The Art of Noise
Encyclopedia
Art of Noise was an avant-garde
synthpop
group formed in 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan
, programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with arranger Anne Dudley
, producer Trevor Horn
and music journalist Paul Morley
. The group's mostly instrumental compositions were novel melodic sound collage
s based on digital sampler
technology, which was new at the time. Inspired by turn-of-the-20th-century revolutions in music, the Art of Noise were initially packaged as a faceless anti- or non-group, blurring the distinction between the art and its creators. The band is noted for innovative use of electronics
and computers in pop music and particularly for innovative use of sampling.
The name of the group alludes to the essay "The Art of Noises
" by noted futurist
Luigi Russolo
. From the earliest releases on ZTT, the band referred to itself as both Art of Noise and The Art of Noise. Official and unofficial releases and press material use both versions. The group is perhaps best known currently for the international Top 20 singles "Kiss
" and "Peter Gunn", the latter of which won a 1986 Grammy Award
.
90125. They sampled it into a Fairlight CMI
, using its then new Page R sequencer. This was the first time an entire drum pattern had been sampled into the machine. They then added non-musical sounds on top of it, before playing the track to producer Trevor Horn. He then got arranger Anne Dudley
involved in what would become a long-term side project. Jeczalik, Langan, Dudley & Horn became known as the Art of Noise along with one of Horn’s business partners, ex-NME journalist Paul Morley, who originally named them the Art of Noises before Jeczalik dropped the end ‘s’. This was the first time that Horn had been part of a group since he had parted company with his Buggles partner Geoff Downes
after they had been part of Yes. It would also be the first and last time that he would enjoy chart success as an artist since the New Wave
hit in 1979 with "Video Killed the Radio Star
". The team had first assembled in 1981 to produce ABC
's The Lexicon of Love
album, which led to an increase in profile for all of them. They would later go on to work with Frankie Goes to Hollywood
on what would become the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome
.
The technological impetus for the Art of Noise was the advent of the Fairlight CMI sampler
, an electronic musical instrument invented in Australia that Horn was reportedly among the first to purchase. With the Fairlight, short digital sound recordings called samples
could be "played" through a piano-like keyboard, while a computer processor altered such characteristics as pitch
and timbre
. While some musicians were using samples as adornment in their works, Horn and his companions saw the potential to craft entire compositions with the sampler, disrupting the traditional rock aesthetic. Others were working contemporaneously towards this goal, such as Jean Michel Jarre
and Yello
. Producer and musician Tony Mansfield
had made extensive use of the Fairlight for Naked Eyes
' eponymous debut album. Horn had previously put the sampling keyboard to great use on The Lexicon of Love
, mostly in order to tweak live-based elements of performance but also to embellish the compositions with sound effects (such as a cash register's bell on "Date Stamp").
In February 1983—with Paul Morley providing much of the band's art direction—Horn, Dudley, Jeczalik, and Langan formed the initial incarnation of The Art of Noise. The group's debut EP, Into Battle with The Art of Noise
, appeared in September 1983 on Horn's fledgling ZTT
label. It immediately scored a hit in the urban and alternative dance charts in the USA with the highly percussive, cut-up instrumental track "Beat Box
", a favourite among poppers
.
The bass hook of this song also featured, with the addition of a synthesiser melody over the top of it, as the theme tune for the ITV
game show The Krypton Factor
.
/R&B
, instrumental ode to sensuality that appeared on both Into Battle and Who's Afraid—was remixed and released as a single in 1984 (first released in the USA in 1983, where it was a moderate hit on the U.S. R&B singles chart). It was played at Madonna
's wedding; sampled by Mýa
in her hit single "It's All About Me
," which featured Sisqó
; used in the soundtrack of the movie Pumping Iron II: The Women
; featured in the Indian movie Koi...Mil Gaya
; name-dropped in the opening pages of Sister Souljah
's 2011 novel Midnight and the Meaning of Love (as "Moments of Love"); used in a number of advertisements; and remixed, covered, and sampled by numerous other artists years afterward. It has also appeared in numerous chill out compilations and has become a staple of smooth jazz
radio station playlists.
