Let's talk about the Art of Noise

I ended up selling it with a bunch of Kraftwerk albums to get a haircut (oh foolish youth).

Many years later, after having rebought the Kraftwerk albums, I picked this up again and it still sounds pretty good.

Obvious, I know, but "Moments in Love" really is very good...

whos afraid of... is well good eg moments ni love, beatbox and some of the crazy shit about summer or something.

i quite like the dragnet theme too....

I've mentioned it before, but search "Close-Up," a 12-inch (actually there were at least 3 different records released in identical sleeves, but the specific track "Close-Up" is the one you want to find)--sort of an acoustic cover of "Close to the Edit," with a crazy parched tone I've never heard on anything else not produced by Lary Seven. There's also a re-recording they did of "Moments in Love" that came out on a 12" and is rather gorgeous.

Also: when I saw them live in 1986, they were an 8-piece band and played everything live, with no prerecorded material (aside from a videotape of Max Headroom that provided "vocals" on "Paranoimia"), and they were fantastic.

Also also: the reunited lineup with Paul Morley as "frontman" a couple of years ago made a record I can take or leave, but their live show was a fantastic piece of performance art.

The more amazing stuff on "Who's Afraid" are those three tiny tracks at the end.. in particular, "How To Kill", which is something I still have difficulty listening to, as it synced up with the death of my very first pet.

That said, I also adored "In Visible Silence".. and even moreso the "Legacy" 12", which was an even more swarthy slow take on "Legs".. and all the various B-sides in between. "In No Sense? Nonsense!" was a slight bummer, though.. and it was downhill from there ever since... (aside from the reunion record which I still haven't heard)

My fave track, still, is "Who's Afraid?"... probably the closest AON got to the Residents.

Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? is the true Art of Noise album

Beat Box was also a favourite

They will always be a true mystery - loved by DJ and Sample freaks

it's a shame that they didn't hang around for longer

Even the art work on the 12" of the "Moments in love" single use to make me dream ??

God bless them

I would like to have a copy of momentin in love or a copy of moments in bass. Ireally havebeen trying to find those tune for a long time,if you can tell me where I could find them.THANK you.

I would like to have a copy of momentin in love or a copy of moments in bass. Ireally havebeen trying to find those tune for a long time,if you can tell me where I could find them.THANK you.

What do you think of the three (?) remix albums, those being "The Ambient Collection", "The FON Mixes" and the "Drum and Bass Collection"? I listened to the latter for the first time in ages ... the Doc Scott remix is as killer as I remembered it, with Dom and Roland and J Majik's efforts not far behind. The rest of it, for the most part, is bland with phoned in, standard breaks. There wasn't a good reason for this album to exist, besides the obvious cash-in oppurtunity. We haven't seen an AON remix album since (or have we?) -- are there no more genres for them to plunder?

Many of the same comments could be applied to "The FON Mixes". Looking at the tracklist, the tracks you'd expect to standout do indeed deliver (Prodigy, LFO, Sweet Exorcist) and the rest is mostly meh. I haven't heard this album in a while though, so maybe I'm due for a revisitation.

"The Ambient Collection" is very different from the others in that it's more of a mix album than a RE-mix album. It's not fluffy, billowing ambient music but it's such a *gentle* album. At the time it was my 2nd favourite album of 1990 after the ubiquitous "Violator", and remains my favourite by the AON album with the possible exception of "Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise?".

What say you?

Maybe because it feels so damned acoustic following all that Fairlight madness.

Been wondering that myself...

yeah it must be partly that. also 'beat box' isn't a particularly melancholy track, but this very sad piano line somehow creeps from under it, very successfully i think. it works.

It is less refined, way ahead of its time, helped inspire a musical movement and considering it was released in 1983, makes it even more amazing.

I went back to NYC (The Bronx) to visit family and went through my records that are in storage. I was happy to see my records in great shape and the Art Of Noise album staring at me and asking to be reunited. I took Into Battle and Kraftwerk's The Man Machine with me back to Cali.

Both of those albums are original and purchased when I was a pre-teen in The Bronx. Into Battle was the first album I ever bought with my own money, and I played it to sleep every night for a year. (Moments In Love side "B") Beat Box was very much in the midst of the burgeoning hip-hop and b-boy breakdancing landscape when it was born, and I have a romantic attachment and appreciation for it.

