Tag Archives: Nothin’s Gonna Stand in our Way

Album Review – Respect The Prime 1986 Revisited

Several weeks ago I reviewed the new Cybertronic Spree Album, which was a cover album of music from the 1986 animated classic Transformers: The Movie.

 

Not long after this, embarrassingly fanatic blog fans Trent (instigator of the latest hot sauce challenge) and Dallas informed me that there was another tribute album floating around out there from back in 2016.  One I had not even heard of!

 

So after a bit of net searching, and eschewing the ludicrously priced ones on eBay, I was able to track down for a reasonable cost Respect The Prime 1986 Revisited.

 

Cybertronic Spree did not disappoint, I wish I could say the same here.

Sorry to say but most of the covers range from tolerable to complete shite!   Whereas Cybertronic Spree tried to stay faithful to way the songs were intended whilst putting their own stamp on it, these no-name bands all seem to be trying to make the songs completely their own with a mixture of grunge and hard rock that just doesn’t suit the music at all.  The only thing that could put it above the Spree version is that you get 17 different groups of artists instead of one, but love for the source material is not evident from even one of them.

 

Instruments of Destruction is done by Deathproof featuring the singer from Red Lokust and he can’t seem to decide if he is growly grunge or rock, he could have pulled it off if only he had put a bit more testosterone into it.  At least the band that did the Transformers Theme Song put some grunt in, makes it sound like a cartoon theme song intended for a moshpit.  Ghostfeeder’s version of Nothin’s Gonna Stand In Our Way starts off pretty crap, however redeems itself by the end, making the tune at least bearably catchy.  Most other songs on the CD could be described as fitting into one description or the other of these two.  However there are two songs that stand out from the rest:

 

I always thought that certain Star Wars fans that talked about the prequel movies raping their childhoods were idiots.  Funnily enough those idiots are now all in their 40’s and seem to now love the prequels and hate the latest flicks.  And likewise many numbnuts shouted the same idiotic ‘childhood raped’ phrases when the Live-Action Transformers movies came out.  I never understood the mentality…

…until I heard The Dark Clan do Dare.

Man they fucking butchered it!  It was heartbreaking!  A song that have I associated nothing but wonderful thoughts and memories with over the last 30 years was bent over and given a non-consensual reaming! It was pure poison to the ears and soul and I hope the singer lies awake at night remembering the abominable thing he did.  You are a bad, bad man by doing such an awful thing to an innocent tune, especially the way you yodel ‘believe’ like a tone-deaf caterwauling hack. Shame I say, shame!

 

On the other hand, the rendition of Dare To Be Stupid by Caustic finally made this try-hard song hilarious!  I adore Weird Al but this was not one of his funnier songs, even if it does have a catchy beat.  But to hear it done in a sort of hardcore British Punk accent for some reason made the song work.  And the way the singer roared in this huge angry voice“MASHED POTATOS CAN BE YOUR FRIEND” was fucking piss-funny!  If this CD has one redeeming feature, this track is it.

 

So should you hunt down this CD?  Nope, no you shouldn’t.  Not worth it.  Either go buy the original soundtrack or the Cybertronic Spree album or both.  This one you can easily skip for it does not respect The Prime.

 

Related Articles:

Music Review: Cybertronic Spree

Music Review: Transformers Roll Out

Album Review – Cybertronic Spree: Transformers 1986

Ok, c’mon Trev, be objective here…

Do not come across like a teenage girl at a ‘One Direction’ reunion concert screaming ‘Oh they are so dreamy!  I want to have their babies!’ 

Be harsh mate, be scathing, pull apart song by song to find any fault so that you can give a frank assessment of this CD….

 

 fuck it, I can’t! Its just too good!

 

Ahem.  I got my Cybertronic Spree CD this week.  I kinda like it.

 

About the Band

For those that don’t know, Cybertronic Spree is a true fan success story.  A bunch of singers and musicians came together about six or so years ago, dressed in awesome looking self-made Transformers costumes and sang songs from the Transformers 1986 movie.

