Cabaret Voltaire : Classic Or Dud/Search and Destroy

I wouldn't destroy The Crackdown, but it was quite a disappointment at the time. Going back to the earlier "industrial" records was actually far more interesting, though I could really only take them in small doses. "Yashar" was great. Red Mecca and Three Mantras were spooky and I didn't really understand them, but I liked them all the same. For some reason my favourite early cabs bit was their cover of "No Escape" on mix-up, but that's due to my need at the time for some sort of melody to really latch onto a song, and probably the same reason I glommed onto "Hamburger Lady" by Throbbing Gristle...another project that hasn't really aged well.

To state that this stuff was unimportant, however, is missing the mark. Both Gristle and the Cabs pushed the boundaries of sound, and Cabaret Voltaire, in particular, brought in a lot of outside influences and tonalities that made it more interesting to my ears: dub, Eastern tonalities and sounds, funk. And by the time the Cabs hit their Virgin years and went electronic, they laid the foundation for a new generation of techno artists who wanted to go past the very minimalist Kraftwerk influence into something a bit more complicated, yet melodic. That's why it was such a disappointment when the Cabs tapered off through Code and Groovy, Laidback and Nasty, sounding more and more like the people they'd influenced. The later period stuff (notably the Conversation) was a bit of a renaissance, but also a bit too little too late.

In the end, my classic period is their Some Bizarre/Virgin years, which probably are their more listenable to modern ears, while still having some semblance of influence. Props to the earlier material, though.

i much prefer Crackdown over The Arm .. against Microphonies i aint so sure, but for me it was all about the 3 Virgin albums (and Code to a certain degree) as all are still very worthy of love.

why they never reissued Drinking Gasoline in a standalone package i have no idea (do you know Dan?).. i realise that the tracks are available elsewhere (extras on Micorphones cd issue etc), but the artwork was excellent.

the day i traded in that double 12" was the day i officially lost my fucking marbles.

Richard Kirk's third solo album, Black Jesus Voice is in the same mode...brutal electro-funk. Ugly Spirit which came out around the same time is a more experimental, less funky version.

I've never heard Disposable Half-Truths and never got that into Time High Fiction, which came out around the same time as the Crackdown, or at least has similar art. I need to listen to that again.

But I love Sweet Exorcist, Virtual State, the Sandoz stuff, etc as well.

"Three Mantras" is really great, bit hard to find tho. Puts their early stuff in a v nice context, kinda a key to how they got here from there

They are crazily dated, but I'm not sure "timeless appeal" was a goal of theirs, and a) people're still listening, b) they were pretty clearly tied to their times, politically most obv, they have SOUNDED like they were trying to be futuristic but maybe that was just context? They sound awfully like they just wanted to be an acknowledgement of various underappreciated strains of music etc to me right now

Oh I think they were trying to be futuristic, sure. And I think they succeeded in the sense that they were innovators. That doesn't mean they didn't do some stuff that sounds dated now.

BTW, this must be the only Cabs thread I have not yet posted on.

They sound awfully like they just wanted to be an acknowledgement of various underappreciated strains of music etc

What does this mean?

the fools game/eddie's out 12" was totally their peak

I can't remember that one, I used to have all their stuff, what was the cover?

It was after 2 x 45 but before they signed to Some Bizarre, which was when the whole sound changed radically (audible vox/lyrics - we hardcores blamed Stevo at the time). It had a black and white cover with the words "FOOLS GAME" in spray paint. I note from a GIS that it's actually "Fools Game/Gut Level" but I think one of the two was subtitled "Eddie's Out Pt. 2" or soemthing.

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/105085.jpg

that goddamn record changed my life I tell you wot

Yeah, I remember the cover but I don't remember the rekkid!

Yeah that was one of the few things by them I was seriously underwhelmed by when I bought it.

"Sensoria" rules. I need to hear much much more.

to me that's kinda the end of the band - I don't like Crackdown, think Sensoria is OK and after that they're behind the times instead of ahead of them - where there was only really them doing stuff like 2x45 or the Fools Game 12", there were plenty of bands doing slightly "out" dance music, and doing it much better

OTM

Fool's Game was on Crepuscule, right? It's on the Crepuscule Tracks compilations.

Anyway, there's some dated stuff, but mostly I'd say timeless, I can pick out tracks from most of their periods and suggest that they'd be impossible to date.

I do like them into the 80s but at some point Richard Kirk was doing better stuff solo, from the 80s electro solo records to Sweet Exorcist and Sandoz. By 90 or whatever the Cabs may have been slipping through the cracks, but Kirk was still an innovative force in underground electronic and dance music.

