The Black EP

by

Interpol

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The "Black EP" is a European-released EP that contains some interesting finds for Interpol fans. "Say Hello to the Angels" is the lead-track, and one of the better songs from "Turn on the Bright Lights", with great wall-of-sounds guitar riffs. "NYC (Demo)" is the same track that appears on the US release of the "Say Hello" single.

Tracks 3 through 6 are live tracks recorded for a French radio program called "Black". For those that have seen Interpol in concert, you know that the live tracks are pretty similar to the studio tracks, and this is the case here as well. "Obstacle 1" remains the band's best track, but "PDA" and album closer "Leif Ericson" are quite good as well. The real treat of this EP is the inclusion of "Specialist", which is as moody and entrancing as any of the album's tracks but does not appear on the album. It makes this single worth buying in and of itself.

While Interpol is about to start working on a second album, their label continues to find ways to repackage the limited number of available songs in various configurations. It's not a bad thing, as any new opportunity to give exposure to Interpol is well deserved.

For over a year now, "Turn the..." has been my favorite cd & I have been eager for new material from Interpol. This release combines the NYC (demo) track (the only unique track on the UK NYC single), an album track (Say Hello to the Angels), and the tracks played on French Radio "Black Sessions". The poor quality of this recording & production is probably the reason behind why "Black Sessions" CD's don't rank up there with radio sessions from the UK (Peel, Radio 1) & US (KCRW). All tracks (except for the album track) have loud popping/crackling & sound as if they were recorded from vinyl. Overall, the tracks sound no better than the ones people taped (from the radio show) & uploaded to the internet shortly after its broadcast. Secondly, the indexing fades & cuts the live tracks individually (one time rather abruptly w/ a "pop" at the end), making it sound rather haphazard. Either including the entire live recording & then indexing the tracks, or using a tape of the radio w/ intros/segueways might have given this more of an EP/ consistent feel. Including the remix of Obstacle 1, the Peel sessions, Kcrw sessions or something else might have made this a more worthwhile stopgap til the next album. Otherwise, the tracks themselves are not played any differently then the album versions. Be forewarned, this CD is Copyright Controlled.