Post Description

Geweldige band destijds, een mengeling van New Wave, Pop en Prog (dat laatste vanwege hun gebruik van de vocoder).

Mijn favoriete nummer is nog steeds 'Skipping' waarin die vocoder goed te horen is.





Associates - Sulk (2 CD's - re-issue 2016)

Sulk is the second studio album by the Scottish post-punk and pop band the Associates. It was released on 14 May 1982 on their own Associates imprint of Beggars Banquet Records for the UK and throughout the rest of Europe on WEA Records and in the US on 4 October by Sire Records.

It stayed in the UK Albums Chart for 20 weeks, peaking at No. 10, and it was crowned the album of the year by British music magazine Melody Maker. Although it was the group's breakthrough record both critically and commercially, it was to be the last studio album recorded by the original pairing of Alan Rankine and Billy Mackenzie, as Rankine departed four months after its release.

Signing a distribution deal with WEA Records at the end of 1981 on the strength of the demos for "Party Fears Two" and "Club Country", Associates were given a £60,000 advance by the record label. Having spent half of the advance immediately on block-booking a studio for an indefinite period of time, the band moved into individual rooms at the Swiss Cottage Holiday Inn in London, including an extra room for MacKenzie's pet whippets, which he fed on smoked salmon ordered from the hotel's room service. The band also spent large amounts of money on other items such as clothing and drugs. In a 2007 interview bassist Michael Dempsey recalled that "we were all ridiculously profligate. But it wasn't entirely ridiculous to be doing things that way because Bill would coax money out of record companies in a kind of mesmeric way. He thought that the more money we owed them, the more obligation on their part to make this work to get their investment back." Rankine said that the excessive spending influenced the sound of the album: "If we hadn't spent the money, the album wouldn't have got made in the way it did. It was mental, but there was also a self-assured cockiness, because we knew we had these songs."

Sulk was recorded at producer Mike Hedges' self-built Playground studio, in a former warehouse in nearby Camden Town, and cost £33,000 to make. The stories regarding the recording sessions for this album have been well documented over the years. Rankine said that "I don't think there's been any exaggeration about what went on. If anything, I think people have been holding back a bit in their recollections. It was madness. He confirmed that the sessions included stunts such as urinating in a guitar and filling drums with water to see how it affected their sound, but that the story that the band had filled the studio with helium balloons was an exaggeration, stating that they had fooled around with a helium balloon that had been brought in one day, but no more than that. However, both Rankine and Dempsey said that despite the heavy spending and antics in the studio, the band worked long hours and were completely focused on the record they were making. Drummer John Murphy left the band shortly after completing the recording of the album, unable to cope with MacKenzie and Rankine's behaviour.



Tracklist CD1:

"Arrogance Gave Him Up" – 2:57
"No" – 5:41
"Bap de la Bap" – 4:13
"Gloomy Sunday" (Rezső Seress, Sam M. Lewis) – 4:09
"Nude Spoons" – 4:15
"Skipping" (Rankine, Mackenzie, Michael Dempsey) – 3:57
"It's Better This Way" – 3:22
"Party Fears Two" – 5:45
"Club Country" – 5:29
"nothinginsomethingparticular" – 2:16



Tracklist CD2:

"18 Carat Love Affair" – 3:42
"Love Hangover" (Sawyer, McLeod) – 6:11
"Club Country" (12" Version) – 6:58
"Party Fears Two" (Instrumental) (previously unreleased) – 4:41
"It's Better This Way" (Alt Version) – 3:41
"And Then I Read a Book" (previously unreleased) – 3:48
"Ulcragyceptimol" – 4:33
"Skipping" (Alt Version) (Rankine, Mackenzie, Dempsey) (previously unreleased) – 3:49
"Australia" 1 (previously unreleased) – 3:31
"Me, Myself and the Tragic Story" 3 (previously unreleased) – 3:17
"I Never Will" 4 (Demo) – 3:51
"Club Country" (Demo) – 4:05
"Grecian 2000" – 3:28



Alle in zowel FLAC als in MP3 (320kbit).