One record at a time: 10. The Art of Noise - Who's afraid of

So we come to the first record that is duplicated in my collection. I own a copy of the original LP from 1984 and the recent 180g double vinyl version. Looking at them together I realise the marble effect on the sleeves are different. There is also a sticker on the front of the new version but underneath the sleeve is the same.

The original version is showing its age and has lots of crackle on the first track "A Time For Fear (Who's Afraid)". This is the first record in the collection that I bought second hand so it shouldn't come as a surprise that is is far from perfect. In fact it's pretty beaten up, but the magnificent "Beatbox (Diversion One)" soon roars into life and drowns out some of the background noise. This has always been one of my favourite AON tracks and I go back to it frequently.

Growing up in the eighties meant growing up with the sound of the Fairlight. As a kid I used to think it could do everything. Listening to these tracks I now realise there is far more than Fairlight we are hearing. Having tried the samples and seen the mythical Page R sequencer in action, I know the Fairlight is far more limited than I imagined in my youth. The sequencer allows you to use 8 samples across 8 tracks. So if you want a kick drum, a snare and two hit hats, you would have already used 50% of your allocation. I assume this is why AON sampled so many complex vocals, breaks and musical phrases.

"Snapshot" comes and goes before the single "Close (To The Edit)" flies at us like a runaway train. I distinctly remember seeing the video for this song on TV and thinking how weird everything was. I didn't really understand what this music was in a world dominated by Wham!, Billy Ocean and Duran Duran. It just didn't fit. Now I realise just how good a thing that was.

When we flip over the uninspiring but listenable title track greets us before giving way to the jewel in the crown "Moments In Love". This track is 10 minutes of  blissed out joy. I think I still prefer the "Beaten" version but this is still very good. Even the crackle and background noise of this ropy old vinyl seem to have abated in reverence to the tune. 

"Memento" is a weird collection of samples juxtaposed with Anne playing the old church organ at Angel studios. "How To Kill" takes a sample of Anne saying "Its Stopped" and the band members seem to jam along with various samples and synthesizers. "Realization" uses a choir preset I recognise but can't quite place (possibly Kurzweil?) layered over a Linn Drum beat. A bit of a disappointing end considering the quality of some of the preceding tracks, but all in all this is an enjoyable record that seem to fly by.

The 2021 version features a second disc of contemporaneous outakes and demos culled form the "And What Have You Done with My Body, God?" set. I suspect this is of interest to serious AON fans only - but then, who else is buying a record 37 years after it was released? 3/5