Taking Sides; The Beta Band's Hot Shots II vs Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots.

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Cos they're basically the same record, I discovered this evening. Only Hot Shots II is less boring and more dubby and doesn't have all the irritating guff about robots, and Steve Mason can sing, and no one jizzed on HS2 anywhere near as much as the mainstream press jizzed on Yoshimi.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yoshimi is MORE boring that Hot Shots II?

So glad I didn't buy it then.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:02 (twenty-three years ago)

b-but hot shots ii was my favorite record last year?!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:03 (twenty-three years ago)

hot shots was a great big yawn from start to finish. far too polished and focused. they were fun when they dragged out grooves for eons.

i like yoshimi quite a bit, its much better than hot shots. they press the "childish sense of wonder" button a little to often, but I find it to have better tunes and less irritating over-production than the betas.

i never compared these two recs before, but now that you mention it i can see similarities.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:08 (twenty-three years ago)

why was everyone who was so hard on the betas before hsii now reversingt themselves?

(i'm not saying this is kilian, exactly.)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Ha, finally I get to say what I tried to say about the Lips in a review and the editor cut: "A great bit load of frosting in desperate search of a cake."

― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Jess, the Beta's always sounded like Sleepy Sting to me, and I prefer the S/T one just cuz the jokes are funnier. I wanna hear Hot Shots II again but aside from "Squares" and that weird-ass "Won" thing nothing stuck out. I loved "To You Alone" though, why wasn't that on the album?

Killian, I'm guessing I'd agree with you. If they had a Grown Up Sense Of Wonder (they did on In A Priest - cursing helps), then maybe I'd be able to take their Styx-like sonic evolution easier.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:12 (twenty-three years ago)

At first I dismissed Hot Shots II as being dull and uneventful, but this evening I cracked it out for some reason and thoroughly enjoyed it start-to-finish; it even inspired me to dig out To You Alone/Sequensizer (sic), which I also enjoyed. The indie-boys-meet-electro+hiphop-via-everything production seemed to work better than on Yoshimi, and I thought the songs were generally better too (Fight Test beats almost anything on HS2, but the dull ones on Yoshimi are worse than anything on HS2 [+ Fight Test is just Cat Stevens anyway]). I'm even considering having a listen to the awful self-titled debut album proper by The Beta Band before I go to bed.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:27 (twenty-three years ago)

"To You Alone" was a great song. I may give "Hot Shots" another spin, but it didn't do much for me when it came out.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 8 February 2003 00:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Yoshimi? Sure, it's no Hit to Death in the Future Head, but it's still great dammit!! And "Fight Test" IS the song of the year.
So yeah, Yoshimi by a mile.

― Evan (Evan), Saturday, 8 February 2003 02:19 (twenty-three years ago)

herd "HS2" in a now defunct cafe and thot it was absolute rubbish + i didn't like 3eps either, so this settles me into a negative stance.

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Saturday, 8 February 2003 02:22 (twenty-three years ago)

yoshimi had sum wondrousness, but ain't "lightning strikes the postman" just the fuckin shit?

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Saturday, 8 February 2003 02:23 (twenty-three years ago)

"lightning..." is rather excellent, yes, it's my fave on "clouds taste metallic". they still do it live, with wayne strapping on his big light-box thing and using a megaphone.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 8 February 2003 16:09 (twenty-three years ago)

chalk up a vote for HS2. despite the fact that i can barely ever remember any of it after it's finished.

― michael wells (michael w.), Saturday, 8 February 2003 18:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Kim's Watermelon Gun! COME ON PEOPLE!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Sunday, 9 February 2003 11:04 (twenty-three years ago)

five years pass...

Five and a half years on, this is more true than ever.

― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 09:03 (seventeen years ago)

Yoshimi? Sure, it's no Hit to Death in the Future Head, but it's still great dammit!! And "Fight Test" IS the song of the year.
So yeah, Yoshimi by a mile.

-- Evan (Evan), Saturday, February 8, 2003 2:19 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

Evan....Snrub?

― jabba hands, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 09:54 (seventeen years ago)

Sounds like I have to check out "Hot Shots II" if it is even remotely as great as "Yoshimi"

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 21:42 (seventeen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.