It was also around 1985 that Dudley, Jeczalik, and Langan made an acrimonious split from Morley and Horn as well as from the ZTT label. The circumstances of the reorganisation were never well-publicized, but several sources indicate that there were disputes over creative control:
After the split, the remaining members moved to the UK-based China Records
label, keeping some of the band's original imagery and ethos alive in their second album, In Visible Silence
. This album spawned the Grammy Award
-winning cover of the Peter Gunn
theme, recorded with twangy guitar legend Duane Eddy
, who had a huge hit, years earlier, with Peter Gunn in 1959. The Art of Noise collaboration reached number two on the Billboard dance charts. The Peter Gunn video featured comedian Rik Mayall
sending up the private eye. From this same album, the "Beat Box"-like single, "Legs," was a mild underground hit in dance clubs, and in 1986, "Paranoimia" achieved some success when a remix of it was released as a single with overdubbed vocal samples provided by the supposedly computer-generated character Max Headroom
.
Around 1986, Jeczalik and Dudley started appearing in photographs without masks, alienating some fans that had come to appreciate Morley's "art for art's sake" aesthetic. The upcoming soundtrack pieces continued The Art of Noise's evolution into a pop band and away from Morley's faceless "non-group."
By 1987, the band's membership was down to just Jeczalik and Dudley. That year saw the release of their album In No Sense? Nonsense!
The album featured Jeczalik's most advanced rhythmic collages to date, plus lush string arrangements, pieces for boys' choir, and keyboard melodies from Dudley. It did not produce any hits, although their record label made efforts to push remixes of "Dragnet
" into the dance clubs. The album is often regarded by fans to be among their best work, despite the inclusion of arguably novelty tracks composed for the soundtracks of the movies Dragnet
and Disorderlies. Less faithful critics, however, criticised the album for being too pretentious and lacking in the humour and catchiness that characterised previous releases. The Art of Noise appeared to have taken inspiration from fellow sonic collage artist Boris Blank
(of Yello
) with the track "Roller 1"; though the melodic compositions are significantly different, it bears a striking resemblance to the programming used on Yello's "Let Me Cry
". In 1987, The Art of Noise provided the score for two movies, Hiding Out and Dragnet, and one particular movement was used in both films. Their brass-based connecting passage between sections from the original Dragnet television show's theme song was used as incidental music during a dramatic scene—an armed chase through the rafters of a gymnasium—near the end of Hiding Out.
(a cover of Prince's "Kiss
"—a staple in Jones' stage shows) renewed the public's interest in the Art of Noise and provided the group's biggest hit in the mainstream. The track appeared on several albums by Jones, and China Records included the song on the greatest hits compilation The Best of the Art of Noise, the first edition of which also contained tracks licensed from ZTT.
The follow-up album, Below the Waste
, failed to achieve much success upon its release in 1989. While it did spawn the memorable single "Yebo!" (featuring the unique vocals of Zulu
performers Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens
) and what appears to be a Mancini
tribute in the form of Robinson Crusoe
, some critics felt the album was a hollow imitation of its predecessors, lacking the aesthetic and creative fullness of previous releases.
The rest of the decade saw China Records releasing various Art of Noise compilations: The Ambient Collection, The FON Mixes, The Drum and Bass Collection, Art Works, and reissues of Best of without the ZTT-era tracks. Some of these featured new remixes by other artists. The China label eventually folded.
Although Dudley and Jeczalik had already dissolved the group, in 1990 they assisted in the promotion of the lightly remixed compilation The Ambient Collection that the China label released to cash in on the burgeoning ambient house
scene, and Jeczalik approved the remixes that appeared on The FON Mixes the following year.
Dudley became well-known for composing numerous film and television scores in the 1990s. The most famous of these is probably The Full Monty
, which won an Academy Award for Original Music Score
.
