Fabriclive.33

AMG Review of Fabriclive.33

John Bush
All Music Guide

"These are the songs they always play," says the uncredited voice at the beginning, and that says it pretty well. As an evocation of the three- or four-person Spank Rock's party-hard aesthetic, Fabriclive.33 can hardly be topped. But the kind of mix date that may sound incredible on the dancefloor is going to come with a few caveats when it's studded with innumerable songs that have already enjoyed a long shelf life before Spank Rock first put them on the decks, songs like Yello's "Bostich," "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight" by Dominatrix, Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks," Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart," Mylo's "Drop the Pressure," the Contours' "Do You Love Me," and the Romantics' "Talking in Your Sleep" (to name seven). The occasional raps by Amanda Blank and Naeem Juwan make things a little better than the sum of their parts, but Spank Rock sounded much more original on their debut album than they do here.