UTAH SAINTS: POWER TO THE BEATS
The second album
The second album
The new Utah Saints album TWO was released in the UK on October 23rd 2000, and in many other countries since, including Japanese and Australasian issues each with different bonus tracks, and the recent US & Canadian release with rearranged and reedited tracks.
The title reflects the fact that while the Utah Saints have been producing music for nine years, this is only the second full album they've released...
The tracks (shown in order of UK tracklist)- click on a track for more information
| 1. Sun | 2:11 | |
| 2. Power To The Beats | 4:39 | |
| 3. Love Song | 5:41 | |
| 4. Lost Vagueness | 6:32 | |
| 5. Punk Club | 1:32 | |
| 6. Funky Music | 3:37 | |
| 7. Massive | 6:26 | |
| 8. Rhinoceros | 1:42 | |
| 9. Morning Sun | 6:22 | |
| 10. Sick | 5:19 | |
| 11. B777 | 4:04 | |
| 12. Techknowledgy | 3:52 | |
| 13. Three Simple Words | 6:01 | |
| 14. Wiggedy Wack | 1:28 | |
| 15. Info War | 5:54 | (bonus track on Japanese CD) |
| 16. Keep The Wheel Straight | 3:48 | (bonus track on Japanese CD) |
If you can't find what you're looking for, try doing a Find using your browser on this page. If you still can't find what you're looking for, U2 or otherwise, then e-mail me with questions and I'll try to respond personally and add the information here as well.
More information can also be found first on the discussion list, updated on a daily basis.
The album has 14 tracks plus 2 tracks which appear only on the Japanese version of the CD. These are: The grand opening; the first of the four tracks on this album that
features vocals from Michael Stipe (from REM), the others being
Punk Club, Rhinoceros and
Wiggedy Wack. More
about Michael Stipe's involvement. For me, the point at which the string sounds come into this track
are the highlight of the fact that this is the real Utah
Saints comeback. It's good music and it's proud. The new single Power To The Beats (named after this web site!), released October 9th 2000, includes a specially recorded Chuck D vocal, and a Metallica sample- you can now hear a snippet of a live version of this track on the samples page and read more about the single's forthcoming release on the news page. The album version of this track is around a minute longer than the radio edit; most of the differences are in the first minute or so. The Utah Saints' first "comeback" single in January 2000. The version
on Two is a mixture of the radio edit and extended mix that
appeared on the UK CD singles; with an added treat at the beginning as
well- an intro based on a mix between the original version and the
Monetshot remix. You can hear a sample of this track on the samples page. Probably the next single after Power To The Beats, tentatively to be
released in January 2001. Paul Oakenfold already has an acetate of the
Oliver Lieb remix of this track, and it's one of his biggest
tunes of the moment. It's also been played as part of the Utahs' recent
live dates. This is the track that contains a vocal by Chrissie Hynde of the
Pretenders, based on their track "I Go To Sleep". One of the four tracks on this album that features vocals from
Michael Stipe (from REM), the others being Sun, Rhinoceros and Wiggedy Wack. A longer version of "Punk
Club", with quite a radically different intro and build, was played
as part of their set list for their small June 2000 tour, and at their
festival appearances at Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading, and for several
people was one of the highlights of great sets. More about Michael Stipe's involvement. The most recent single Funky Music, a collaboration with soul legend Edwin Starr, which reached #23 in June 2000. This is the radio version of the track that people are most familiar with. You can hear a sample of this track on the samples page. Another reworking of a track from the unreleased Wired World album. The original vocal line (referred to as "Man On The Moon") has been removed and the track is now an instrumental. One of the four tracks on this album that features vocals from
Michael Stipe (from REM), the others being Sun, Punk Club, and Wiggedy Wack. More about
Michael Stipe's involvement. "Rhinoceros" seems to have been dedicated to www.savetherhino.com, and apparently Jez Willis from
Utah Saints recently bought a couple of giant inflatable rhinos to take
touring when the Utahs next perform live... A track played on the Utahs' recent live dates, with Jez Willis
doing lead vocals- sounds a little bit like "Love Song" but with a
softer and more optimistic touch. An intelligent piece of
progressive trance, slick and engrossing. Originally this track featured
an Ofra Haza sample which was eventually dropped. A hard & fast techno attack. Ouch! Vocalled by Guy Leger (don't
know anything more about him) and written by Jez Willis, this has a
Taxi Driver-esque narration throughout a violent and
unfettered beat and noise-fest. "Night-time turns people into
animals..."- expect to be seeing that on a T-shirt some time soon... A relatively short and atmospheric instrumental piece that has
already been compared to some of Moby's work, or by Mixmag to a couple
of tracks on the forthcoming Fatboy Slim album. Rolling piano-led
orchestrations and inescapably catchy. A hard-edged track featuring an Iggy Pop sample, described as "a
statement of intent". Another of the Utah Saints' upbeat numbers, to
put it mildly... A version of this track appeared on the soundtrack album to the 1998 film The Avengers- it was planned as a possible single but was shelved when the film was a complete financial disaster. The version on Two has been quite heavily reworked. In the past this track has also been spelt without a K, ie "technowledgy", in some places. A radical reworking of the track Slow MC (So Much Love To Show
You) from the unreleased Wired World album. This contains
a very short sample of Come Into My Life by Joyce Sims, above
a wonderfully orchestrated track that personally I find quite
moving. This track might not "hit" you, but it can "touch" you...
