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Album Reviews

Weighing in with 22 songs, one would expect this two-CD compilation of Space remixes and unreleased songs to be far more compelling than it is. Instead, Invasion of the Spiders is a huge disappointment. The 11 remixes that make up disc one do little more than strip away the vocals and plunder along on dated techno and drum'n'bass blips and beats. Only the "Knickers Mix" of "Me & You Vs. the World" really gets things pumping in the right direction, with its humorous repeated vocal sample of "hanging knickers on the line." It's a storming, stomping tropical techno treat, though it's a bit ludicrous that the track that immediately follows is exactly identical except that the "Knickers" sample has been extracted. The unreleased tracks on disc two suffer from different problems. The disc starts off with two radio edits, and that's not a good way to start. Calling radio edits of popular songs "unreleased tracks" is stretching things. The highlight of the entire collection is "Turn Me on to Spiders." It's a disturbing, cabaret-style freakout, punctuated by weird, breathy vocals and twisted lyrics such as "She's scared of the spiders, and she's scared of the dark/If anybody comes near me, she'll cut their balls off," and "The universe couldn't handle her ego." The song is sinister good fun, foreshadowing some of the wicked frivolity of Tin Planet. "Rejects," "Crisis," "Children of the Night," and "Influenza" are also somewhat interesting, but they come across like extremely early demos and suffer from poor production. Invasion of the Spiders will be of interest to only the most die-hard Space fans. Others need not apply. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Music Guide