sometimes with tracks seguing flawlessly into each other, but how they've done strongly with singles too. To this day, that's extremely rare in electronic music -- many hit singles, few "artist albums" that gel as a whole.

While I feel their later explorations weren't as effective as earlier outings, admittedly, this is in part because I've become desensitzed to their once-novel way of taking disparate influences which you might not think work together, and whuppin' them into mighty, bold stews.

And then, there are the more delicate (but no less strong) excursions, like the harmonic rush of "Star Guitar" -- if you haven't seen the Michel Gondry-directed music video, its tempo-locked, tightly-synchronized visuals are a MUST. A MUST, I say!

"Out of Control" is another lesser-known (compared to the standout Beatles-infused dementia of "Setting Sun") beauty, used to great effect in Wipeout 3 and having an awesome guitar breakdown with syncopated breakbeats that get the mix moving again.

Overall, a wonderful retrospective, both healthy for your party and knowledge of technology-based music history. If you didn't discover the magic of the Chemical Brothers' time-travelling psychedelia "the first time around", there's no better time to start than now. September 5, 2008

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