I don't remember reading this before so I thought I'd post it, keep this lonely little subforum from being completely neglected. It's not from terribly long ago, but it's a good refresher course from an era - now go play Come With Us. Enjoy!



The Chemical Brothers



Come With Us



Ed Simons from The Chemical Brothers gives us the inside view on the new album.



01. Come With Us

This was one of the first things we got going in early 2000 and we kept going back to it. We cut it onto acetate and played it in the Courtyard at Cream and it went off - the crowd knew it was one of our tracks. H-Foundation and Norman Cook have both remixed Come With Us - it's the second single after Star Guitar.



02. It Began In Afrika

We originally put it out as Electronic Battle Weapon Five. We were excited that DJs who never seemed to be into our records played it. Sasha cut his own mix onto CD and it generated its own momentum. I went to Ibiza just hear it being played and it just went off!



03. Galaxy Bounce

We were surprised when we saw references to stars and skies - the titles came out one by one and we've always put ourselves in opposition to the cosmos! This was painless to do, and the first thing we completed. Yeah, I've seen it in the film (Galaxy Bounce was on the soundtrack to Tomb Raider) - I was on a flight and Lara was riding her bike to it.



04. Star Guitar

We just liked the rhyming title and we loved the fact the guitar's the star. It wasn't consciously trying to sound like New Order, but that's music we love, and I did get a text from Bernard before Christmas where he said he loved it. I'm really hoping it'll take over from Ronan on 'Super Sky Sunday!'



05. Hoops

My favourite track on the album though I couldn't tell you why! I'd play this to anyone to point out that what we're doing is incredibly special.



06. My Elastic Eye

That's something someone said to us - it's a Manchester thing. There's something very Led Zeppelin about this track - it always reminds me that we used to do impressions of Led Zep's singer Robert Plant over the top!



07. The State We're In

The title? It's whatever you want it to be. We wanted to work with Beth Orton again on this track because she's nice and relaxed. Tom wrote the words. Does he sing? Yes, but we'll keep his vocals for the boxed set!



08. Denmark

The joy of an instrumental track is it makes people think about music in the same way as they do an abstract piece of art. We met someone from Norway who said it reminded him of Denmark at night with good friends. There's definitely something mysterious about Denmank - nice people, nice fish.



09. Pioneer Skies

We think of people travelling to this piece of music - a voyage into the unknown, if you like. Tom's played the melody on a guitar for a long as I've known him. When we were in the studio he'd have the guitar out, playing it while we were talking... and now we've finally got around to recording it! The drums are from Yellow Train by Resonance. We used the same drums on an early version of It Began In Afrika.



10. The Test

We liked the finality of this track, it's very anthemic. Richard Ashcroft says "Did I pass the acid test?" and we didn't feel there was anywhere else to go. We've always admired Richard's work and felt his voice could really ride the track. He's got a lot of charisma - just listening to his ideas was very exciting. We were bowled over by him.

whirlygirl Escribi�:

I don't remember reading this before so I thought I'd post it, keep this lonely little subforum from being completely neglected. It's not from terribly long ago, but it's a good refresher course from an era - now go play Come With Us. Enjoy!



The Chemical Brothers



Come With Us



Ed Simons from The Chemical Brothers gives us the inside view on the new album.



01. Come With Us

This was one of the first things we got going in early 2000 and we kept going back to it. We cut it onto acetate and played it in the Courtyard at Cream and it went off - the crowd knew it was one of our tracks. H-Foundation and Norman Cook have both remixed Come With Us - it's the second single after Star Guitar.



02. It Began In Afrika

We originally put it out as Electronic Battle Weapon Five. We were excited that DJs who never seemed to be into our records played it. Sasha cut his own mix onto CD and it generated its own momentum. I went to Ibiza just hear it being played and it just went off!



03. Galaxy Bounce

We were surprised when we saw references to stars and skies - the titles came out one by one and we've always put ourselves in opposition to the cosmos! This was painless to do, and the first thing we completed. Yeah, I've seen it in the film (Galaxy Bounce was on the soundtrack to Tomb Raider) - I was on a flight and Lara was riding her bike to it.



04. Star Guitar

We just liked the rhyming title and we loved the fact the guitar's the star. It wasn't consciously trying to sound like New Order, but that's music we love, and I did get a text from Bernard before Christmas where he said he loved it. I'm really hoping it'll take over from Ronan on 'Super Sky Sunday!'



05. Hoops

My favourite track on the album though I couldn't tell you why! I'd play this to anyone to point out that what we're doing is incredibly special.



06. My Elastic Eye

That's something someone said to us - it's a Manchester thing. There's something very Led Zeppelin about this track - it always reminds me that we used to do impressions of Led Zep's singer Robert Plant over the top!



07. The State We're In

The title? It's whatever you want it to be. We wanted to work with Beth Orton again on this track because she's nice and relaxed. Tom wrote the words. Does he sing? Yes, but we'll keep his vocals for the boxed set!



