I listened to this collection for the first time in years, and even for lapsed fans of the band who fondly remember throwing their bodies around on industrial club nights over thirty years, this is really all the Nitzer Ebb you'll ever need. The remix CD is disappointingly patchy, the William Orbit and Flood remixes are far from their best work, and the George Clinton remix of "Fun To Be Had" isn't nearly as entertaining as you'd hope it would be. "Hearts and Minds (Mix Hypersonic)", re-constructed by Daniel Miller and Nitzer Ebb, remains indispensable though.
The liner notes fawn over Nitzer Ebb as a visionary band far ahead of its time, which struck me as quite the exaggeration when I bought this CD over fifteen years ago. For me, they were the quintessential band of their time, a perfect mesh of Euro EBM and Chicago-style industrial thrash. This music had its moment and faded away like so many other 80's and 90's genres, and that's OK. On the other hand, when listening to "Come Alive" now, I can appreciate how it anticipates Depeche Mode's "Sounds of the Universe" and other analog synth-drenched warm blippy electronica that was popular in the 00's.
I still love "Lightning Man", it was and probably remains my favourite song by the band, but if there's another song that affirms this level of awesomeness while overcoming such preposterous lyrics, I have yet to hear it. Nobody listens to Nitzer Ebb for their philosophical depth, it was always about the robotic chants, but even with thirty years of perspective, literally every line in "Lightning Man" makes absolutely no sense. And yet, does this matter in the least?
