Ben Lee - Catch MyDisease EP

Sun 5th Jun, 2005 in Music Reviews

‘They don’t play me on the radio, but that’s the way I like it’, Ben Lee sings on Catch My Disease.  He’s going to have to get used to hearing himself on the radio pretty damn quick, as this single is a crossover hit the likes of which he hasn’t experienced since Cigarettes Will Kill You back in 1998.  Currently all over radio and joining the album Awake Is The New Sleep around the pointy end of the ARIA charts, it is unlikely that you’ve escaped this song over the last few weeks.

So I’m going to concentrate on the b-sides.  The package is worth the price for the cover of Modest Mouse’s Float On alone.  Gone are the jangly guitars which marked the original, instead Lee’s version concentrates on his voice, acoustic guitar and some ethereal keyboard lines.  Live versions of No Right Angles and Something Borrowed, Something Blue from 2003s Hey You, Yes You are also included, as is a demo of Catch My Disease and the truly lovely video for Gamble Everything for Love.  It all amounts to a must have EP for Lee fans, oh hell- for everyone.  It’s a truly sublime piece of guitar pop.  And that’s the way I like it.