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Review by Shabbs. 05-09-03. 20 minutes longer than the first version, remixed tracks, 4 new tracks, 3 music videos, a 36 paged inlay, and a hot new look... Can only be one thing - the new and improved 'The Tribe - Abe Messiah' CD! Version 2 of the album is aimed specifically at the huge fan base in Germany. The sleeve design is by Debbie de Villiers, the lady behind the design of German Tribe products, as I'm sure you can see, as the design is familiar to those German products such as the books and posters. The CD's inlay includes lyrics for the songs, in English, and in German there is information of each of The Tribe series' from 1 through to series 5, and factoids about a few of The Tribe's key actors (who play Amber, Bray, Lex, Trudy, Jack, Tai-San, Ebony, Zoot, Ram, Jay, Java, Siva and Slade), the cast answer questions about their characters and their favourite things. There is also a connections chart, showing connections of love/marriage/family/etc., between each of the characters in The Tribe from Alice to Zoot and Darryl to Luke... The only downside of course is that all the info is in German, but then again, the album is for the German market... The final page of the inlay features a message to fans, thanking for support given and for keeping the dream alive. The message is 'signed' by: Meryl (Ebony), Caleb (Lex), Beth (Amber), Danny (Zoot), Nick (Pride), Matt (Slade), Toni (Trudy), Calen (Mega), James (Jay), Mike (Jack), Monique (Siva) and Tom (Ram). The new music tracks: Opening the new CD is Banging The Drum - the remix, 25 seconds longer than the original. The remix has the chorus in the beginning of the song and keeps the mellow beats of the track as heard on the original release of the album. Track time: 3 mins 50 seconds. Urban Guerilla, the first of three musical tracks / incidental music from the score of The Tribe, the beginning part is very familiar to viewers of series 4/5 of The Tribe, further on in the track you get to hear some tribal chanting. Track time: 5 mins, 45 secs. The new remix of Abe Messiah is awesome, featuring additional tribal chants/sounds throughout the song, making it a new experience to the ears. The quality is also superior and more smoother to the one featured in the first release of the album. But hey, maybe the difference in audio is down to my CD player? Track time: 4 mins, 24 secs. Tribe Spirit, the full-length version, what can I say?!?! It's awesome!!! The voices of the Cassie ladies are very distinct, the track is very mellowed and layed back in the beginning, but soon builds up as the chanting and singing and the music builds up and comes to a halt. The song is totally different to the track heard in the end credits of series 4/5. Definitely the highlight of the album. The first few moments of the track is a cool group atmospheric tribal chant - awesome!... All we need is someone to translate what on earth they're chanting! Oh and I am pretty sure I could distinctly hear Tom Hern chanting away in it. Time: 3 mins, 57secs. Reflections following on straight after the dramatic ending of Tribe Spirit, the second music only track gives off a serene, chilled out atmosphere. The track seems unfamiliar at first listening, but towards the ending, you might just remember it. That said though, the track is highly unrememberable (is that a word?). It passes in and out quickly. At 2mins and 12 seconds it is over and done with quickly, kinda like killing Java with a Techno gun. The third and final musical score is Day In The Urban Jungle. An eclectic combination of tribal and street sounds, this track has played a huge part in the music of series 4 and 5. The track does sound very digitally enhanced/electric, rather than the roughness of the track we hear in the series, which is a bit of a let down. At 6 minutes and 41 seconds, it makes up the longest track on the album, press the skip button and you reach Meryl's Keep The Dream Alive, announcing the end of the CD. Okay, but there were downsides to the album... When a new album was announced to be in development, what we expected was a whole new album, totally new songs, hot tracks for us to get into, what we got basically was the old album repackaged with a new song and a few instrumentals from the series, it is a shame especially considering the fact that the actors have recorded numerous other songs... I can only assume another album is in the making for worldwide release, well hopefully. Or maybe a new album will be released to tie in with the movie of The Tribe? A The Tribe Movie Soundtrack? Time will tell. Another sad thing is that the singers of each song are not credited as they were in the first album, credit is only given to backing vocals / musicians. The other thing is the text of the album about the series info and character/actor profiles are all in German, it's a shame it wasn't in English to make it more universally appealing. The addition of the music videos to the CD and the fab design definitely out weight the downsides, unlike the first release of the album, this new package has allot going for it! Once your bored of hearing the tracks over and over, pop it into your pc and watch those music vids. My favourite track is definitely the new track Tribe Spirit! Abe Messiah was great on the last album, but it's pushed into the back with the new theme for The Tribe. All said and done though it was also great to listen to old favourites like I Can't Stop and Beep Beep, as I haven't played the first album in a long time... Well, the old album can stay gathering dust as the new album definitely rocks!... |