One thing I like about the remixed versions is the roughening of the edges. All of the regular studio tracks I have heard have a very finely produced, smooth feeling to them, as if they took sandpaper too them to get rid of any grit that could be left over. The remixes go back and add a little more of that stuff to the edges, mixing it into the song proper with the resulting sound being a little fuzzier. It just works. In particular "The Beginning of the End (Sad Damn Version)" and the techno'd take on "Soul on Fire (Erich Zann's Supernatural Mix)."
The remainder of the album is made up of live tracks which go a long way to showing that enigmatic charisma of frontman Ville Valo. There is something eerie about his voice, not exactly like, but he has an emotional quality that is reminiscent of Jim Morrison. I can almost see him on the stage getting taken away by the sounds of his own band as he sings. Believe it or not, this is very evident in the two cover songs included. The first cover is Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and the other being Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom." Both of them are strong outings that pay respect to the source material without being slavish to it, they do make it their own. Now, if only they would come to my town.
Bottomline. Not what I would recommend as an introduction to HIM, but something that longtime fans and those who have a couple of albums under their belt may wish to check out to see a different side of the band. This is a good collection, and one that is worth spending a little bit of time with, though I do prefer the albums proper.
Recommended.
Article comments
1 - K
This one is SO much better than Vol.1 which I personally gave a tepid review. On a recent trip to Germany I picked Vol.2 and was struck by how good it was! I couldn't stop listening to this one. It's definitely something to hold over the fans until the new album comes out in September. PS: I think Sailin' On is a Bad Brains cover.
2 - Sara
I've been a HIM fan for years. I own all of their CDs. I listened to this and I realized that it was just awful! Terrible. Unlike any of their other music. Also, I noticed that he changed the lyrics to some of the songs- like "Endless Dark". It made the whole song meaningless.
Usually, Ville Valo is a great lyricist, but he perfromed music from other writers and it was awful, like "Rendezvous With Anus"- eeek, worst song I've ever heard. He changed the songs in a bad way, making them different, but not good. Uneasy Listening Vol.1 was really good. I liked it a lot. They changed songs to where, at times, you'd rather listen to that than the originals. They were just as good- not all of them- but most of them. I was extremely disappointed with this album. Especially in comparison with anything else they have done so far.
3 - DAniel
i have been him fan for some years to but i think tis is one of the best thing they have done and i love tat they have done some changes in the songs
4 - Andrew
Rendevous with Anus isnt a H.I.M. song, its a Turbonegro song. Sailin' On is indeed a Bad Brains Song and if you didnt know this already Hand of Doom is a Black Sabbath song. Volume 2 is alot better than Volume 1. Notice in the booklet of Vol.1 there is an acoustic guitar symbolizing what most of the album sounds like, and in Vol.2 there is an electric guitar symbolizing what most of that one sounds like.