Alpha - Pepper FLAC

PEPPER collects various b-sides and remixes off of Alpha's underrated debut album COME FROM HEAVEN. While Trevor Jackson's Underdog moniker takes a dub approach (with compeltely unnecessary added lyrics), the album is more appropriately represented by the More Rockers mix of "Hazeldub," which speed things up to an light drum 'n' bass rhythm. The new track, "Honey," keeps the speed going, but without the personality of the original album. Maybe that's why it's a b-side. The Tim Simenon mix of "Sometime Later," on the brighter side, transforms the song into an almost ambient outer-space drift. The Underdog comes back with a dark and aggressive mix of "Slim" that makes up for their earlier effort, while Receiver counteracts this by taking "Firefly" into lugubrious territory. As for the final two new tracks, "Pepper" starts off sounding like the album track "Delaney," but veers into more of a soundscape, while "Over" could have easily have appeared on the original album. Overall, a nice companion to the original, though obviously not as solid.