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Published: 23 January 2005

The King of all Shock Rockers – Marilyn Manson, finally releases a ‘Greatest Hits’. When musicians like Marilyn Manson put out a Best Of, fans would think… a) He’s too lazy to write new songs; or b) He’s retiring. Let’s hope he’s not tired of the game, yet. Through ‘Lest We Forget – The Best Of’, we can see how Marilyn Manson transform himself “complaining about life, encouraging drugs and sex” to an icon. For the die-hearted fans, don’t be disappointed if your favorite tracks are not in this (‘1996’, ‘Cake and Sodomy’, ‘Irresponsible Hate Anthem’). For new fans, get to be obsessed with pieces like ‘Lunchbox’, ‘The Beautiful People’, and probably one of the best cover of ‘Sweet Dreams’. He declares, “God is in the T.V.”, “Live fast and die fast too” and “Hate every motherf**ker that's in your way”. He did things that no one else would even think about doing; he is outrageous, unique, controversial and incomparable. Just a glance through his lyrics, the words already shout louder than the music itself. From this ‘Best Of’, you can sense the ever changing creativity of Marilyn Manson and his band. There’s been time when the typical MM style was going to the beat-oriented direction, letting down quite some old fans, but attracting lots of new grunge teens to his tribe. Therefore this Greatest Hits becomes the Greatest chance for fans from the beginning to reminisce the good old times when he’s not commercial.

This is just a tip of the ice burg of Marilyn Manson’s career, with music done from 1994 – 2004. This collection is a great way to introduce his darkness to those who are not fond of, or hasn’t even heard of him, a taste of the ‘mOBSCENE’. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that you can put so much imagination and effort and power onto just one tiny little CD. All that instruments, all that heaviness, all that evilness, all that influence… you can feel the religion, from this… little compact disc. Great musicians do have that ability to roar, from the studio to your brain. So be careful when you put ‘Lest We Forget’ on, you might either get hooked, or you might crave for more. For the full package of experience, I highly recommend you to get the bonus DVD. You ain’t seen nothing of Marilyn Manson if you haven’t seen the images (video/performance).

Rating : 4/5

Review By: Alyson Hau

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Published: 23 January 2005

So afterall, lead singer Deryck is not engaged to Avril Lavigne, but his own band, as ‘Chuck’ certainly sounds ever so committed by the whole band of Sum41. The album is named after the man who saved their lives while filming a documentary in he Democratic Republic of the Congo with War child Canada. This experience, to Biz, Cone, Stevo and Dave, was a chance to see what it’s like to be caught up in the battle zone, and apparently, this album proves that Sum41 is now fully grown, both mentally and musically.

Compared to ‘All Killers, No Fillers’ and ‘Does This Look Infected’, Sum41 is now less kiddish punk, less goofy around, but more challenging, and more edgy. The band revealed earlier that they just made this little demo and showed it to their manager and a few more people at their record label, and everyone who heard that song was like, “That’s the best song on the record.”, and eventually, ending being one of the hottest singles, it was ‘We’re All To Blame’. If you’re still confused between Linkin Park and Good Charlottle and Sum41, your problem will be fixed as soon as you get onto the second track on this album. The beginning of ‘No Reason’, frankly, was very similar to Linkin Park, with Sum41’s “How can we fake this anymore” to LP’s “I cannot take this anymore”. However as we proceed, there’s a certain rawness in Sum41 which makes them more unique than any of the other bands. It’s the realness of the band which makes them more sincere and less careful. And it’s that, which gets into the fans’ hearts.

More on other tracks, ‘Pieces’ has been a highly anticipated single from ‘Chuck’, and the good thing is, it IS a single now. It is nothing like ‘Fat Lip’ or ‘In Too Deep’, this is pure and truthful, nothing over-the-top. It’s sensitive, but not sentimental. As Steve mentioned before, they just want it to be smart and clever, that’s why they’re having a lot of trouble with the song. Reason? Steve humbly said, “Coz we’re not smart and clever.” Seems to work for the people though, coz ‘Pieces’ was the most added song on Alternative Radio stations, and it has been selected as one of the fans fav. For those who didn’t think Sum41 could make it this far, it’s time to think again.

Rating : 4/5

Review By: Alyson Hau

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Published: 20 January 2005

HKClubbing.com was in HK magazine today through an interview with the magazine about what the site believes are the trends in Hong Kong's clubbing community and how the scene will develop in 2005.

Check out the article we hope to have a copy online soon!