REVIEW: Various, Music From The X-Games Volume 3 (Mammoth)
- Linda Scott
The soundtrack to ESPN's X-Games, Music From The X-Games Volume 3, features 12 tracks from well known and lesser known bands. Overall, the pace is fast, set by driving beats that underscore the pace of the Games. Balladeers need not apply.
Leading off are the popular Mighty Mighty Bosstones with their breakthrough ska hit "The Impression That I Get" from their 1997 album, Let's Face It. Its good, clean beat, with a little island twist, is a good choice for the album opener.
Next up are the Descendents with "I'm The One". This punk band is from the South Bay area in California and were broken up about 10 years. Considered a seminal punk bank in 1978, most of us will be hearing them for the first time. This song gets in your head and stays there. Additional material from The Descendents is on their 1996 album, Everything Sucks.
Ska and punk are represented, and Fatboy Slim covers Big Beat. "Going Out of My Head" is a catchy dance song that was also picked up by Coke for its Surge promo CD and by two movies. Give this one some close attention.
Take a sharp turn from dance to metal. Three heavy metal/hard rock tracks here with Fu Manchu's " Jailbreak", Pantera's "I'm Broken", and Chamber's "Loco". Of these three, Pantera's is the most polished and listenable - of course they have been in the business a long time. They are also blessed with singer Philip Anselmo and guitarist Dimebag Darrell. No way will the other two come up to that level of metal talent.
A couple other big names on the soundtrack are 311 and Days of the New. 311 does a killer job on "All Mixed Up", a 1996 promo release from the Los Angeles band. Days of the New performs "Touch, Peel and Stand", a characteristic song for them. Raw tracks with lyrics that make you wonder what vocalist Travis Meeks has been up to all his life.
Electronica dance music, a la Prodigy, is what Crystal Method are all about. "Busy Child" is their contribution, which may irritate non dance fans from the repetition and overuse of samples - the words "busy child" are repeated about 50 times too often.
All in all, this is a good, fast-paced album. There's something for everyone - there's ska, dance, electronica, Big Beat, rock, punk rock, heavy metal. A good selection of artists, from well known to obscure, from established to still morphing into their final makeup. A little slice of current music and current bands makes this a nice addition to any collection.
