[1] Identify crisis (Art of Noise) - 5:50
[2] Motive (Art of Noise) - 5:07
[3] (New York London Paris) Spleen (Art of Noise, Rakim) - 4:48
[4] Saluting the point of no return (Art of Noise) - 0:40
[5] Man and boy (Art of Noise) - 5:13
[6] Information (Art of Noise) - 5:53
[7] And I placed my fingers an her eyes as though I were touching the silent controls of a tv set (Art of Noise) - 3:04
Anne Dudley - Keyboards (melodies)
Lol Creme - Guitar, Vocal, Keyboards
Paul Morley - Kayborads, Vocals
Jonathan J. Jeczalik - Fairlight, keyboards (sounds and rhythms) and programming
Rakim - Vocals
Dave Bronze - Bass
Simon Moreton - Percussion
Paul Robinson - Drums
Katie Humble - Backing Vocals
Pepe Lemer - Backing Vocals
Anne Dudley, Gary Langan, and Paul Morley were members of producer
Trevor Horn's in-house studio band in the early '80s before they formed
Art of Noise, a techno-pop group whose music was an amalgam of studio
gimmickry, tape splicing, and synthesized beats.
The Art of Noise took material from a variety of sources: hip-hop,
rock, jazz, R&B, traditional pop, found sounds, and noise all
worked their way into the group's distinctly post-modern soundscapes.
Dudley was the center of the group, having arranged and produced
material for Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ABC, and Paul McCartney before
forming the Art of Noise. The trio signed with Trevor Horn's ZTT label,
releasing their first EP, Into Battle with the Art of Noise, in 1983.
The following year, the group released the full-length (Who's Afraid
Of?) The Art of Noise!, which featured the hit single "Close (To the
Edit)" which used innovative sound sampling.
After "Close (To the Edit)," the group parted ways with Horn and ZTT,
releasing In Visible Silence in 1986; the album included the U.K. Top
Ten hit "Peter Gunn," which featured Duane Eddy on guitar. Re-works of
the Art of Noise, an album of remixes and live tracks, was released
that same year. In No Sense? Nonsense!, released in 1987, saw the band
experimenting with orchestras and choirs, as well as horns and rock
bands.
The next year, the Art of Noise released a greatest-hits collection,
The Best of the Art of Noise, which featured their collaboration with
Tom Jones on Prince's "Kiss."
Below the Waste (1990) captured the band experimenting with world
music; it received a lukewarm critical and commercial reception. The
following year, a low-key remix album directed by Killing Joke's Youth
called The Ambient Collection appeared. Later in the year, the Art of
Noise broke up. Dudley eventually worked with Killing Joke's Jaz
Coleman and Phil Collins. Horn and Dudley reunited in 1999 for a new
album, The Seduction of Claude Debussy.
In early 2000 The band reformed for a special one off gig at London's
Shepherd's Bush venue which included special guest Lol Creme to
celebrate the launch of their next LP, Reduction.
Art Of Noise so enjoyed recording their last album, they went back to
do it again. Maybe they got fed up with respectful remixes from a
younger generation that included The Prodigy and Roni Size. But this
collection of new material and new interpretations of tracks from
1999's The Seduction of Claude Debussy highlights the problems faced by
Paul Morley, Trevor Horn, Lol Crème and Anne Dudley. Art Of
Noise were at their best playing with pop icons or in the pioneering
playground of eighties electronica. While they became famous for
resurrecting the careers of Duane Eddy and Tom Jones, their 1985 tune
Moments In Love was influencing today's electro-popstars. Now AON face
the crowded dance market, where the band concentrate on hip hop and
drum and bass. Art Of Noise faultlessly hoover up the best sounds of
today - LTJ Bukem's jazzy jungle, Rakim's rap and the bass-driven music
of Tipper. This is all pleasant enough, but Reduction fails to ignite.
Their mix of fun and high concepts meshes with pop but washes off these
po-faced breaks like water off a trainspotter's anorak. The Orb and KLF
could subvert house's straight 4/4 rhythms, but Art Of Noise are lost
in the breaks and rolls.