They were futuristic but also retro....some of those early Rough Trade acts sound like they're from 1,000 years ago, but were coming out at the same time as some glossy stuff...they were using broken drum machines and distorted farfisas when others were already using fairlights. I don't see how that can date them to that time. If anything, it makes their music sound more archaic then it really is, and thus, harder to place.

they were using broken drum machines and distorted farfisas when others were already using fairlights

I imagine that's all they could afford at the time!

They covered the Seeds didn't they? The garage and psychedelic sound is as important to the early music as clean electronic stuff. They did something very fresh with synths outside the usual machine-music expectation of what 'futuristic' sounds like. The Fall also did a similar mirror-image psychedelia thing.

they were using broken drum machines and distorted farfisas when others were already using fairlights. I don't see how that can date them to that time.

a friend of mine gave me a tape with some unlabeled tracks, one of them being cab voltaire's "on every other street". it was pretty easy to peg as late 70s/early 80s british postpunk.

WE ARE INHUMAN
WE LIKE THIS BEAT
WE ARE LIKE ROBOTS
INNIT A TREAT

I mean that kinda shit only came from one time and place.

sometimes I think timeless is just shorthand for "I really really like this band."

I don't know...they were doing those sounds since 75, they defined many aspects of that. When I heard that period Cabs I hear the BBC radiophonic stuff, krautrock, garage rock and other signifiers.

they were doing those sounds since 75, they defined many aspects of that.

so if they epitomized a sound that became associated with a certain time and place, wouldn't that make them sound dated?

Dated, schmated, their use of degraded and found recordings has lasted far better than than squeeky-clean 80s synth-poppery that gets so much love here IMHO.

Of their post Crackdown records, Code is rather good.

so if they epitomized a sound that became associated with a certain time and place, wouldn't that make them sound dated?

only if that sound makes you cringe in it's inability to sound fresh at any other time.

So is the _Listen Up_ odds and sods comp "essential" as Trouser Press says or more of a mixed bag like Allmusic indicates? I'm much more a fan of the poppier Virgin period.

god i love this band

what's the consensus on HAI? i like that album, played a track from it early on in my dj set last night.

Mr. Odd, if you like Crackdown and Microphonies you will surely love Listen Up. It has resisted being sold out of my CD collection for 15 years now. Lots of previously unreleased or video-only tracks as well.

Crackdown's probably their best... it's like they're the masters of dark, weird funky electronic dance. I guess it sounds dated if you were old enough to have memories from the early 80s.

They are one of my fave bands/duos/artists in the history of the entire world. Please talk to me about them.

Oh never mind: I will construct a POX of them that will help me and probably most anyone else who would bother reading about how Bimble loves Cabaret Voltaire now and forever until the end of time. They make me so happy. I don't even want to get started on the Crackdown album right now.

I fucking love Cabaret Voltaire okay and I have the BBC Sessions 84-86 now so the heavens love me.

I am currently listening to "You Like To Torment Me" (Long Session)

These guys were the fucking shit and I don't care what your tastes are. If you don't like Cabaret Voltaire, then I hope you like some other fave band of mine, because we've got basic problems already.

I'm still baffled that they don't get more respect. 'Live YMCA' is a particular favorite - one of the most brilliantly screwed-up recordings ever, constantly teetering on the edge of falling apart. And there are quite a few other singles by other bands that I like as much as 'Nag, Nag, Nag', but I really can't think of any that I actually like more.

I am shocked that Bimble likes this band from the 80s

Zing!

Yes I just got Live YMCA recently, actually. Only played it once so far. I'm going to put it on again as soon as I finish listening to John Cale's cover of LCD Sounsystem's "All My Friends" which seems to me came out nearly exactly a year ago. I'm sure it was. May of '07

Also was going to revive a Velvets thread very soon.

And yes I'm afraid I remain woefully ignorant of the Mountain Goats, Mr. John D. Though I recall hearing some good things from whatever was the first 4AD release.

I should probably check out that Heretic Pride.

Velvets count as 80s because nobody liked them in the 70s LOL

as I say upthread, possibly in some other alias, Cabaret Voltaire was one of my favorite bands. I do think they've aged badly - a lot of their stuff sounds good if you liked it at the time, but if you play it for people who haven't heard it, it's kind of like trying to explain what was ever good about cassettes. You know? I still think the Fools Game/Gut Level 12" is their peak - hits the spot just right. A lot of the other stuff sounds kinda proof-of-concept to me now, which makes me sad to say - I mean, when they were around, my friends and I thought pretty highly of ourselves for "appreciating" the Cabs.

Oh no I disagree! The Fools Game 12" I sold! Sorry! :(

Anyway look, right now I am not really believing that there is a live version of "On Every Other Street" on this YMCA 1979 thing, because I am due for an orgasm whenever that song comes on. Holy hell.

They were the sythesizer ANTI-JAMES BROWN man. They were the dirty funk (gunk) on the sole of your shoes that you were too embarrassed to wipe away.

There may be some truth in what you say about trying to explain it to people who haven't heard it, though.