In 1995–1997, Jeczalik and In No Sense? Nonsense! coengineer Bob Kraushaar
produced a number of instrumentals oriented toward dance clubs under the name Art of Silence, issuing an album titled artofsilence.co.uk. Jeczalik also embarked on a new career in trading in futures contract
s.
. The same four also appeared on Malcolm McLaren
's 1982 album Duck Rock
and the 1982 album The Lexicon of Love
by ABC
, on which Dudley also cowrote a track and began her scoring career.
Anne Dudley and Killing Joke
's Jaz Coleman
collaborated on the 1990 album Songs from the Victorious City, inspired by a trip the two made to Egypt
.
The Art of Noise also gets a full writing credit for The Prodigy
's "Firestarter
", which samples the female "hey, hey" voice from "Close to the Edit". The Prodigy also contributed the remix "Instruments of Darkness (All of Us are One People)" to the 1991 compilation The FON Mixes. Also, an edited version of "Close to the Edit" is featured on the monthly educational Amiga
game, Ready Robot Club. The Art of Noise is also credited for the music to the ITV
series The Krypton Factor
.
Anne Dudley produced two tracks for the 1993 Deborah Harry album Debravation
: "Strike Me Pink" and "Mood Ring," as well as cowriting and playing keyboard on "Strike Me Pink." She has scored orchestrations for dozens of pop releases over the years, and both scored and produced the album Voice for her neighbour Alison Moyet
. Cathy Dennis
added lyrics to one of Dudley's compositions and recorded it as "Too Many Walls
", which became a U.S. Top 10 hit in 1991.
The group's version of "Peter Gunn" was used as the theme music for the 2008 BBC TV series Bill Oddie
's Wild Side.
A 1997 album Balance – Music for the Eye was never released, but it is not known what line-up this featured. Several tracks from this project were included on the 2010 retrospective album Influence.
In 1998, Horn, Morley, and Dudley began talking about the original intent of the project, its relevance in 20th-century music, and the impending turn of a new century. The group temporarily reformed, adding guitarist Lol Creme
but leaving J.J. Jeczalik and Gary Langan conspicuously absent. 'With it' dance act Way Out West provided engineering and production tasks usually fulfilled by these men.
A new single, Dream On—which featured remixed versions of the forthcoming album track, Dreaming In Colour—was released to club DJs later that year, showcasing mixes by Way Out West
. A second single, Metaforce, featuring a rap by Rakim
, preceded the 1999 release of the concept album The Seduction of Claude Debussy
on the ZTT label.
The Seduction album marked an evolution, rather than a return to the band's glory days, taking the form of a cohesive concept album
depicting the life and works of Claude Debussy
. However, while impressive from a technical and critical standpoint, it failed to score as a pop album.
The album did, however, form the basis of a 17 minute soundtrack for London's Millennium fireworks celebrations on the banks of the River Thames. The firework display was synchronised to an edit of "Seduction" which also featured a collage of samples from some of Britain's most famous pop and rock songs, plus classical composers. It was broadcast live on 95.8 Capital FM and BBC London 94.9. Trevor Horn worked on the project with Jill Sinclair, Bob Geldof, Capital Radio executive Clive Dickens and producer Ross Ford.
In 2003, a "20th Anniversary Edition" of Into Battle was released the first time in CD form in Germany, including bonus tracks and a bonus DVD of their promo videos and a selected discography slideshow of album art. The CD substituted the original version of "Beat Box" with the later "Diversion One".
In early 2004, the Karvavena label released an Art of Noise tribute album, The Abduction of The Art of Noise. This album contains covers of various tracks, including a new version of "Beat Box" performed by J.J. Jeczalik under his Art of Silence moniker. 2004 saw Dudley and Horn perform "Close (To the Edit)" together at a The Prince's Trust
charity event.
