Beta Band - Hot Shots II
(Astralwerks)
I will now sell zero copies of the Beta Band Hot Shots II.
Back in 1999, when The Three EPs was released in the US, the Beta Band was something new: acoustic psychedelia set to rap and dance beats. The Three EPs still stands as a great CD, so varied and experimental that it's hard to know, even with repeated listens, what is going to come next. Comparing that to the band's new album, Hot Shots II, it is almost hard to believe this is the same band.
By using lots of rap beats and being signed to Astralwerks, the Beta Band was tagged with the unfortunate moniker, "acoustic dance music." On the band's new CD, they seem to be retaliating against that. "Who said we are a dance band? We are just your average Brit pop superstars." The band's madcap experimentation has been all but abandoned, creating a very monotonous album. Every song follows the same tempo, creating a soft pillowy bed of sound to chant choruses over. The rap beats are very understated, in complete contrast to The Three EPs. The songs are easy to listen to, but are not memorable or even identifiable. It is just one big song, cut into ten units.
Perhaps to prove to themselves that they can still innovate and vary things up a little bit, the band tacks on a bonus track, "Won," at the end of the album which is a pure rap track spliced with a cover of "One" (Harry Nilsson, Three Dog Night, Aimee Mann). Perhaps they should have left this to Sum 41, though, as the song is too long and too glossy, like a spectacular special effects sequence stuck on at the end of a dialog-intensive movie, making it hard to listen to.
Perhaps it would have fit better on the Gorillaz album. Maybe the Beta Band could follow Blur and create a band that is purely rap and electronica to make up for those aspects being removed from their sound. Without prominent beats and ample experimentation, though, The Beta Band has become just another Brit pop band, and there's nothing interesting or new about that.
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