Boom Boom Satellites: Over and Over
Japanese duo, Boom Boom Satellites celebrate their second decade as a group with the release of their greatest hits album, Over and Over. The album’s selections span the groups six albums and three eps. Rather than just procure a compilation of previously released tracks, the album features tracks that have been thoroughly remastered and remixed by Boom Boom Satellites themselves. The hope is this creates something that seems like a completely new album rather than standard “greatest hits” fare.
As with all career spanning greatest hits albums, Over and Over has some gaps. “On The Painted Desert” is the only selection from the group’s debut album, Out Loud while the album’s first single “Push Eject” is nowhere to be found. “On the Painted Desert” turns out to be my favorite track on Over and Over as well. The track shows Boom Boom Satellites downtempo beginnings. The track has a similar sound to Massive Attack.
Meanwhile the album is heavy on selections from Boom Boom Satellites’ 2007 album, Exposed. Five of Over and Over‘s 17 tracks come from Exposed. Unlike on 1997’s Out Loud, by 2007 Boom Boom Satellites were making brash electro-rock tracks similar to Rinôçérôse.
And with the lopsided amount of tracks included from Exposed, a certain amount of mind must be paid to the other selections. “Panacea” is one of three tracks from the group’s sophomore album, Umbra. The track is literally nothing more than a loud noise that is allowed to echo for a minute and a half. In the context of Umbra, it is the album’s outro. Also from Umbra is “Looking Glass” a 57 second interlude that is just ambient noise. Why have these two tracks been included on a greatest hits album when surely there are more tracks deserving of the honor?
The major problem with Over and Over is the existence of 19972007. 19972007 is the Japanese version of Boom Boom Satellites’ greatest hits; it was released in Japan back in January. Compared to 19972007, Over and Over seems fairly bare bones. Over and Over is actually just the first 17 tracks of 19972007 but 19972007 goes on for another 13 tracks. The additional 13 tracks explore Out Loud but also tilt the album’s focus heavily in favor of the groups fourth album, Full of Elevating Pleasures. At end count, 19972007 contains eight tracks from Full of Elevating Pleasures while Over and Over contains merely three selections.
In the end, if not for the existence of 19972007 I might have a sunnier outlook on Over and Over but I can’t help feel like American audiences are not getting the full experience. And the experience the American audience is getting is not exactly the best because of inclusion of meaningless interludes instead of packing as many potent tracks in as possible. While the actually tracks included on the album are mostly of the highest quality, Boom Boom Satellites’ fans will find it missing some key parts of their catalog.
Rating: 6.8/10
MP3: Boom Boom Satellites “On the Painted Desert”
Buy: iTunes
Boom Boom Satellites: Over and Over