08. Denmark

The joy of an instrumental track is it makes people think about music in the same way as they do an abstract piece of art. We met someone from Norway who said it reminded him of Denmark at night with good friends. There's definitely something mysterious about Denmank - nice people, nice fish.



09. Pioneer Skies

We think of people travelling to this piece of music - a voyage into the unknown, if you like. Tom's played the melody on a guitar for a long as I've known him. When we were in the studio he'd have the guitar out, playing it while we were talking... and now we've finally got around to recording it! The drums are from Yellow Train by Resonance. We used the same drums on an early version of It Began In Afrika.



10. The Test

We liked the finality of this track, it's very anthemic. Richard Ashcroft says "Did I pass the acid test?" and we didn't feel there was anywhere else to go. We've always admired Richard's work and felt his voice could really ride the track. He's got a lot of charisma - just listening to his ideas was very exciting. We were bowled over by him.

still the best

Thanks a lot whirly ! I just played the album from CWU till The Test while reading this, that was very pleasant. Ohhhhhh my my my my my my mind!

Simply lovely. :D

Cool 8)

whirlygirl Escribi�:

07. The State We're In

The title? It's whatever you want it to be. We wanted to work with Beth Orton again on this track because she's nice and relaxed. Tom wrote the words. Does he sing? Yes, but we'll keep his vocals for the boxed set!

OMG...I would love to hear Tom sing...and where is this box set....that would be awesome

kwiddle Escribi�:

whirlygirl Escribi�:

07. The State We're In

The title? It's whatever you want it to be. We wanted to work with Beth Orton again on this track because she's nice and relaxed. Tom wrote the words. Does he sing? Yes, but we'll keep his vocals for the boxed set!

OMG...I would love to hear Tom sing...and where is this box set....that would be awesome

Oh kwiddle, you can! :D He lends his voice to Star Guitar during "you should feel what I feel, you should take what I take" and both he and Ed sing backup in Get Yourself High.

And the "Morning Lemon" from morning lemon ( Haha ) is Tom also X-D

really? I didn't know that!! "morning lemooon" X-D

Is that foul-mouthed individual at the end of the track Tom as well?? :)

whirlygirl Escribi�:

05. Hoops

My favourite track on the album though I couldn't tell you why! I'd play this to anyone to point out that what we're doing is incredibly special.

I'm not really surprised about that :)

After hearing it 4 or 5 times live every new version is better than the older), I must say that this track is becoming one of my most fav...



Thx a lot for this nostalgic review Whirlygirl :)

mc marsh Escribi�:

Is that foul-mouthed individual at the end of the track Tom as well?? :)

is ICE CUBE!

wow, really?

I like EBW6 and the live version, but the Hoops of Come with Us really ruined that powerful track ! It has become a little 'gay' (like toomuch'stash would say :P)

Ben_j Escribi�:

I like EBW6 and the live version, but the Hoops of Come with Us really ruined that powerful track ! It has become a little 'gay' (like toomuch'stash would say :P)

its probably better not to compare electronic battleweapons to original tracks..... :-| ........and Hoops is awesome and way far from being 'gay'

I don't agree... EBW6 was very very powerful, and completely huge. It has those crazy sirens, and in Hoops, there are little guitars and all that... I don't dislike, but ebw6 is a thousand times better to me...

Personally I prefer EBW 6. It seems to have a bit more atmosphere and texture than Hoops, it sounds like a grand experiment in sound gone crazy! What I especially love is the tension, build-up and release that version offers, and how so many elements of EBW 6 are incorporated into the (live) Hoops. Definitely a highlight. It's hot when those high pitched siren wails cut right into the song - what an incredible release!



To be honest, at first I did not like Hoops on Come With Us at all. It sounded too much like 2 way seperate ideas/songs were slapped together and the guitar didn't seem to fit. But opinions change and so do I. The song grew on me in a good way and I love the song now and get a lot from it, and it really does work on the album. If EBW 6 were on the album instead I don't think it could've worked because EBW 6 has a looseness to it that is not characteristic of the tight qualities of Come With Us. But within the context of Come With Us, Hoops really does the job.

robot.mx Escribi�:

mc marsh Escribi�:

Is that foul-mouthed individual at the end of the track Tom as well?? :)

is ICE CUBE!

ice cube - what they hittin' foe



if your a real train spotter!

whirlygirl Escribi�:

To be honest, at first I did not like Hoops on Come With Us at all. It sounded too much like 2 way seperate ideas/songs were slapped together and the guitar didn't seem to fit.

Im suprised that you didnt like this track at first. When i first listened to Come With Us all the way through, i thought Hoops was an idmediate highlight and i was sure that it would be a highlight for many who had bought this album (My Mom even liked it)...i personaly enjoy the transtion from a soft textured song to a hard pounding paced song and then back again.... i guess its different strokes for different folkes...however glad you like it now :P

I agree with whirlygirl. I think EBW6 had to be a B-Side. It's more techno, less rich than Hoops but more psychedelic.

Hoops is a great album song. Slower, relaxing but with more various elements in it.