21 August 2006 saw ZTT release a 4-CD Art of Noise box set, titled And What Have You Done With My Body, God?, consisting of tracks exclusively from the 1983–85 ZTT era, from the initial tentative demos created by Gary Langan and J.J. Jeczalik in the wake of the Yes 90125 sessions, to selections from the Ambassadors Theatre performances featuring Horn and Morley, recorded at concerts profiling ZTT acts—prior to which, Langan, Jeczalik, and Dudley had abandoned the label (and, for the time being, the band). The set featured over 40 unreleased remixes, demos, and works in progress, as well as the complete vinyl version of Into Battle... – sourced from the original masters – for the first time on CD. The project was conceived, researched and compiled by music journalist (and Art of Noise aficionado) Ian Peel
, who also wrote the box set's accompanying 36-page book, which featured new interviews with all of the original members.
In April 2011, Peel continued his archiving of classic and vaulted ZTT material, now named the Element Series, with a Deluxe Edition reissue of Into Battle With The Art Of Noise
. This was intended to be the first of a chronological remastering and repackaging of the Art Of Noise's output, collating the original album or EP with extended and previously unavailable tracks. Who's Afraid Of The Art Of Noise?
, considered the first 'true' AON album, was released as a Deluxe Edition on 19th September 2011.
"Moments in Love" was released digitally in 2008, entered the Billboard Jazz Digital Songs chart in April 2010, and, as of the 14 May 2011 chart, has been on the chart for 57 weeks.
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
group formed in 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan
Gary Langan
Gary Langan is an audio engineer and record producer.-Biography:In 1983, Langan co-founded the ZTT Records label with Trevor Horn, Paul Morley and Jill Sinclair...
, programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with arranger Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film...
, producer Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....
and music journalist Paul Morley
Paul Morley
Paul Morley is an English journalist, who wrote for the New Musical Express from 1977 to 1983, during one of its most successful periods, and has since written for a wide range of publications...
. The group's mostly instrumental compositions were novel melodic sound collage
Sound collage
In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
s based on digital sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
technology, which was new at the time. Inspired by turn-of-the-20th-century revolutions in music, the Art of Noise were initially packaged as a faceless anti- or non-group, blurring the distinction between the art and its creators. The band is noted for innovative use of electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
and computers in pop music and particularly for innovative use of sampling.
The name of the group alludes to the essay "The Art of Noises
The Art of Noises
The Art of Noises is a Futurist manifesto, written by Luigi Russolo in a 1913 letter to friend and Futurist composer Francesco Balilla Pratella...
" by noted futurist
Futurism (art)
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo was an Italian Futurist painter and composer, and the author of the manifesto The Art of Noises . He is often regarded as one of the first noise music experimental composers with his performances of "noise concerts" in 1913-14 and then again after World War I, notably in Paris in 1921...
. From the earliest releases on ZTT, the band referred to itself as both Art of Noise and The Art of Noise. Official and unofficial releases and press material use both versions. The group is perhaps best known currently for the international Top 20 singles "Kiss
Kiss (song)
In 1988 Art of Noise released a cover of the song, featuring Tom Jones on vocals. The song became the band's biggest hit to that point, reaching number eighteen on the U.S. dance charts and number five on the UK Singles Chart, higher than the original in that country...
" and "Peter Gunn", the latter of which won a 1986 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
.
Beginnings
In early 1983, two of Trevor Horn's production team, programmer JJ Jeczalik and engineer Gary Langan, were working on a scrapped drum riff from a session from Yes'sYes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
90125. They sampled it into a Fairlight CMI
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
, using its then new Page R sequencer. This was the first time an entire drum pattern had been sampled into the machine. They then added non-musical sounds on top of it, before playing the track to producer Trevor Horn. He then got arranger Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film...
involved in what would become a long-term side project. Jeczalik, Langan, Dudley & Horn became known as the Art of Noise along with one of Horn’s business partners, ex-NME journalist Paul Morley, who originally named them the Art of Noises before Jeczalik dropped the end ‘s’. This was the first time that Horn had been part of a group since he had parted company with his Buggles partner Geoff Downes
Geoff Downes
Geoffrey "Geoff" Downes is an English rock keyboard player, songwriter, best known as the keyboardist for the bands The Buggles, Yes and Asia, of which he is the only consistent member. When he was a keyboardist for The Buggles, he played multiple keyboards to achieve a New Wave technopop sound...
after they had been part of Yes. It would also be the first and last time that he would enjoy chart success as an artist since the New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
hit in 1979 with "Video Killed the Radio Star
Video Killed the Radio Star
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by...
