September 6, 2005

Being in a hurry in the morning often leads me to make some odd choices, when I pick the CD’s to bring along with me in the car.
The other day I picked the compilation Dancing in the Rain by Dutch band The Essence, which I believe has been in my collection for 7-8 years. I originally received it as a gift, but nonetheless (as the ungrateful bastard I am) I have never really bothered listening to it. But the past couple of days it has been my "companion" in the car and I've finally given it a proper listen.
Looking at the photo on the cover you expect some kind of gothic inspired music (on the webpage they do describe themselves as an alternative, gothic rock/popband), but to be honest, to me this is just one of those typical 80’s bands, where the lead singer sounds like Robert Smith and the bass player more than once is trying to copy Peter Hook.
Sarcasm and criticism aside, their music is really not bad at all. It is by no mean groundbreaking stuff and I could easily quote myself by writing that this is not very innovative. But the music is definitely not without charm and several songs (e.g. Out of Grace, Only For You, The Cat and what probably was their biggest hit A Mirage) are very, very catchy.

Only For You (the fiesta mix) (MP3)

The original mix of Only For You is much better than this remix (especially the The Cure inspired guitars are missing), but this version can legally be downloaded from the official homepage and after all, it should give you an idea of what the band sounded like!

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