Sugarcubes "Walkabout"

As you might have guessed, this single starts with "Walkabout", undoubtedly the best track from The 'Cubes' third album "Stick around for joy". Then it goes on with a freaked out Icelandic punk-track, named "Stone drill in the rock", where the band's going wild in the studio. It reminds me a bit of "Cowboy" from "Life's too good" or "Shoot him" from "Here today tomorrow next week". The biggest difference is probably the organ that has replaced many of the guitar-sounds. Einar is screaming a lot of nonsense as usual. "Stone drill in the rock" is a lot less professional than "Cowboy" or "Shoot him". They probably wrote it while recording it in the studio. A bit too freaky for me....

The single's two remaining tracks are both interesting 'cause they show us what Sugarcubes' fourth studio-album probably would have sounded like if there had been one. The first one's a pretty cool cover of The Carpenters' "Top of the world" with just drums, bass, Björk's voice, a few keyboard-effects and an incomprehensible rap-solo from Einar. Then it goes on with one of the band's own songs. It's called "Bravo pop" and except from the hideous title there aren't much to complain about. It's a further development of the typical "Stick around for joy"-ish standard. "Bravo pop" is a bit slower, more synthetic and a lot more harmonic than every song on "Stick around for joy". Björk is singing a melody that reminds me a bit of the single's title-track "Walkabout" and she's backed up by Einar. Both "Top of the world" and "Bravo pop" are probably as far as The 'Cubes ever got from Icelandic punk, but they're probably a bit too complicated to be categorized as commercial pop. I think "Stick around for joy" would have been a much better album if it contained these two tracks. If you ever find this single (probably in a second-hand-store) then buy it. Unless you're an Icelandic punk-fanatic, you'll love it, trust me!