Compiled for Australian release, What Remains Inside a Black Hole pulls together a slew of tracks that originally appeared on singles to give a great portrait of the fearsome foursome from its early-'90s surf rock-in-space heyday. It's as reasonable a starting place for the neophyte as any; while not a greatest-hits per se, it's got enough energy to burn along with plenty of requisite humor. That naturally comes from the song titles first and foremost, thus, "The Universe's Only Intergalactic Radioactive Breakfast Bar," ...
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Compiled for Australian release, What Remains Inside a Black Hole pulls together a slew of tracks that originally appeared on singles to give a great portrait of the fearsome foursome from its early-'90s surf rock-in-space heyday. It's as reasonable a starting place for the neophyte as any; while not a greatest-hits per se, it's got enough energy to burn along with plenty of requisite humor. That naturally comes from the song titles first and foremost, thus, "The Universe's Only Intergalactic Radioactive Breakfast Bar," "War of the Satellites," and "Within a Martian Heart." Then there are such things as "Squad Car," arguably the world's only surf salute to policemen, the poignant celebration of a glam rock myth -- sort of -- with "Adios Johnny Bravo," and "Caffeine Trip" -- who needs the terror of Reefer Madness when the dangers of too much coffee are so graphically illustrated? Anyone wanting a sense of where tremolo mania relocated to in the '90s just needs to give an ear to such wonderful, screaming, release songs as "Eric Estrotica (Live in Space)" (complete with some monster stomp drum breaks that most metalheads would kill to have) to know that Jimi Hendrix got one thing wrong: the world would hear surf music again. It's just that this time around, there'd be more science fiction B-movie references and samples in the mix to satisfy Ed Wood's fans as much as Dick Dale's (the unaccompanied exchange of dialogue about mutated fish that starts "Surf Terror" in particular is a highlight). Many tracks -- but not all -- were reissued in America on the Beyond the Black Hole album, but this album is still a worthy purchase: goofy liner notes about :free floating sonic satellites" and "aiming gratitude beams" at worthy folks certainly don't hurt the sense of fun. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi
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