I also know it influenced a lot of other b-boys, hip-hoppers, d.j.'s and music producers in the Bronx. It was a sound never heard before. A hard beat that sounded great coming out of oversized multiple 15" subwoofered speakers. Great to pop and lock to, the "psychotic playground and carnival" sound was amazing. No one had heard anything like that.

Kraftwerk also had a lot of play and respect coming from The Bronx, I suppose it is no surprise that Malcolm McLaren, Kraftwerk and Art Of Noise paid much attention to The Bronx and NYC to the young and growing hip-hop movement, and it influenced them to create these sounds. It was truly a symbiotic relationship, these artists and Hip-Hop, and I still appreciate the music found on these vinyl gems.

The Art Of Noise has been underrated, but please, if you appreciate Who's Afraid Of..., I emplore you to pick up Into Battle.

-G

The CD claims to contain the original EP and nothing more.. which is great, as the original version of "Beat Box" never made it to CD ever. So I play it, and -- once again -- it's "Beat Box (Diversion 1)" from the album replacing it... nothing wrong with the full version, but I want the really loopy original shorter version! The rest of the EP is the same though.

However, the extra DVD makes up for this error, because I know have the "Close (To The Edit)" video... one of the best videos of the 80s, at least.

This Deluxe Long-Book Box Set concentrates on the 1983-85 era of Art Of Noise. The set features over 40 unreleased remixes, demos and works-in-progress, as well as the complete vinyl version of Into Battle... for the first time on CD.

It also includes a 36 page book featuring new interviews with all of the original members plus track-by-track commentary.

Hugely influential, dance music and pop in general owes a huge debt to these original recordings.

---

1. Disc One: CD Beat Box (One Made Earlier)
2. Once Upon A Lime
3. War (Demo 2)
4. Close To The Edge
5. Confession
6. Moments In Love
7. Sign Of Relief
8. Who's Afraid Of Scale?
9. So What Happens Now?
10. The Subject Has Moved Left
11. It's Not Fair
12. Close To The Edge (Ruff Mix)
13. A Time For Fear (Who's Afraid?)
14. Moments In Bed

1. Disc Two: CD Moments In Love (12" B-Side Idea)
2. Tears Out Of A Stone
3. Samba #2
4. The Chain Of Chance
5. Fairlight-in-the-Being
6. Diversions 3
7. Close (To Being Compiled)
8. Diversions 5
9. Damn It All!
10. Structure
11. The Angel Reel: Hymn 1 (Take 2)
12. The Angel Reel: Hymn 3
13. The Angel Reel: Fairground
14. And What Have You Done With My Body, God?
15. Klimax
16. Who Knew?

1. Disc Three: CD War (demo 4)
2. The Focus Of Satisfaction
3. Moments In Love (7" Master Rejected)
4. It Stopped
5. The Uncertainty Of Syrup
6. The Long Hello
7. The Vacuum Divine
8. The Ambassadors Reel: Beatbox
9. The Ambassadors Reel: Medley
10. The Ambassadors Reel: Oobly
11. Goodbye Art Of Noise

1. Disc Four: DVD Battle 2
2. Beat Box
3. The Army Now
4. Donna
5. Moments In Love
6. Bright Noise
7. Flesh In Armour
8. Comes And Goes
9. Moment In Love
10. Diversion Eight
11. Diversion 2
12. Closest
13. Close-Up
14. Close (To The Edit)
15. Closed'
16. Moments In Love
17. Moments In Love (Beaten)
18. Love Beat
19. Unlisted Studio Chat
20. Edited
21. A Time To Hear Who's Listening
22. (Do) Donna (Do)
23. Closely Closely (Enough's Enough)
24. Battle Outtakes

Hmm. Couldn't imagine anyone being interested in this.

1: Beat Box (one made earlier)
2: Moments In Love (7" Rejected master)
3: Once Upon a Lime
4 War (Demo 4) (nothing to do with Frankie, a version of 'Closing')
5 Tears out of stone (demo 4)
6 Close (To Being Compiled)
7 Diversion 5
8 The Angel Reel:Hymn 1
9 The Focus Of Satisfaction
10 Moments In love (again different to any other version I've heard)
11 Close To The Edge
12 And What hAve You Done...

and it all sounds rather fine.

Not me, the sucker. Not at all.

Plus a new one, DJ Unk's snap track "Slow It Down"...

