Reviews
Album review: Body Count – Merciless
Ice-T’s crew Body Count return to reassert their radical rap-metal prowess.
Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour – who stars on this new version – calls Body Count’s Comfortably Numb update “quite radical, but the words really struck me”.
Body Count have covered Pink Floyd classic Comfortably Numb – with David Gilmour himself.
Ice-T and co. have dropped an updated version of the iconic 1979 single, with Ice calling Body Count’s 2024 take “an introspective song – it’s me acknowledging that I’m older now. I’m telling the younger generation, you’ve got two choices: you can keep the fire burning or you can give up. It’s me trying to make sense of what’s happening, but also pointing out that we’re all in a place where we don’t have to face reality. We’ve got flat-screen TVs and popcorn, and we can just sit back and watch the chaos of the world like it’s a TV show. It doesn’t feel real until it shows up at your door. I’m a little numb, too – we all are.”
“Body Count’s version of Comfortably Numb is quite radical, but the words really struck me,” adds David Gilmour. “It astonishes me that a tune I wrote almost 50 years ago is back with this great new approach. They’ve made it relevant again. The initial contact from Ice-T was for permission to use the song, but I thought I might offer to play on it as well. I like the new lyrics, they’re talking about the world we’re living in now, which is quite scary. Ice-T and Body Count played in London recently, sadly I couldn't make it, but if another opportunity came up to play with them, I’d jump at it.”
Well… watch this space for that, we hope. Along with the Comfortably Numb cover, Body Count have also revealed that their new record Merciless will come out on November 22 via Century Media. What a day!