Here we have five of Roses in the Hospital. There's no denying, that's a lot of remixes of any one song. The song itself is a great one. Over the years I came to love Gold Against the Soul. It didn't have so much to offer when I first heard it, but there are some great songs. One of the greatest things about it is that it contains some of James Dean Bradfield's best vocals - somehow everything was right for that record him to really belt the lyrics out.
Roses in the Hospital is certainly one of the highlights for both those reasons - it's a great song and James sounds excellent (and that drum-only section before the outro is excellent - it feels like a precursor to the incredible outro to A Design For Life). One of the things that really comes through when you hear five remixes of the same song is just how good his vocals are. These mixes strip away a lot of the rest of the song, so what you're left with is some fragments of the song, a very 90's sounding, semi-hip-hop beat and James' vocals over the top (although the first version does call out the whistling at the end, which is great). I shouldn't really complain that it sounds dated - this record is over 20 years old - but they all sound an awful lot like House of Pain. Of the five, the first and fifth remixes are the most enjoyable, but after all of them it is a welcome relief to hear the album version.
It was probably pretty forward-thinking back in the day for a rock band to put a bunch of remixes on a single, so you certainly can't knock them for trying.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £6 second-hand
Bought: Lancaster market record stall
When: 19/02/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
