Hey why are sneaker pimps so hated anyway - wasn't that first album good?

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Ok, maybe not original.At all. And maybe really fake. Since as soon as trip-hop died down they gor rid of the chick. But "Spin Spin Sugar" was fun!!! - can't we concede that the first album was good ??

― V or maybe Vee, Monday, 2 December 2002 12:02 (twenty-two years ago)

they were remixed by eli janney so at least they have good taste in remixers

― leigh (leigh), Monday, 2 December 2002 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

They dumped Kelli Dayton (aka Kelli Ali) because they felt the press, etc were focusing too much on her and not the music... too bad their next two albums both sucked.

― JT, Monday, 2 December 2002 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Splinter is one of the best albums I own.

― , Monday, 2 December 2002 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, now Kelli does a song with Bootsy and the other two are in obscurity! Haha! Justice prevails for once!

I like the album a lot. But then in the mid-90s there were a lot of people into it that are probably ashamed of it now. No need to though, as "Spin Spin Sugar" IS all-conquering wondrousness.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 2 December 2002 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Splinter is one of the best albums I own.
-- ( @ ...), December 2nd, 2002.

c'mon! no need to be ashamed! who are you?

― V or maybe Vee, Monday, 2 December 2002 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

― Curt (cgould), Monday, 2 December 2002 20:09 (twenty-two years ago)

If that was the reason they dumped Kelli, they deserved to suck.

that = "because they felt the press, etc were focusing too much on her and not the music"

― Curt (cgould), Monday, 2 December 2002 20:48 (twenty-two years ago)

The Kelli/Bootsy song was great, and so is "Inferno High Love". Hooray for Kelli!

― Siegbran (eofor), Monday, 2 December 2002 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i only really liked the remix version of 6 underground, the drums are kind of dumb on the other one. then again, the nellee hooper (?) one has that stupid "a one two" sample like every other line, which sux0r also. i'm not sure if i still have this cd or not

― ron (ron), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 02:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"they were remixed by eli janney so at least they have good taste in remixers"

Eli Janney remixes Busted's "What I Go To School For" on the single, but it's not as good as the original.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 03:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the way the Sneaker Pimps seemed to adopt trip-hop cynically because it was the flavor of the month, but at heart were just a rock band trying to make it big.

said with the benefit of hindsight? (not snide remark, i'm asking...)

― ron (ron), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 04:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Sure, although they were never exactly shy about showing their pop intentions, were they? And I seem to recall a lot of people complaining at the time that their tip-hop cred was wanting. Or are you asking if it's easier to like them now that they've belly flopped? Yeah, that too.

― Curt (cgould), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 05:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I've sold it, but the title track IMO is rilly trip hop at its best: cold, pristine, spacey and aloof, unlike that untriphop trip hop stuff that came out of Bristol, you know, stuff that has heart and feeling. And "How Do" combines the mainstream standards of triphop with English folk perfectly.

― Leee (Leee), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 07:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think it's hindsight: it was pretty obvious that they were chancing it on t-h, and while that in itself didn't make me dislike them (I'd have been inclined the opposite way), the fact that I never liked Dayton's vocals or the other guys' backdrops did. The Armand Van Helden remix of "Spin Spin Sugar" is godlike; the rest is pffft.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 07:25 (twenty-two years ago)

"I think I've sold it, but the title track IMO is rilly trip hop at its best: cold, pristine, spacey and aloof"

- Yeah, that's their 2nd greatest imo. It just has this creepiness to it if you listen to it on headphones walking down an abandoned street in the dark. Shadowy and lurching about, the atmosphere it creates conjures up a sense of stealthing around chillingly, with pitch-perfect precision, and her wailing vocals at the end are an ideal dissolve into Spin Spin Sugar's semi-emotionalism.

Is Splinter as good as the AMG review says it is? Funny, look at the discrepancy between the 2-star rating, and the written review (but then, that's lovable old AMG).