". The team had first assembled in 1981 to produce ABC
ABC (band)
ABC are an English band, that charted ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band continues to tour and released a new album, Traffic, in 2008.-Formation:...
's The Lexicon of Love
The Lexicon of Love
The Lexicon of Love is the critically acclaimed chart-topping debut album by British pop band ABC, released in 1982. It is a concept album in which the singer experiences heartache as he tries and fails to have a meaningful relationship....
album, which led to an increase in profile for all of them. They would later go on to work with Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...
on what would become the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Welcome to the Pleasuredome was the debut album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, first released in the UK in October 1984 by ZTT/Island Records. Originally issued as a vinyl double album, it was assured of a UK chart entry at number one due to reported advance sales of over one million...
.
The technological impetus for the Art of Noise was the advent of the Fairlight CMI sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
, an electronic musical instrument invented in Australia that Horn was reportedly among the first to purchase. With the Fairlight, short digital sound recordings called samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
could be "played" through a piano-like keyboard, while a computer processor altered such characteristics as pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
and timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
. While some musicians were using samples as adornment in their works, Horn and his companions saw the potential to craft entire compositions with the sampler, disrupting the traditional rock aesthetic. Others were working contemporaneously towards this goal, such as Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
and Yello
Yello
Yello is a Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They are probably best known for their singles "The Race" and "Oh Yeah", which feature a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals, as does most of their music....
. Producer and musician Tony Mansfield
Tony Mansfield
Tony Mansfield, born May 28, 1943, Salford, England, is an English songwriter, musician and record producer. Mansfield was the main songwriter/producer for New Musik, a synthpop band that performed from 1979 to 1982.-References:...
had made extensive use of the Fairlight for Naked Eyes
Naked Eyes
Naked Eyes is a British New Wave band that rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Originally a duo, the band is known largely for its singles: a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard " Always Something There to Remind Me" , as well as the band's subsequent hits "Promises, Promises", "When...
' eponymous debut album. Horn had previously put the sampling keyboard to great use on The Lexicon of Love
The Lexicon of Love
The Lexicon of Love is the critically acclaimed chart-topping debut album by British pop band ABC, released in 1982. It is a concept album in which the singer experiences heartache as he tries and fails to have a meaningful relationship....
, mostly in order to tweak live-based elements of performance but also to embellish the compositions with sound effects (such as a cash register's bell on "Date Stamp").
In February 1983—with Paul Morley providing much of the band's art direction—Horn, Dudley, Jeczalik, and Langan formed the initial incarnation of The Art of Noise. The group's debut EP, Into Battle with The Art of Noise
Into Battle with the Art of Noise
Into Battle with the Art of Noise is an EP by the Art of Noise—its first release, and also the first release by ZTT Records. The record represented the first instalment in the ZTT's Incidental Series ....
, appeared in September 1983 on Horn's fledgling ZTT
ZTT Records
ZTT Records is a record label founded in 1983 by NME journalist Paul Morley, record producer Trevor Horn, and businesswoman Jill Sinclair. The label's name was also printed as "Zang Tumb Tuum" and "Zang Tuum Tumb" on various releases....
label. It immediately scored a hit in the urban and alternative dance charts in the USA with the highly percussive, cut-up instrumental track "Beat Box
Beat Box (song)
"Beat Box" is the debut single released by the British group Art of Noise in 1983. The track, one of the world's very first and most influential Hip-Hop hits intended as an instrumental, originally appeared on the 12" EP Into Battle with the Art of Noise, recorded during the same sessions as...
", a favourite among poppers
Popping
Popping is a street dance and one of the original funk styles that came from California during the 1960s-70s. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit...