I DON'T SEE THIS REPRESENTED IN THE TRACKLISTING NEDWARD

1. Disc Four: DVD Battle 2
2. Beat Box
3. The Army Now
4. Donna
5. Moments In Love
6. Bright Noise
7. Flesh In Armour
8. Comes And Goes
9. Moment In Love

And the EP may exist under various other titles throughout the CDs. Early AON are notorious for renaming their early stuff.

Granted, this was the most disillusioning thing about the "Into Battle" part.. "Just on the DVD then, eh?"

looks like most of the tracks from the custom CD (which I still haven't heard) are appearing again here

I'm not paying $60 for this, I don't think, but I am curious

reading Russolo's cries for new instruments torn from the sounds and noises of real life, treating music like sculpture, etc. all completely hypothetical at the time, yet all completely taken for granted today

ubuweb has the first chapter online. the rest is just as good.

http://www.ubu.com/papers/russolo.html

We want to attune and regulate this tremendous variety of noises harmonically and rhythmically.

Daft misses three or four tracks of Into Battle (depending on whether the mix of Moments is the same, I'm not sure) and reformats stuff anyway. And the Into Battle CD fucked up and used Beat Box (Diversion One) instead of Beat Box.

Even now much of the music-as-sculpture thing is awfully boring to listen to.

Disappointed that this set doesn't have their reworking of "Video killed the radio star", which I've never heard and suspect is just one of Morley's jokes.

I agree the recordings are mainly of historical interest only. Russolo would probably agree. He never really got a chance to record his noise instruments properly -- aside from lack of access to studios, the fact that electrical recording didn't yet exist was a bit of an obstacle. He was just way ahead.

I'm in the minority I know, but most of the early concrete stuff captures my imagination completely, evokes emotional responses, it's not just chin stroking abstraction it's heartfelt 100% music for me.

(still haven't heard this:
http://www.japanimprov.com/indies/offsite/intonarumori.html
http://www.rerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Add_Review=1&Product_Code=3504&Store_Code=RERUSA&Category_Code=CD)

yes i remember reading about that record - must search.

what a weird group

Beat Box plays in my head all the time lately - one of the best bassdrum and snare sound combos ever. love the piano too.

caspa remix of Moments in Love is a must-hear

Why do we get four-disc boxed sets of the early material but nothing made after the ZTT era gets reissued? Used copies of In Visible Silence are currently sold at 137 pounds(!) on Amazon. I know the ZTT stuff is considered their classic material, but IVS is still pretty awesome, and the other albums have their moments too. I managed to find a cheap used copy of Below the Waste, but it seems unlikely that'll happen with IVS...

i love the bass line in "Beat Box"

blame Polydor

It is kinda weird, it's not like AoN were some obscure art band... As far as I know "Paranoimia" and "Peter Gunn" were sizable hits, you'd think there'd be some incentive to reissue those albums, especially since 80's electronic music has been quite trendy for the last few years.

The China/Polydor era of Art Of Noise never really sold even back in the day. For example, The Reworks of mini-album never got a CD issue outside Japan ever. Sure, they could be heard sometimes on U.S. radio, but they were too faceless, literally, to make an impact. They became a soundtrack band in no time. You could hear Art Of Noise by accident all the time on PBS in the 80s.

And I say this as someone who bought (almost) all the China/Polydor era stuff. (Yes, even In-No-Sense? Nonsense! and Below The Waste)

Ironically, Yello's "Oh Yeah" is more popular than the entirety of AoN's work... very well placed song in a huge hit of a movie.

I notice the only track that didn't get issued on the AON box, that had not been issued before on CD, "Edited", the remix of "Close" that's on the picdisc 12"....

... is on the zTT box.

Hmmm....

art of slsk

New compilation coming out:
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=652546

Can't say I'm that interested, I've got "Daft" and the box set, and I think I downloaded whatever I was missing from that period although, to be honest, it's quite confusing as some tracks are labeled incorrectly on almost every release (including the box). Anyone know of a definitive sorting through of all the released versions?

Crazy-long Metafilter thread on AON's history (and lots of annotations): http://www.metafilter.com/111493/Dont-Be-Afraid-Of-The-Art-Of-Noise

worth a read...

@letitbeep: Finally finished... tracklists for deluxe 2xCD reissues of Art of Noise's three China-era albums: 140 tracks, inc. 33 unreleased #postzang

I never got around to listening to it before tonight, but Below the Waste is actually kinda wonderful.

