Originally recorded by diva Eartha Kitt in 1953, Giant Jr (David and Jyl) have brought the song right up to date with this re-working. Perhaps a month or two late in its release, ‘I Want To Be Evil,’ is one of those tracks that should have been destined to be the soundtrack of many holiday-makers’ summer. As with everything Eartha Kitt, this is a rather kitsch song, and not meant to be taken too seriously. That’s kitsch bordering on ‘camp’ – but no less fun for it.
There are three versions of the song on this release (Two remixes of a remix. This is all a bit surreal). The Spencer & Hill Remix and The Young Punx Remix are good enough, but as in so many cases do not offer any improvement to the original edit, which has a summery feel to it and seems to draw influence from The Sabres Of Paradise’s ‘Wilmot’, of several years ago. There is even an Eastern influence surfacing towards the end, with the incorporation of what sounds like a sitar breakdown.
The final track, ‘Iced Rats’, is set to a drum and bass beat and just as you start thinking that it could easily be a re-mixed James Bond theme, a theremin-sounding wail surfaces. Zoikes! Is it a reworking of a Scooby Doo theme tune then? Who knows?
If nothing else, you really need to check out the video for ‘I Want To Be Evil,’ either on the band’s MySpace page, or through You Tube. Barbie dolls in compromising positions. That’s all I will say!