Leather Strip – Retrospective – Review

Leather Strip

Retrospective (Cleopatra)
by Chris Best

Leæther Strip has made some damn good music, but I tend to wonder about any band that influences as much as they do. All I can say is that I’m glad this wasn’t a box set. Oh yeah, you think I’m being far-fetched, but look at Journey, they got a box set. OK, they were bigger than Leæther Strip ever was, but the difference is that when people say they haven’t heard of Leæther Strip, they’re not lying out of embarrassment. But truthfully, this CD has eleven classic tracks that probably leave out a lot of your personal favorites but keeps them dance hits coming. Also included are three (damn sharp) bonus tracks, two of which are unreleased. The third is a remix of a song from the brand-spankin’ new album. Brand new album? What’s up with that, you say? Oh, you didn’t. I guess it was me. Why do you do a retrospective when you’re still makin’ new records? I’ll tell you why. Because Claus Larsen probably needs the money. Not many bands that still have some good work left in them will put out retrospectives. To me, it’s bad business sense to release a new album and a greatest hits collection at the same time. Doing so is just begging for rejection. The fans will play it safe with this collection because they know the songs on this one, whereas the new stuff just flat out blows. If you love Leæther Strip, buy this, it won’t kill you.