NAG NAG NAG!!!!!!!

xpost- I dunno, I'm only 24 and Cabaret Voltaire (at least the early stuff. I haven't heard anything past Red Mecca) sounds GREAT to my ears. Sorta like Chrome in that they sound like music played by really shitty robots, like if you'd buried an early prototype of Kraftwerk in toxic sludge, then accidentally uncovered them two hundred years later and OH SHIT THEY'RE STILL ALIVE WHAT AN UNSPEAKABLY HORRIBLE EXISTENCE

No mention of 'Voice of America', the Cabs first LP?

No! Mix-up is the first LP.

btw my single trip to Kew Gardens was a wonderful day for me, a Watson sound installation in the palm house sounds just sublime.

never heard fools game before.

love it.

as this is the era of CV i love, i really regret not getting the conform to deform boxset now.

No mention of 'Voice of America', the Cabs first LP?

No! Mix-up is the first LP.

And "Voice of America" is actually their 3rd LP! Arguably their 4th if "Three Mantras" is considered an album.

I consider "Three Mantras" an EP. A really long one, in the style of the day! But still an EP.

Love aero's story upthread, sort of reminds me of the Alfred Molina scene in Boogie Nights, wonder how that would play with 'Gut Level' replacing 'Sister Christian'.

What's the latest on the reissues? I just realized it's my man Bill Nelson playing guitar on half the tracks on "Code" and in yhe video for "Here To Go". I love discovering new things about albums I've had for decades. I just gave it a spin and it's better than I remember, though I love it's predecessor much more.

How has no one mentioned Mal's new band, Wrangler, with Benge (whose work with John Foxx as the Maths is fantastic). Their new album is one of the best new releases of the year, a great melding of Virgin era CV and modern sounds.

Anyone have any thoughts on the various live albums released? I'm specifically interested in something good-sounding from their Virgin era (83-87).

Has there been any sign of any further early remasters after red Mecca came out a couple of years ago. Would love copies of those first couple of lps in better sound on cd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7K-vkaWB0g

Nobody captured noirish paranoia better than Cabaret Voltaire. Like a William Friedkin movie in a song.

RHKs new album is very pre-Virgin era CV sounding.

I am listening to "Fool's Game" right now in honor of this revive

Funny how the 12" mix of "Blue Heat" wound up on the CD when there never was a 12" released. I'm guessing it was planned but the label said no.

Every couple of years I revisit early Cabs, and it just sounds better each time. I mean, I've always dug the singles but today I spun "2x45" (love it), "Three Mantras" (Western Mantra is epic, Eastern not as much), "Red Mecca" (still warming to some of it) and rediscovered Stephen Mallinder's solo album "Pow-Wow Plus" which has some fantastic tracks that would fit well on 2x45. I even ordered the rare CD edition of the latter though I noted it removes two tracks from the original EP (1-20 and 1-34).

after a weekend of CV excess and a few glasses of wine I succumbed and ordered the Technology/'92 revision cd.
I have avoided this release ever since it came out due to fear of altering the originals too much.
so far I have to say I was a fool as I am loving the minimal CV styled electo-funk revisions.
the music is very stripped back in comparison to the originals, but there is still that CV sound.
something that after years of listening to late 80s/early 90s dance remixes I did not expect to be honest.
that said, back in '92 I was not as open minded and would have probably hated this set.
also, this now means I have a complete set of CVCD1-CVCD4 at long bloody last.

I think it's just you and me on this thread, Mark. I wish I shared your enthusiasm for their 90s work but - nope.

I often have a compulsion to play "The Original Sound Of Sheffield 83-87" comp with all their amazing 12" versions. In that era, most 12" versions took a bit of the chorus and maybe one other section and just looped them but CV's extended versions are truly definitive.

my era has always been the 80s era (Crackdown > CODE).
hence I held off from getting this '92 remix set for a very long time.
having heard most of it now I still prefer the originals,
but I will add it to my list of CV listens as it has a definite CV sound to it, albeit different to the albums/12" versions.
as I said this weekend on twitter, the "83-87" compilation is by far the best compilation of their groove ever in my opinion.
nothing surpasses those 12" versions.

Anyone have any thoughts on the various live albums released? I'm specifically interested in something good-sounding from their Virgin era (83-87).