Does anyone know where to find a copy of the eight-page Art Of Noise manifesto that Paul Morely wrote & gave to Trevor Horn? Multiple Google searches have turned up nothing. Thanks.

I was going over their discography on Discogs and noticed some interesting JP-only tracks:

"Daft", 2008 JP CD adds:
Close-Up (Hop)
Beat Box (Diversion)
Memory Loss

"Who's Afraid Of" 1986 JP CD substitutes:
Closely, Closely (Enough's Enough)

"Who's Afraid Of" 2008 JP CD adds:
Close-Up
A Time To Clear (Up)
Resonance

I also dug into the "Worship" tracks and it seems that they're almost all redundant if you've got the debut album and the box except:
One Finger Of Love
Two Fingers Of Love
Three Fingers Of Love (distinct from "(Three Fingers Of") Love") - these three are less than 30 second snippets, not really all that interesting
Close (To The Edit) - this is the 4:07 7" single version that apparently isn't on their other proper releases

This is the best dissection of everything from that era: http://www.discog.info/art-of-noise1.html

I'd sure love a nice box of every 7" & 12" version...

Just saw this on my twitter feed:

Officially announced today, and set for release on 19 May 2017: a two-disc, remastered, expanded In Visible Silence: 

https://www.facebook.com/artofnoiseofficial/photos/p.10155103267964820/10155103267964820/?type=3&permPage=1

I'd sure love a nice box of every 7" & 12" version...

Yeah. Can't believe they didn't do this when they did that boxset. Even they can't get them all straight probably. I'm not sure the track called "Close Up" on the "Into Battle" reissue is the same as the original 12".

According to that site I linked to, "Beat Box" on the stand alone "Into Battle" CD is the 8:20 12" version instead of the original 4:47 version. Fortunately, the original version is on CD4 of the box set.

"Close Up" on the "Into Battle" CD is the same 7:38 version as the 12" version of "Close (To The Edit)". Unless there's some other 12" that's unaccounted for... ;-P

this reminds me, i need to add the boxset to the archive.
and as for figuring out what is what : being a ztt fan is bloody hard work.

Ah shit, I don't wanna go down the same old rabbit hole of working out the remixes of this goddam band. Probably I'm confusing the 12" of Close Up with the other 12" with Closely Closely instead because they have identical covers. I'll need to find my actual discs.

(and one of them's a mispressing to boot!)

_the seduction of claude debussy_ is rowdy as fuck

i mean its incredibly late 90s as fuck, too, NOT THAT THAT IS A BAD THING

I’m a fan as well.

Just saw this on my twitter feed:

Officially announced today, and set for release on 19 May 2017: a two-disc, remastered, expanded In Visible Silence: 

https://www.facebook.com/artofnoiseofficial/photos/p.10155103267964820/10155103267964820/?type=3&permPage=1🕸

Bought a 2nd hand cassette of Into Battle on the weekend. Sounds fuckin amazing.

is the hey in dragonettes song a ref to art of noise

Quite a bit of digital activity of late, as seen on Facebook:

Born Again – EP from the last iteration of the band

Balance (Music For The Eye) – an early version of Seduction (with Morley doing the John Hurt part it seems)

Dream On – remixes of the Seduction material

The Production of Claude Debussy – an alternate take of the album? One moment discussed on FB that is indeed great is “a special blissed out moment when La Flute de Pan segues into Out of This World (Version 138) before the peace is intentionally shattered by the arrival of Metaphor on the Floor.”

Metaforce single reissue – expanded, I believe

An Extra Pulse of Beauty – a compilation of Who’s Afraid-era material compiled around the time of Seduction

And what of that is essential?

I confess to not have listened to all six releases in the two hours since I discovered this. ;-) I also must admit I’m not sure in need any more Who’s Afraid alternate mixes and outtakes.

However, I did enjoy Balance in the car – the electronica feels a lot less smooth than Seduction which is a good and bad thing but mostly an interesting thing.

None IMHO.
Balance and Production I think were both part of a multi-CD/DVD set released a few years ago, and most of the tracks on Born Again were also on that, so it's quite misleading to say they're new.
None of the material on there is necessary next to the original version of Seduction in my opinion, and I'm a relative AON completist.

