i finally got around to checking out Push the Button tonight and it managed to remind me just why i kinda fell off the Chems awhile ago. see, i used to really, really, really love these guys... but not quite when the rest of America was falling for them (i.e. the electronic invasion of '96-'97). i liked them then too, but i really didn't become obsessive about them until they dropped Surrender in 1999. now that was a jaw-dropping techno album that i immediately fell in love with, everything just totally worked for me on that one. from the psych-pop of "Let Forever Be" to the 1984ish robot rock of "Music: Response" to the Bernard Sumner guesting "Out of Control" - i loved it all from start to finish. i used to come home from the bars with my (semi-) roommate Gary and just blast the hell out of it while he smoked more pot than could have been good for any human being. i suppose us sitting on our asses was just about the pure opposite of what we should have been doing to this album, but that was when i enjoyed it the most. and i'll never forget the first time i heard that airplane sound effect come in with my huge speakers cranked, i thought my apartment complex was about to get bombed. after months of listening to that album religiously, i kinda drifted away from it and into other musical interests. i kinda forgot about the guys until i ran into both the "Star Guitar" and "It Began in Afrika" singles at Tower late one night and decided to snag them both. i drove around for awhile listening to them over and over, but felt amazingly underwhelmed by what i heard. so underwhelmed, in fact, that i never even bothered to pick up Come With Us when it dropped. and, much like before, i promptly blanked out on the Chemical Brothers. fast forward to fall of 2003 when i hear "The Golden Path" on the radio and start to remember all the good times Tom, Ed, and i used to share. with a quickness i went out and snagged Singles 93-03, just because i'm a completist dork like that and just HAD to get the bonus rarities disc. and i listened to that once or twice, but just never really felt that much of a connection with it like i used to have. so it was almost out of a sense of duty that i finally got around to listening to this one, and i think my recent feelings of "meh" were fairly justified. other than a few tracks, specifically "Surface to Air" and "Hold Tight London", there really wasn't a lot to excite me. maybe it will grow on me, maybe not... but given my past history with the Brothers Chemical - it will be a short-lived affair with Push the Button and i will spend the time remembering how much fun we used to have with Surrender.
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