Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 10:31:51 +0100 
     From: Andrew Norman (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) 
     Subject: Re: you've got questions...

The verdict on "Monsters, Robots & Bug Men" - Nine out of ten.  There
are two very long (14 min) tracks by Ui and Godflesh, which should have
been savagely edited or left off - the Ui track is a bit too formless
even for a "post rock" compilation, and the Godflesh one is an example
of how things can go horribly wrong when rock groups try to make
hypnotic repetitive dance records.  It gets boring after about five
minutes, and doesn't get better.  But the rest of the album is
magnificent - much of the American stuff is only available here as
hard-to-find and expensive imports (e.g. Jessamine, Windy & Carl, Bardo
Pond), and as it's split roughly 50/50 between the UK and US there's
probably plenty of stuff on it that Americans can't find easily.  (As
for those of you outside the "special relationship", just buy the thing
if you can find it!).  I'd have liked to have some Main and EAR on the
collection (in place of Ui and Godflesh), but that's a very small fly in
some extremely fine ointment.