Spacehog: The Hogyssey : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Ever since their initial entry into the treacherous biosphere known as the Manhattan club scene, Spacehog have made a virtue out of being absolutely preposterous. The fact that snotty glam-rock epics out of the Queen/Ziggy-era Bowie school were not exactly prized in circa-'95 New York bothered these four ex-Leeds residents not a whit, and with the help of vocalist Royston Langdon's mile-wide vibrato and good taste in feather boas and platform heels, they created something of a market for such retro stylings. It didn't hurt that they also had some great tunes, like "In the Meantime" and "Zero." Sadly, the memorable melody index has decreased on this, their third album; songs like "This Is America" (just what we need, another British expat's empty musings on the state of the States) and the title track, a woeful white-funk rearrangement of Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (didn't Deodato have the same idea almost thirty years ago?), go beyond camp into the realm of the truly embarrassing. Yet several cuts -- "Jupiter's Moon," "Perpetual Drag," "At Least I Got Laid" -- justify the bombast with irresistible choruses, indicating that given the right material, the 'Hog can still snort with the best of 'em. (MAC RANDALL -- April 10, 2001)