| Ten Benson - Hiss |
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 Ten
Benson, a name you might not have heard before unless you're a
smoker or had the privilege to hear their Christmas 2000 single
"Black Snow". A big dirty heavy duty head-banging guitar
riff offset with clever and genuinely funny lyrics.
Having had "Black Snow" etched onto my brain for a couple
of weeks I went out and bought their debut album "Hiss"
(note: doesn't include "Black Snow"). Returning home with
the album, I took a look through the CD cover booklet and inside
there were some pictures of the band. A motley bunch if ever there
was one, they looked like they had just come out of rehab from the
Betty Ford clinic.
Playing the CD for the first time, I couldn't help but smile upon
hearing the first track, "Robot Tourist". Its rock 'n'
roll at its best, big dirty fuzzed out guitars and thumpin' drums
(along with some strange singing). The rest of the album follows the
theme of "Robot Tourist" for most of the time, with tracks
such as "Rock Cottage", "Stern" and "Under
Heavy Riffage". However, there is the odd track on there such
as "Raggedy Man" and "Magical Moon" which tend
to be a bit more laid back and acoustically minded. Speaking of odd
tracks, halfway through the album there is a track called "Dr
Hemlock", which is just seriously odd. You can't help but
wonder what on earth they were on when they decided to include this
tune. Most of their songs do tend to delve into strangeness at some
point, one minute you could be listening to some heavy duty fuzz
tone guitar riff and the next thing you know there's some killer
synth thrown into the mix or even the noise of someone blowing
bubbles in water (hopefully through a straw). If you can imagine an
amalgam of Ween (genuinely funny and a bit "out there")
and Fu Manchu (riff rock-tastic) you'll be pretty close to the sound
of Ten Benson.
Overall, Ten Benson's first full album doesn't quite reach the heady
heights that it should, weighing in at 36 minutes it could have done
with a couple more great songs. Some people might not get their
weird humour and some may even grow weary of it, but I for one enjoy
it. Ten Benson are currently one of the few bands around that are
putting the fun back into real rock 'n' roll, long may it continue!
* Special mention must be given to the record's producers, none
other than Ten Benson themselves, the sound they get on this record
is superb. There have been many potentially great albums out there
ruined by production, anyone out there looking for a producer -
these are the guys to get!
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Rating: 8 out of
10
Reviewed by David Majors
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