Electronic:
Electronic:
EMI/Factory:
Out Now:
8/10
Normally re-issues of classic or successful albums are given an anniversary send-off, say 10, 20 or 25 years later. Perhaps fittingly, given the delays previously bestowed upon much of Electronic's catalogue, the duo's debut-album has been issued 22 years after its original release in May 1991. Typical Factory - well, possibly. This 2-CD set appears on EMI but old habits must surely die hard.
Whatever the timing, the music is what matters and as you'd expect with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, much of it is sharp electro-pop with indie credentials and chart-friendly chops. The most familiar songs are the first two singles lifted from the album, the Pet Shop Boys-esque Getting Away With It (vocals by Neil Tennant and originally not included on UK pressings - again, smart move Factory) and the even more resplendent Get The Message.
But perhaps the key songs that helped shape Electronic's future are the most understated. The opening trio of vibrant synth-laden pounders, including US single Tighten Up which possesses that most-dated of pre-sets the orchestra stab sound, prove this point. Further on, The Patience of a Saint is, for me, the song that ought to have replaced Feel Every Beat as a single. A sublime and elegaic vocal sparring between Sumner and Tennant produces classic lyrical barbs like "...I'd rather watch drying paint..." and "... if I drove a faster car, I'd drive it bloody well...", plus a gorgeous string-soaked final lap make this a perfect Electronic/PSB collaboration. Perhaps with a bit of editing down, I'd have put money on it being a bigger hit than Getting Away With It.
Other album highlights include another 'orchestral-stab'-packed throbber Gangster - very New Order - the gloomy but beautiful short theme Soviet and the rather more hi-NRG pulser Try All You Want, a synthesis of Marr's increased interest in dance-music and Sumner's nifty production skills. And then it all dips suddenly with the final two songs, Some Distant Memory (passable pop noodlings) and Feel Every Beat (yaaawn), before the second disc arrives with a confusing array of extras. There's no room for Lucky Bag (either version), Free Will has been edited and both superior flips to Feel Every Beat are here, Second To None and the instrumental Lean to the Inside, both strong ideas and worthy inclusions.
The rest of the extras are curious - two versions of Twisted Tenderness (from the third album of the same name), Until The End Of Time and Visit Me from the second album Raise the Pressure and an unrelated b-side. Collectable without being particularly essential, the rare house remixes of Getting Away With It from the second issue 12" and other mixes of the final and fabulous Tennant collaboration Disappointed might have made better choices, although at least the fine 7" mix of the latter is present.
Overall though, pedantry aside, Electronic remains a creative stepping-stone between Madchester and Britpop. Good sleevenotes from Factory archivist James Nice help set the seal on this worthwhile (and overdue) revisit.
Electronic:
EMI/Factory:
Out Now:
8/10
Whatever the timing, the music is what matters and as you'd expect with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, much of it is sharp electro-pop with indie credentials and chart-friendly chops. The most familiar songs are the first two singles lifted from the album, the Pet Shop Boys-esque Getting Away With It (vocals by Neil Tennant and originally not included on UK pressings - again, smart move Factory) and the even more resplendent Get The Message.
But perhaps the key songs that helped shape Electronic's future are the most understated. The opening trio of vibrant synth-laden pounders, including US single Tighten Up which possesses that most-dated of pre-sets the orchestra stab sound, prove this point. Further on, The Patience of a Saint is, for me, the song that ought to have replaced Feel Every Beat as a single. A sublime and elegaic vocal sparring between Sumner and Tennant produces classic lyrical barbs like "...I'd rather watch drying paint..." and "... if I drove a faster car, I'd drive it bloody well...", plus a gorgeous string-soaked final lap make this a perfect Electronic/PSB collaboration. Perhaps with a bit of editing down, I'd have put money on it being a bigger hit than Getting Away With It.
Other album highlights include another 'orchestral-stab'-packed throbber Gangster - very New Order - the gloomy but beautiful short theme Soviet and the rather more hi-NRG pulser Try All You Want, a synthesis of Marr's increased interest in dance-music and Sumner's nifty production skills. And then it all dips suddenly with the final two songs, Some Distant Memory (passable pop noodlings) and Feel Every Beat (yaaawn), before the second disc arrives with a confusing array of extras. There's no room for Lucky Bag (either version), Free Will has been edited and both superior flips to Feel Every Beat are here, Second To None and the instrumental Lean to the Inside, both strong ideas and worthy inclusions.
The rest of the extras are curious - two versions of Twisted Tenderness (from the third album of the same name), Until The End Of Time and Visit Me from the second album Raise the Pressure and an unrelated b-side. Collectable without being particularly essential, the rare house remixes of Getting Away With It from the second issue 12" and other mixes of the final and fabulous Tennant collaboration Disappointed might have made better choices, although at least the fine 7" mix of the latter is present.
Overall though, pedantry aside, Electronic remains a creative stepping-stone between Madchester and Britpop. Good sleevenotes from Factory archivist James Nice help set the seal on this worthwhile (and overdue) revisit.