It proved popular.  Amongst us TF fans it proved really popular.  So much so that they started getting gigs, appearing at various conventions and even earlier this year got their own IDW Comic Cover variant.

 

 

And so a Crowdfund Project is born!

So riding on the wave of that popularity they decided to Crowdfund a CD where they played 10 of the songs from the 86 movie. CD title appropriately ‘Transformers 1986‘.

The reaction was better than they could have hoped.  It all sold out fast.  I mean, really fast!  So then they reopened the Crowdfund and then that all sold out.  

So they now had the money and went to work recording their album.  Digital copies to those who contributed to their Crowdfunding went out about a month ago.

As much as I would have loved getting a signed poster, my funds at the time meant I was only able to order the CD.  And when it came to writing a review I wanted to review the CD, as I knew the digital copy I received would not do the music justice played over the shitty little speakers on my computer.  

So having received the CD this week, I set up my sound system in the disused outdoor carport on the farm, where the acoustics are puzzingly good and I could crank the volume to max, pulled out a deck chair, cracked a beer and sit back to listen to the music.

 

It did not disappoint.

 

The Music

This is a fucking awesome CD!  Damn they did a good job.  Whilst this CD is primarily a Crowdfunded fan project, you can tell that these are all singers and musicians who know what they are doing and have a genuine love for the material.

As someone who has the soundtrack to the 86 movie and knows every song by heart, it was so cool to hear these songs faithfully redone but with the twist of having new musicians and, most importantly to differentiate them from the originals, new vocalists.

Damn Arcee has a set of pipes on her!  Don’t get me wrong, Spike is a good backup vocalist and Hot Rod can sing his arse off, but Arcee has a voice that can pick you up and pound you flat with its power!  I’ve always loved female vocalists who sound like they could kick my arse.  I shudder to think of the poor singer inside the costume – how many TF Fanboys must there be out there she is currently starring in the fantasies of (my own efforts to get my good wife to dress as a Transformer have always met failure, as public record will testify).  As all the original songs were sung by men, to have Arcee singing half the songs and providing backup vocals on many others gives the songs a new and unique twist, breathing new life to tunes you’ve been listening to for the past 33 years.

Full credit to the musicians too, The guitarists (Unicron & Hot Rod) provide those tasty big 80’s riffs big time and Rumble the Drummer pounds those skins like a true professional.  

 

This CD hits all the right notes for me.  The Touch gave me goosebumps, Dare gave me a nostalgic lump in my throat.  I didn’t understand why they chose to have Hunger as the last track on the album until I heard the end.  That massive instrumental finale right at the end of the song kicks so much arse you wanna put your fist through a wall, headbutt a tank and yell to the world that every other sci-fi genre sucks Quintesson Balls compared to ours!

 

So yes, I liked this CD.

 

 

Cybertronic Spree, all I can say to you is (cue eye-rolling song lyric references):

 

You’ve indeed got both the touch and the power

You’ve got the passion and the pride.  It can’t be denied.

When it came to getting this CD made you let nothing stand in your way and us fans count ourselves among the fortunate ones.

 

And if you ever decide to tour internationally, I can guarantee you a sold out show in Sydney.  The tendrils of Big Angry Trev will twist throughout the Aussie Fandom to hound TF geeks out of parents basements, comic stores and online chatrooms across the land to fill a venue in your honour (with extra security to keep the fanboys off Arcee).

All I ask in return is that you let me get on stage and do the ‘AAAAAAAA-AAAAA’ at the end of Instruments of Destruction 😉 

 

 

 

Extra Merchandise

As I mentioned, I was only able to afford at the time the CD.  However fellow Transformer Enthusiast and Skydiving Superstar Brendan was able to get some more of the merch

 

 

Got something to add to this review?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

Related Articles:

*Album Review: Transformers Roll Out

*Album Review: Metal Resistance by Baby Metal