.
The bass hook of this song also featured, with the addition of a synthesiser melody over the top of it, as the theme tune for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
game show The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor was a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on Mondays at 19:00....
.
Changes
"Moments In Love"—a ten-minute, downtempoDowntempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...
/R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
, instrumental ode to sensuality that appeared on both Into Battle and Who's Afraid—was remixed and released as a single in 1984 (first released in the USA in 1983, where it was a moderate hit on the U.S. R&B singles chart). It was played at Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's wedding; sampled by Mýa
Mya
-A person:* Bo Mya , Chief Commander of the Karen National Union* Mýa , American R&B singer-songwriter and actress** Mýa , a 1998 album by Mýa-A code:* Burmese language, ISO 639-3 code is mya* Moruya Airport's IATA code...
in her hit single "It's All About Me
It's All About Me
It's All About Me is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Mýa and features R&B singer Sisqó. The track was produced by Darryl Pearson for Harrison debut self-titled studio album. It's All About Me was written by Mark Andrew and Darryl Pearson....
," which featured Sisqó
Sisqó
Mark Durrell Andrews , known by his stage name Sisqó, is an American R&B singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, and also for "Thong Song", a song from his first solo LP, Unleash the Dragon, that became an international hit. - Biography :Sisqó was born Mark...
; used in the soundtrack of the movie Pumping Iron II: The Women
Pumping Iron II: The Women
Pumping Iron II: The Women is a documentary film about female bodybuilding, focusing on several women as they prepare for and compete in the 1983 Caesars World Cup....
; featured in the Indian movie Koi...Mil Gaya
Koi... Mil Gaya
Koi... Mil Gaya is a 2003 Bollywood science fiction film, directed by Rakesh Roshan , starring Hrithik Roshan, Rekha, and Preity Zinta. It was released on 8 August 2003...
; name-dropped in the opening pages of Sister Souljah
Sister Souljah
Sister Souljah is an American hip hop-generation author, activist, recording artist, and film producer. She gained prominence for Bill Clinton's criticism of her remarks about race in the United States during the 1992 presidential campaign...
's 2011 novel Midnight and the Meaning of Love (as "Moments of Love"); used in a number of advertisements; and remixed, covered, and sampled by numerous other artists years afterward. It has also appeared in numerous chill out compilations and has become a staple of smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
radio station playlists.
It was also around 1985 that Dudley, Jeczalik, and Langan made an acrimonious split from Morley and Horn as well as from the ZTT label. The circumstances of the reorganisation were never well-publicized, but several sources indicate that there were disputes over creative control:
- An October 1984 feature in Smash HitsSmash HitsSmash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
magazine indicated that Morley and Horn planned for the group to produce a number of projects that were much different from what was produced after the split. Planned was a cover of "Video Killed the Radio StarVideo Killed the Radio Star"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by...
", originally by The BugglesThe BugglesThe Buggles were an English New Wave band consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes . They are remembered chiefly for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star" that was #1 on the singles chart in 16 countries. Its music video was the first to be shown on MTV in the U.S...
(Horn and Geoff DownesGeoff DownesGeoffrey "Geoff" Downes is an English rock keyboard player, songwriter, best known as the keyboardist for the bands The Buggles, Yes and Asia, of which he is the only consistent member. When he was a keyboardist for The Buggles, he played multiple keyboards to achieve a New Wave technopop sound...
); Raiding the 20th Century, an album using sounds from throughout the 20th century as source material; the score for The Living End, a film written by Morley and directed by Godley & CremeGodley & CremeGodley & Creme were an English pop music duo composed of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing albums as a duo after splitting from the pop band 10cc. In 1979 they directed their first music video for their own single "An Englishman in New York"...
; and the soundtrack for a ballet.
- On 25 May 1985, the trio reportedly walked out on Morley and Horn just before a ZTT showcase performance, The Value of Entertainment, that was to run for two weeks at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. The sudden departure left Morley to improvise a performance consisting of his reading an essay over Art of Noise recordings and three people dancing to "Beat Box" and "Close (To the Edit)Close (to the Edit)"Close " was a single by Art of Noise, released on various formats in May 1984. It was closely related to their earlier single "Beat Box", though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage....
