I love singles. When you're listening to a single, there's just this magical feeling of knowing that other than the first song, 90% of the people familiar with this band will not hear the music contained within. Most of my favorite bands have become so via B-Sides that, for whatever reason, are even stronger than the music released on those bands' albums. U2, The Smashing Pumpkins, Massive Attack, and even KMFDM have great singles out there that an awful lot of people will never hear, and that's a very exciting thought to those few that do get to hear them. I used to review singles quite a bit. I haven't reviewed a true CD Single in a long time. I need to get back to that. Starting now.

Today's choice is the Democracy single from Killing Joke, taken from the album of the same name. This single was the first piece of music to be released after Killing Joke's breakthrough album Pandemonium, an album that got them an itty bitty tiny bit of mainstream exposure (via the near-metal "Millenium") and opened their fanbase to include just about every follower of the industrial genre that didn't already know about them. Unfortunately, Democracy (the album) didn't live up to its predecessor--it's largely a flaccid, limp attempt at the same sort of genre-expansion that Pandemonium provided them. So where did the good music go? Well, on the single for the title track, of course!

Democracy (the single) begins with "Democracy (House of Commons Mix)", which is pretty much a re-hash of the album version. Lots of acoustic guitars, a wall of distorted guitars in the background, and a really simple rock 'n roll beat. This sounds like an average rock song, and that's why when it comes out of Killing Joke, it fails. We expect more than average rock songs when Killing Joke is involved. The lyrics are pretty decent, though.

Education in obsolete skills
Stereotyping and media projection
Industrial psychologists
Plan a campaign that is financed by
Big business

As you can see from that alone, the song is a comment on the sorry state of democracy, complete with well-crafted words and loads of sarcasm. Unfortunately, the lyrics are ruined by the utterly silly refrain of I'm sorry, democracy is changing. Repeated over and over, that single line alone saps the song of any impact it might have had. In general, it's just a below-average song in all respects.

All is forgiven, however, when "Democracy (Conspiracy Theory Averted Mix)" shows up. This remix, done by Charlie Clouser of Nine Inch Nails fame, pummels the listener with a tremendous distorted guitar assault, an enhanced rhythm section, and lots of reverb and effects all over the vocals. It sounds so much bigger, more menacing, and more impressive than the original. If the album sounded more like this, hell, I'd listen to it all the time--it's really excellent, especially as remixes go. Unfortunately, Clouser is responsible for two other remixes on the disc, and they sound exactly like the "Conspiracy Theory Averted Mix": "Democracy (Bi Partisan Mix)" is exactly the same except for the fact that it's fifteen seconds shorter, and "Democracy (Right Wing Militia Mix)" is an extended version, topping six minutes. This single would have been better off containing just one of those three mixes, preferably the "Right Wing Militia Mix", if only because six minutes of this version of the song is a great listen. Fourteen minutes of it gets to be a bit much.

"Democracy (United Nations Mix)" is done by Black Sun, and it proves that, yes, "Democracy" would have worked better as a techno song, too! This techno rework is very strong, and the added synthlines from Black Sun complement the vocals and pounding techno drums nicely. "Democracy (Hallucinogen Mix)" is done by (surprise!) Hallucinogen, and it retains very little of the original, replacing it instead with a straight-up techno tune with some distant screams from lead vocalist Jaz Coleman. Even so, it's a pretty good techno tune when taken as such, and it features some wicked guitar samples in the mix. The last of the remixes is done by The Orb, who also manages to make any remixes he does sound like Orb Originals. "Democracy (Russian Tundra Mix)" is nearly 18 minutes long, and it phases from an ambient soundscape complete with effective spoken samples to a nifty electronic head-bobbing tune that makes good use of the acoustic guitar in the original song. It's pretty nicely done, but "pretty nicely done" doesn't really cut it for 18 minutes--it gets tiring at about 12.

That leaves us with "Mass (Campaign Collection Mix)", a remix of a song that didn't appear on the album! That's right, the original "Mass" is on one of the British versions of the Democracy single, so us yanks'll have to settle for the remixed version. It's rather reminiscent of the quicker tunes on Pandemonium, with lots of big guitars and a techno beat. If you've heard "Whiteout" from Pandemonium, you're most of the way there. It's a strong song, and it breaks up the wall of "Democracy" remixes nicely.

The Democracy single is not a CD that you can listen to from beginning to end in one sitting--the repetitive Clouser remixes pretty much guarantee this, as nobody wants to listen to three tracks that sound exactly the same. The Orb remix kinda puts you to sleep too, even though it's fairly well done. What this CD does bring you is value for your money. I paid $6.99 for the 55 minutes of music on this disc, and I enjoy much of it more than I do the full album. I think if you look hard enough, you can still find it for nice and cheap, and then you can be one of the privileged to have heard this rather excellent single.

Recommended for fans of the band.


Recommended: Yes