Anyone who gets visions of powerhouse performances à la
Krupa And Rich (1955) when hearing an album made by multiple drummers can breathe a sigh of relief. True, Lol Tolhurst (
The Cure), Budgie (
Siouxsie and the Banshees) and producer Jackknife Lee do drum heavily - and often tribally - here and there, but that usually serves the song. Or better: of the singer flown in for that song. Because the
… feeling that lingers a bit after listening to Los Angeles is that Bobby Gillespie could also have made songs like This Is What It Is (To Be Free) and Ghosted At Home with his own band Primal Scream, and James Murphy could have made the title track "just" with LCD Soundsystem. Then the two largely instrumental collaborations with The Edge, whom Siouxsie and the Banshees described in 2005 as "a major influence on U2," are a lot more interesting. After Noche Oscura, the three drummers would also have been better off calling it a day, as the thin Skins (again with Murphy) adds nothing more than five minutes to the already generous playing time. (RME)more