". Part of the spoken-word portion of the performance was subsequently released on the ZTT compilation album Sampled.
- In an interview for Melody MakerMelody MakerMelody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
in October 1985, Jeczalik indicated that he and Morley did not get along and that he felt Morley's writing was pretentious. Jeczalik responded to a question about the level of Morley and Horn's involvement in Who's Afraid by saying, “It’s difficult to tell. We say approximately 1.73 percent, but it could even be as high as two percent. You see, all that has happened is that Gary and I started something, it was taken away, and we have taken steps to get it back.” In the same interview, Dudley indicated she felt parts of Who's Afraid were of dubious quality.
- In a July 2002 article penned for The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Morley wrote "I loved the name Art of Noise so much that I forced my way into the group. If over the years people asked me what I did in the group, I replied that I named them, and it was such a great name, that was enough to justify my role. I was the Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
of Art of Noise. I made the tea. Oh, and I wrote the lyrics to one of the loveliest pieces of pop music ever, Moments in Love. When Trevor and I left, they became a novelty group who had hits with Tom Jones." His disdain for the artistic direction of the group when he was not in control of it was even more evident in other articles he penned, including the liner notes of the 1986 compilation album Daft (under the name Otto Flake) and a September 2002 article for The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
.
After the split, the remaining members moved to the UK-based China Records
China Records
China Records was a record label founded October 1, 1984 by Derek Green. Its top-selling artists were Art of Noise, Morcheeba and The Levellers....
label, keeping some of the band's original imagery and ethos alive in their second album, In Visible Silence
In Visible Silence
In Visible Silence is the second full-length release by avant-garde pop group Art of Noise, and the first created by members Anne Dudley, J. J...
. This album spawned the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning cover of the Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...
theme, recorded with twangy guitar legend Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"...
, who had a huge hit, years earlier, with Peter Gunn in 1959. The Art of Noise collaboration reached number two on the Billboard dance charts. The Peter Gunn video featured comedian Rik Mayall
Rik Mayall
Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...
sending up the private eye. From this same album, the "Beat Box"-like single, "Legs," was a mild underground hit in dance clubs, and in 1986, "Paranoimia" achieved some success when a remix of it was released as a single with overdubbed vocal samples provided by the supposedly computer-generated character Max Headroom
Max Headroom (character)
Max Headroom is a fictional British artificial intelligence, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. The character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton in the mid nineteen eighties, and portrayed by Matt Frewer as "The World's first...
.
Around 1986, Jeczalik and Dudley started appearing in photographs without masks, alienating some fans that had come to appreciate Morley's "art for art's sake" aesthetic. The upcoming soundtrack pieces continued The Art of Noise's evolution into a pop band and away from Morley's faceless "non-group."
By 1987, the band's membership was down to just Jeczalik and Dudley. That year saw the release of their album In No Sense? Nonsense!
In No Sense? Nonsense!
In No Sense? Nonsense! was the third full-length album by Art of Noise. By the time of its recording, the group had been reduced to a duo, with engineer Gary Langan leaving the previous year—Langan's mix engineering duties were taken over by Bob Kraushaar and Ted Hayton for this album, but the...
The album featured Jeczalik's most advanced rhythmic collages to date, plus lush string arrangements, pieces for boys' choir, and keyboard melodies from Dudley. It did not produce any hits, although their record label made efforts to push remixes of "Dragnet
Dragnet (theme song)
"Dragnet" is an instrumental theme from the radio and television show of the same name. It was composed by Walter Schumann for the radio show, and was also used on the subsequent television series and later syndication of the TV series under the name "Badge 714"...
