Friday, October 17, 2008

The dead rise and review...


Looking at the CD for "Nightmare Revisited", I really have to imagine that it was prompted by a Disney executive in a nondescript boardroom saying, "Geez, we ought to exploit this Nightmare Before Christmas property after all these years!". Beloved of spooky kids everywhere, a 'special edition' DVD of the film has just been released, and to accompany it is this album, a collection of covers of the full original soundtrack, I.E. with 20 different artists all covering a different song. Luckily, the album sounds much better than a quick cash-in should (though this can be attributed in no small part to the strength of Danny Elfman's songs). The choice of artists is interesting; although there are exceptions, the album largely splits into straightforward alternative rock on the one hand (Flyleaf, Korn, Rise Against, Plain White T's) and more experimental, hipster-approved bands (Sparklehorse, The Polyphonic Spree, Datarock). I have to say that my preference (at least on this album!) is for the former. Marilyn Manson's bombastic Weimar-metal cover of "This Is Halloween" is clearly cartoonish by design; Sparklehorse's "Something's Wrong With Jack" is insufferably precious, a mess of glittery meandering and falsetto vocals. Definitely a worthwhile album - most of the time - for fans of Jack and Co.
-N. Zombie

N. Zombie will be reviewing only zombie approved awesome albums weekly, to brighten your dreary existence. Or the opposite. Or whatever. :-)

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