Gravity Drops

I'm still formulating a longer form review for the album (it might never come to be honest, I'm just straight up enjoying the album over and over and letting it all settle into my pores) BUT I wanted to chime in about this little tune.

I was pretty hyped about this track in the run up to the album. Based on the title alone.
The first listen was underwhelming, and honestly that's my own fault. But it's fast becoming a top moment on the album for me.

Also, with all the talk of it being just a 'B Side' - I have to stand up and point out that a lot of Chemical B sides are some of their best work. I was listening to a bunch the other day (Flashback, Scale, Power Move, Hot Acid Rhythm 1) and it occurred to me, if any of these were on an album now, we'd be raving about how good they are. But a few people are putting Gravity Drops down for it sounding like a b side...

I just wanted to defend it a little. I LOVE the vocal sample. It really, really works in the track. And when those square wave arpeggios come in at 0:39... it's a tiny burst of magic.

This track actually reminds of some of the noises/feel of the later Plump DJs/Drumattic Twins stuff on Finger Lickin' - Rocket Soul, Snake Eyes, Pick Me Up Baby.

Also, with all the talk of it being just a 'B Side' - I have to stand up and point out that a lot of Chemical B sides are some of their best work. I was listening to a bunch the other day (Flashback, Scale, Power Move, Hot Acid Rhythm 1) and it occurred to me, if any of these were on an album now, we'd be raving about how good they are. But a few people are putting Gravity Drops down for it sounding like a b side...

Exactly! How many times have we heard a great B side and wondered why in the world it was left off of the album?? I feel like if Gravity Drops had been released as a B side, many of us would be asking that question again.

Definitely a song that is much greater than the sum of it's parts. It sounds like it would be easy to write, but the way it all fits together brings magic out of those arpeggios and the vocal. I find those arpeggios in particular incredibly warm and "feel good". I love melancholic sounds, and introspective tracks, so it really works for me. Also those sounds towards the end sound very much like sounds in EPD/DYOH but without being a rehash. Love it.

I've already said I love this track but also realised deeper why I like it and its cause it reminds me of that 'Freestyle' jamming experimentation with beats on like DYOH but in a new modern style I guess you could say. And at that 3:30 mark where the warped sample jams in with the beats all of a sudden is chemical twist/trademark to it.

Yes, back in the Dig Your Own Hole or Surrender days, a track like this would have been a b-side. And b-sides from them always sound different to the album tracks (except for maybe Studio K which could have been easily on Surrender somewhere).
But then, this makes me think: why have they released this on the album and not as a b-side? They have released 4 "singles", if you can say that releasing a music video for a track is equatable with releasing a single (ok, Free Yourself got some remixes and the EBW version of MAH) but none of these had a proper b-side. Is the time for b-sides over? The last single that had a b-side was The Salmon Dance (12 years ago!). After that, there where only album special editions with bonus tracks (Don't Think, Pourquoi, Direct Buki, Wo-Ha, Let Us Build A City), album re-releases with bonus tracks (C.H.E.M.I.C.A.L.) or non-album/compilation tracks (Theme For Velodrome, This Is Not A Game). Long story short => i want back my b-sides  (and a new EP like Loops Of Fury, bust mostly it's the b-sides)

Just for your information, so you don't have to take a look: Dig Your Own Hole got 5 b-sides on 4 singles (11 album tracks), Surrender got 6 b-sides on 5 singles (11 album tracks), No Geography got 0 b-sides on 4 singles (10 album tracks)

i don't think studio k would fit on surrender, really. that album makes sense and studio k wouldn't make sense in it. (where would you put it? enjoyed and studio k are like fantai and ebw6: tunes!, but not narrative album tracks..not _songs_)

for me gravity drops is just totally necessary between GTKO and TUSM, so why wouldn't it be on the album? it's a song more than a tune and it fits. i think hot acid rhythm would have made a solid track on CWU right after the state we're in if it didn't fade into denmark..

Is the time for b-sides over?

Yep.

(ok, Free Yourself got some remixes and the EBW version of MAH)

Don't forget GTKO has 2 remixes as well.
I'd love to see Eve of Destruction get a release and ALL the parts (new and old) given to someone like Ewan Pearson or Erol Alkan to do an epic reconstruction of the track.

  Long story short => i want back my b-sides  (and a new EP like Loops Of Fury, bust mostly it's the b-sides)

Perhaps we have to hunt things down in DJ mixes instead, like that Clapham Percussion Ensemble track, and maybe the Nasty Xylophone track. Wouldn't it be fun if tracks like that got released on some sort of "dancefloor friendly EP" maybe even under one of the pseudonyms like the CPE or Bonus Beats Orchestra. Four tracks per EP. Just tracks for the dancefloor which wouldn't fit on the album or be appropriate for single release. So you could get stuff like Here Come The Drums/Papal Disco etc out. I think I've come up with a great idea here. When's the next "Ask Tom" session folks?

Damn I still wonder why The "Not another Drugstore" was left out to became the b-side

Damn I still wonder why The "Not another Drugstore" was left out to became the b-side

I still believe Not Another Drugstore should have opened Dig Your Own Hole with Block Rockin' Beats as track 2.

I think this is currently my favorite track, granted I’m used to the four that have been out. I first thought it’s punchy drums mixed with ambient noises sounded a little like My Mercury Mouth, but this song is really it’s own thing. Love the flanging effects used here and elsewhere on the album, the Aphex-like break is great. I really hope they play this live.

And b-sides from them always sound different to the album tracks (except for maybe Studio K which could have been easily on Surrender somewhere).

Immediately after “The Sunshine Underground”, because it’s just the “Sunshine Underground” rhythm track with some extra effects?
idk this seems like a weird B-side to single out as album-worthy to me
Like lest we forget that “Acid Children” is technically a “Galvanize” B-side (and also not formally called “Acid Children”, but, you know)

Gravity Drops is what Wo Ha wants to be

Gravity Drops is what Wo Ha wants to be

Wo Ha makes more sense as an NG b-side than a BITE one too

Gravity Drops is what Wo Ha wants to be

I really, really dislike Who Ha. I actually like Gravity Drops and serves its purpose as the breather track for the album. I'll take Gravity Drops over most of Born In The Echoes.

Gravity Drops is what Wo Ha wants to be

Very interesting! Mine was Gravity Drops is what 'Let us build a City' wants to be!

Yep.

I miss buying singles with b-sides, I always looked forward to buying The Chemical Brothers singles. I guess nowadays we have them releasing 'bonus' tracks on album releases which serve the same purpose.

Hopefully we'll get Fantai and the other Japanese exclusives officially available in the UK.

Back OT, for me Gravity Drops is my least favourite song on the album, I still like it though...

Gravity Drops is Harpoons with Megalomania.

i don't think studio k would fit on surrender, really. that album makes sense and studio k wouldn't make sense in it. (where would you put it? enjoyed and studio k are like fantai and ebw6: tunes!, but not narrative album tracks..not _songs_)

for me gravity drops is just totally necessary between GTKO and TUSM, so why wouldn't it be on the album? it's a song more than a tune and it fits. i think hot acid rhythm would have made a solid track on CWU right after the state we're in if it didn't fade into denmark..

Agree with everything here. If you’re listening to this album as a whole, you need this song between Got To Keep On and The Universe Sent Me. It’s good to have some breathing space on an album.