"There's no denying that the Subhumans were a great band, but each of the three full-length albums they released contained a bit of filler, which kind of makes you wonder about the songs that were left off of them. Well, some (maybe most) of these songs were left off of prior releases, and some of them [are lousy] ... musically, at least.
The album gets off to a great start with "Somebody's Mother," hands down one of the ten best songs they ever wrote. Amazing riff, and great melody. The third track, "Walls Of Silence," has backing vocals reminiscent of earlier songs like "Get To Work On Time," and a great bassline.
The more I think about it, the only real problem with 29:29 Split Vision is the last three songs, which combine for half the album's length. The song "Worlds Apart" is half the length of their sixteen minute epic "From The Cradle To The Grave," but nowhere near as musically fascinating. It's unquestionably their worst primarily-reggae song. "New Boy" is a disjointed mess, and the closer, "Time Flies..." is really boring.
But when it comes down to it, it's a Subhumans release. That means it has great, thought-provoking lyrics, courtesy of Dick Lukas. He really excels at singing slowly here, even if the band doesn't. Bruce, the guitarist, tends to stay away from both the gleefully atonal string bending prominent on earlier releases as well as the technically proficient guitar work found on Worlds Apart. (The album, not the song found here.)
Overall, if you're a fan it's worth getting, mainly because the first five songs vary in quality from great to good. Feel free to skip the last three, though."
SUB HUM ANS
Richie Dagger | hell | 03/29/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"this album is really good because im a subhumans fan and i have all of their albums and i like all their stuff. if youre getting into them dont buy this cd, get any other album by them specially EP-LP, the day the country died, and from the cradle to the grave to start out because theyre good musically and they have good lyrics. then move on to this and worlds apart which has some ska-like songs. then get Citizen Fish albums (citizen fish is 3 guys from subhumans but theyre mostly a ska band)cos theyre alot like subhumans and theyre cool too. once again, this cd is gonna be weird for you if you havent heard very much subhumans but if youre a true fan you'll appreciate it"
Real Music
steve.lohja@modagrafics.com | Chicago | 07/15/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the lightest cd they came up with, your ears will ring moderately. I'm impressed with his ability to sing a little slowly in this one."
Has inspirational lyrics and damn good music to back them up
08/24/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The subhumans do it again with this one. What I mean by that is that they put out another awesome record. In this cd the music is not as hardcore as the rest of them. But, with Dick bustin his rythmes and Trotsky keepin the beat, it comes out in a premium blend of punk."