CARCASS - Choice Cuts
June 11, 2004, 20 years ago
(Earache)
Originally slated for a 1999 release, this retrospective disc is finally seeing the light of day now, delayed due to drummer Ken Owen's serious illnesses of the past few years. Choice Cuts (don't confuse it with the Impaled album of the same name!) collects material from the band's five studio albums (two songs each from all except the mighty Heartwork, which is represented here by three tunes). Also, the title track from the killer Tools Of The Trade EP shows up, as does kinda-rarity 'This Is Your Life' from the Heartwork EP. The disc ends off with eight live tracks from John Peel's Peel Sessions (four from '89, four from '90), which are fun but wholly representative of the band's early, crusty, formative years; some later-era rare stuff woulda tickled me pickle better, but there's always the admirable Wake Up And Smell The Carcass compilation from several years back for that. If you're a fan, you probably have all this already, save for the liner notes of Owen and rare band pics. So as a retrospect, it's fun, but not mandatory purchasing. As a band, damn it, Carcass were one of the best, and Choice Cuts serves as a pleasant reminder of that.