(if I can get away with saying that on a public web site). The fitting and succinct close to the album, and it ends almost how
it began, with one of the four tracks on this album that features vocals
from Michael Stipe (from REM), the others being Sun, Punk Club and Rhinoceros. Wiggedy Wack is probably the
cheekiest of the four treatments of Michael Stipe's vocals, playing
around with pitch and speed in various ways- a fun little ending-
especially when you hear the very, very last bit... More about Michael Stipe's involvement. The first of two bonus tracks only available on the Japanese CD version of Two, released around the same time as the UK version. For a brief explanation about why Japanese bonus tracks are so common read this.
Info War is quite a darker track, using some elements similar to Sick, and driven by what sound like speeches about war. The first of two bonus tracks only available on the Japanese CD version of Two, released around the same time as the UK version. For a brief explanation about why Japanese bonus tracks are so common read this.
"Two" is released as a CD, a cassette, and as a 2x12" LP vinyl gatefold doublepack thing. For more specific information, look in the discography. The front image of the album can now be seen on the main page of this
web site, here. The booklet at the
front of the CD contains other images, different images relating to
different tracks on the album. For obvious reasons I won't be
reproducing those images here, but some of them are really nice- in
particular check out the image for "B777". Michael Stipe appears on no fewer than four tracks on the new Utah Saints album: Punk Club, Sun, Wiggedy Wack and Rhinoceros. Stipe recorded his vocal by telephoning the band, who then used clips of the conversation to construct these four tracks. Michael Stipe was quoted in NME as saying "I was really honored when they asked me to do something. I loved their first album. They have a great sensibility and an obvious love of pop. Also, I was aware of how they cut up stuff, so I know they wouldn't embarrass or humiliate me. So I just rambled on. I'm pretty good at rambling on." Thanks for some of this information to http://www.remhq.com/. "Two" was released by Nettwerk in the US on 31st July 2001. The tracklist varied slightly from the UK release, and two of the tracks were edited. The Oliver Lieb mix of "Lost Vagueness" was also included as an extra track. The album can be easily ordered through online stores such as CDnow. Two got a domestic release in Europe in January 2001 through Roadrunner Records. The tracks are exactly the same as the UK version, and the artwork has only been subtly changed to incorporate Roadrunner's label and so on. For various reasons I won't bore you with (and don't fully understand), it is often cheaper for people in Japan to get CDs imported from other countries than it is to buy the domestic CD of the same music. As a result, it is a common practice for Japanese record companies to put bonus tracks on their releases that aren't available on imports, as an incentive to buy the Japanese version. Two is no exception, and was released in roughly November 2000 in Japan with two bonus tracks, Info War and Keep The Wheel Straight. It also features an extra insert which contains all the lyrics to the album, plus some extra information (most of which is in Japanese, and I can't understand it...). Two was released in Australia in January 2001, complete
with three bonus remixes: Power To The Beats (Todd Edwards Power
Chord remix) (as it appears on the UK single for that track),
Love Song (Monetshot mix) (a few seconds longer than the
version that appeared on the UK CD single), and Funky Music
(Levant's Party Freaks dub) which was previously a promo-only
mix. Overall it's a nice package, nicely presented, released by
Festival Mushroom Records. Confusingly, it has the same catalogue
number as the UK edition. See the discography for more details.
For some reviews of the new album, check out the Utah Saints discussion list. Some of the more complete reviews from that list will be printed here soon.