Of course, Lamb always had more legitimacy, but I never heard Fear of Fours or their newest. Seems to have gotten good reviews though.

― Vik, Tuesday, 3 December 2002 07:39 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

I don't know why, but I've had them on my mind again lately. This thread's a mess and (having once been completely obsessed with them) I'll try to make some clarifications.

They dumped Kelli Dayton (aka Kelli Ali) because they felt the press, etc were focusing too much on her and not the music...
Deadly wrong. Chris Corner was going to sing the album but he wasn't very confident about it and thought they'd recruit a female to sing it since the lyrical content was considered to be very feminine.

I liked "Tesko Suicide" even more than "Spin Spin Sugar". It sounded like an old B-52's song. I like the way the Sneaker Pimps seemed to adopt trip-hop cynically because it was the flavor of the month, but at heart were just a rock band trying to make it big.
"Tesko Suicide" is fantastic...I love the NME review of it where it says it's like Bill Drummond hijacking the rhetoric of early Manic Street Preachers after spending a week in a cupboard with Jacques Derrida. It's sounds like a daft description but it's actually spot on. The band actually didn't anticipate selling more than a few thousand copies of Becoming X.

Splinter is one of the best albums I own.
For a period of a year it was my favourite album, and I still think fondly of it even though I scarcely listen to it.

And I seem to recall a lot of people complaining at the time that their trip-hop cred was wanting.
That's bullshit. Chris and Liam had three different projects (F.R.I.S.K., Line of Flight, and Hunch) on the Clean Up label around 1992-1993 and their releases from that time were considered among the first trip-hop records before the genre had a name. (I love Kelli's statement that "trip-hop is the Nineties form of Goth"...quite true, methinks.)

The Armand Van Helden remix of "Spin Spin Sugar" is godlike
I always found it really weak. I loved Phluide's Creeping Vine Mix (done by a mate of theirs) but I can't remember what it sounds like and I'm not sure what I'd think of it today.

Is Splinter as good as the AMG review says it is? Funny, look at the discrepancy between the 2-star rating, and the written review (but then, that's lovable old AMG).
Quite so. Underrated to the umpteenth power. They pretty much lose the trip-hop, lose Kelli (not that she did much aside from wiggle her bum on stage), and turn into what Placebo could've and possibly should've been. Bloodsport had excellent, jawdropping demos and then they put electronics into everything and ruined the songs entirely.

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Thursday, 24 March 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

Eastern Mantra pretty much OTM.

"Splinter" is brilliant and overlooked, has a woozy/druggy vibe with even a hint of David Sylvian. It really took me by surprise when I first heard it. The "Bloodsport" demos were indeed great, but something was lost in the final studio version. Chris' new techno/goth/rock band I am X is ok, but seems to be treading water artistically.

I'd *really* like to hear the Becoming X demos with Chris singing. The live versions of Spin Spin Sugar, Low Place Like Home, and 6 Underground that he does live are very intriguing.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 24 March 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

a woozy/druggy vibe with even a hint of David Sylvian
Indeed. That's another good way of describing Splinter's sound.

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

eleven years pass...

Debut is classic - sounds better now than 10 years ago

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 7 October 2016 13:02 (eight years ago)

three months pass...

The third LP seems to be the one I return to out of all of 'em?

― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Friday, 27 January 2017 13:17 (eight years ago)

two years pass...

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5tzUtQH9U8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 10 December 2019 00:09 (five years ago)

https://t.co/9jLqmSdiz4
— Kelli Ali (@kelliali) December 4, 2019

― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 10 December 2019 00:09 (five years ago)

It's so weird that she's 45 years old.

― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 10 December 2019 00:09 (five years ago)

also that seems like a Madonna song

― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 10 December 2019 00:10 (five years ago)

one year passes...

I doubt anyone cares around here but they have just released a new album after nearly 20 years. Also their first with a female singer since Becoming X. Sounds pleasant if not particularly original.

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 12 November 2021 16:21 (three years ago)

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