That said, the live in Japan set released last year was absolutely awful too - embarrassing out of tune & out of time performances. I don't think I've soured on AON, it's just that they're at the barrel-scraping stage.

I don’t think they’re pitching most of this as “new” based on what I saw on FB, but rather presentations of generally obscure or deleted material with a smattering of unreleased material (for instance, I think the Metaforce single has some previously unissued mixes). Basically, they’re breaking out the OOP At the End of a Century set into individual releases and adding a little.

I’m generally a bit more forgiving. Morley has always been about issuing every last refraction of his artists as product. Plus, given that they’re being released digitally as opposed to some pricey boxed set, it’s hard to argue it’s some crass cash grab.

Beyond that tho, I like the chance to do a deeper dive into the Seduction-era. The record’s drum-n-bass material felt a slight bit dated when it was released – and its concept was maybe less than fresh at the height of pre-millennial tension.

So the additional perspective offered here (ie, the Balance early run with Morley reading the John Hurt parts, the alternate sequencing, the endless spinning of Debussy themes) highlights its ambition but also what a completely unique project this was. It’s not a record I always want to hear, but when I’m ready for it, it’s something else.

they started out great and then went commercial with cover tunes and started to become less impressive later on and their last release is not the art of noise because it does not have the original noise makers jeczalik or langan!

Definitely going to give these a listen. Seduction of Claude Debussy is a great album imo and I was aware there were alternate takes and remixes on Japanese bonus discs etc. This looks like a good chance to get them all nicely curated together.

i keep forgetting that i have the AON vs d-n-b remix album.

That live thing was really disappointing.

Since reviving this thread, I’ve kept coming back to the closing track on Seduction, “Out of This World – Version 138.” I’m not sure if I missed it before or just was drained by all that had come before by the time I got to it, but it’s such a stunning piece, essentially an ambient reduction of the whole record. Featuring fragments of themes throughout the album, it has snippets of haunting Bradshaw vocal lines, floating flutes, and some gorgeous Anne Dudley piano figures all processed through this unbelievably heavy, womb-like filter effect. Arguably among the best pieces of music they ever committed to tape, the version on Production may even be better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqtMxv4LZcU

MOAR:

"You are falling deeper into the colour of a dream"

Released today on all digital platforms - the lost, 1999 eight-track single, 'The Art of Noise Dreaming':

https://ztt.lnk.to/jDiPzNY1FP

All tracks now remastered from the original tapes, Colour Red was previously only available on a 12" white label promo, Colour Maroon has never been available internationally, and Colour White is previously unreleased.

How did all this all come about? Back in 1998, Dreaming In Colour was remixed by Brothers In Rhythm, first as the 10-minute Colour Red, then as the more operatic Colour Maroon. Their interpretations were then re-re-remixed by the Art of Noise themselves. First, as Colour Silver which is to Colour Red - as you will hear - as Love Beat is to Moments in Love.

Dudley/Morley/Horn/Creme knew that Colour Maroon could very well be the next Art of Noise release so, green for go, created a first Single Edit: Colour Green. But that idea was parked, although Red and Silver appeared on a 12" white label promo, and the other colours were scattered as bonus tracks on special editions of The Seduction of Claude Debussy. An Influential Edit of Colour Silver was prepared for the now-deleted The Art of Noise Influence compilation though later actually appeared on the equally now-deleted The Art of the 12" Volume One.

The Dreaming single release may have been put on pause from 1999 until today, but the Art of Noise knew that Colour Green still had potential and that - via Brothers in Rhythm and back again - Dreaming in Colour had morphed into a completely new track. But that's another story, for another time. For now:

1. Dreaming (Colour Red) 00:10:44
2. Dreaming (Colour Maroon) 00:10:17
3. Dreaming (Colour Silver) 00:06:26
4. Dreaming (Colour Yellow) 00:03:53
5. Dreaming (Colour Green) 00:05:19
6. Dreaming (Colour Black) 00:03:29
7. Dreaming (Colour White) 00:05:28
8. Dreaming (Colour Silver: Influential Edit) 00:01:56

The Art of Noise Dreaming is a Definition Series edition from Zang Tuum Tumb, courtesy of The Dream Department (art: Philip Marshall, works: Ian Peel), with thanks to Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, JJ Jeczalik, Gary Langan, Paul Morley, The Image Of A Group, Brothers In Rhythm, and The Metaphor Tops.

What's next?