I have only the live album that comes with 'Deform .. ' boxset which was very much the late EMI era.
the sound quality is debateable to say the least for a major label boxset.
it sounds like a beefed up crowd based cassette recording as opposed to a mixing disc recording.
hence I care not for it.
a true stereo mixing desk recording of such a gig would be totally insane, but this recording is not that.
thankfully the rest of the boxset easily makes up for the disappointment.

damn just bumped western mantra it's so SICKKKKKKK

don't have that track in the archives.
I have tried a few tracks pre Virgin over the years out of duty, and I even have VOA on vinyl, but its way too raw for me.

xp Three Mantras is fantastic. Here's another great one that just might be my favorite CV track. I wish it was twice as long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGnBWqK78G0

*hears three mantras once*

this is the best band that ever existed

really wish i had gotten into this band years ago though idk if i'd have been ready for them before now

2x45 rocks my world

I kinda want to know what you'd think of Mallinder's Pow Wow album (partly bcz it's the only CV I know, but I love it! and am planning a Cabs deep dive p soon) though I'm not sure if it's streaming anywhere

Pow Wow = minor league Cabs.

Is there any likelihood that the early 3 piece lps are ever going to be remastered? I think Red Mecca was when it came out on vinyl with free cd but want the others in best sound. & I think any reissue has just been of the original cd.
Do love that early stuff. Don't really like the 2 piece stuff too much. Though the bits of solo stuff from the 90s I have heard seemed ok.

I love "Western Mantra" but not so much "Eastern Mantra". The dynamism of the former really appeals to me whereas the drone of the latter is too dominant.

"2x45", with the brilliant "Yashar" is their transition from their early style towards something more accessible.

I only discovered "Pow Wow" a few years ago but it fits nicely in the period we're discussing. Minor league, for sure, but still has it's charms.

Stevo, do you think remastering of the early material will make a difference? Not exactly hifi recording gear in the first place.

The duo records I return to the most are Drinking Gasoline and Microphonies, have s soft spot for other tracks but it's spotty from The Crackdown onwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FstV3e7fqyo

been really transfixed by the live album hai! over the last few days

that version of "diskono" feels both of and ahead of and beyond its time, which i suppose is the cabaret voltaire effect

Brad u gotta check out Voice Of America! prob my favorite

yeah i'll be doubling back to the early albums shortly, especially after hearing three mantras. i listened to mix-up a few times in college and iirc it just scared me lol

i feel obligated to point out that Ekoplekz released an album called In Search of the Third Mantra this year.

RIYL cheap drum machines and retro plinky synths

a question. on the CV methodology: attic tapes (74/75) there are tracks called things like "Synthi AKS (Piece One)". did they have a AKS? weren't they crazily expensive at the time? (~£450 at launch which is well over £5k today)

(this is £6 on google play music store btw, £20 on amazon)

I was listening to Ekoplekz thing just hours ago but the significance of the title didn't even occur to me!

I haven't heard Hai! before now. This appears to have been a non-trivial oversight. I'm clearly unworthy of my username.

Funny, it actually hit me after a recent Cab Volt jag. Always wondered where that third mantra got to.

did they have a AKS? weren't they crazily expensive at the time?

According to Wikipedia about £450 originally but worth thousands by the end of the 70s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhds6KtWZHE

New (RHK-only) album coming this fall. Sounds pretty good, but also not that different from all of his other project names.

this new album sounds very Virgin era CV, and rather different to the solo RHK material that i have heard (URP Vol 1-3, Truckers, Sandoz, Dasein, Electronic Eye), mainly due to the drums and complete lack of techno basslines.

that said, i am only halfway through the album, so, things could change of course.
but so far its hitting the spot for me.

It brings to mind the Drinking Gasoline EP. It's solid but I miss Mal, so there's Wrangler for that.

I have only heard one track so far and that vaguely made me think of "Red Mecca". I miss Mal too and I do find it hard to really accept it as being CV without him.

GMB : exactly.
it is very much of that era.
there is little use of modern bass heavy production that i thought would be present.
and while i get and understand the whole missing Mal thing, i subscribe to the CV (trio) -> CV (duo) -> CV (solo) path
i have no issue with RHK using the name.
as i said, this album sounds very different to a lot of the RHK solo material i have heard.
(that said Dasein sounded like a CV album with its use of clipped guitars/samples)

Yes, it is fair enough really and I have engaged with several post Mal CV releases.

new 3 track ep, shadow of funk, is great.
sonically it's more of the same as recent album (though with a lot more intensity in the beats/layers), so, if you weren't impressed, then no need.
the 10+ minute 'skinwalker' could totally be from the 'drinking gasoline' era.

absolutely insane price for the digital edition.

(also, the 2 RHK albums on Warp are massively reduced as well .. )

https://bleep.com/release/265713-cabaret-voltaire-8385-collected-works-1983-1985

yesterday i got email re bleep/warp sale, after which i decided to get the 2 RHK albums as i have never seen cd editions out in the wild.
earlier today i decided to check re Drinking Gasoline in remastered form as i have the tracks, but spread across various options.
saw that DG was £3.50 and was about to purchase,
when i thought i'd check the price re the Virgin era boxset, thinking it would be in the £20-30 range ..
very very glad i checked ..
best late xmas present to myself ever.

Low price because its actually 1989 (Taylor’s Version)