" into the dance clubs. The album is often regarded by fans to be among their best work, despite the inclusion of arguably novelty tracks composed for the soundtracks of the movies Dragnet
Dragnet (1987 film)
Dragnet is a 1987 film comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, directed by Tom Mankiewicz, based on the television crime drama of the same name starring Jack Webb. The screenplay is written by Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel and Mankiewicz. The original music score is by Ira Newborn...
and Disorderlies. Less faithful critics, however, criticised the album for being too pretentious and lacking in the humour and catchiness that characterised previous releases. The Art of Noise appeared to have taken inspiration from fellow sonic collage artist Boris Blank
Boris Blank (musician)
Boris Blank is a Swiss artist and musician especially famous for his work in the musical duo Yello with Dieter Meier.-Career:...
(of Yello
Yello
Yello is a Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They are probably best known for their singles "The Race" and "Oh Yeah", which feature a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals, as does most of their music....
) with the track "Roller 1"; though the melodic compositions are significantly different, it bears a striking resemblance to the programming used on Yello's "Let Me Cry
Let Me Cry
“Let Me Cry” was Bulgaria’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, performed in English by Mariana Popova.The song was performed second in the semi-final “Let Me Cry” was Bulgaria’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, performed in English by Mariana Popova.The song was performed second...
". In 1987, The Art of Noise provided the score for two movies, Hiding Out and Dragnet, and one particular movement was used in both films. Their brass-based connecting passage between sections from the original Dragnet television show's theme song was used as incidental music during a dramatic scene—an armed chase through the rafters of a gymnasium—near the end of Hiding Out.
Hits and misses
In 1988, a one-off collaboration with singer Tom JonesTom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
(a cover of Prince's "Kiss
Kiss (song)
In 1988 Art of Noise released a cover of the song, featuring Tom Jones on vocals. The song became the band's biggest hit to that point, reaching number eighteen on the U.S. dance charts and number five on the UK Singles Chart, higher than the original in that country...
"—a staple in Jones' stage shows) renewed the public's interest in the Art of Noise and provided the group's biggest hit in the mainstream. The track appeared on several albums by Jones, and China Records included the song on the greatest hits compilation The Best of the Art of Noise, the first edition of which also contained tracks licensed from ZTT.
The follow-up album, Below the Waste
Below the Waste
Below the Waste is Art of Noise's fourth full-length original album and their last album for China Records before Anne Dudley reformed with ZTT's Trevor Horn and Paul Morley for 1999's The Seduction of Claude Debussy....
, failed to achieve much success upon its release in 1989. While it did spawn the memorable single "Yebo!" (featuring the unique vocals of Zulu
Zulu music
The Zulu are a South African ethnic group. Many Zulu musicians have become a major part of South African music. A number of Zulu-folk derived styles have also become well-known across South Africa and abroad.-Mbube and Isicathamiya:...
performers Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens
Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens
Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens was a South African mbaqanga supergroup composed of:...
) and what appears to be a Mancini
Mancini
Mancini is an Italian surname etymologically meaning "left handed" and may refer to:-Art and literature:*Antonio Mancini, Italian painter*Dominic Mancini, 15th century traveler and author*Don Mancini, who wrote Child's Play...
tribute in the form of Robinson Crusoe
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (TV series)
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was a French children's television drama series made by Franco London Films . The show was first aired in Germany in October 1964 under the title Robinson Crusoe as four 90 minute episodes by co-producers ZDF television, and syndicated in the USA the same year...
, some critics felt the album was a hollow imitation of its predecessors, lacking the aesthetic and creative fullness of previous releases.
Compilations and solo
In 1990, Dudley and Jeczalik declared that the Art of Noise was done; they had officially disbanded.The rest of the decade saw China Records releasing various Art of Noise compilations: The Ambient Collection, The FON Mixes, The Drum and Bass Collection, Art Works, and reissues of Best of without the ZTT-era tracks. Some of these featured new remixes by other artists. The China label eventually folded.
Although Dudley and Jeczalik had already dissolved the group, in 1990 they assisted in the promotion of the lightly remixed compilation The Ambient Collection that the China label released to cash in on the burgeoning ambient house
Ambient house
Ambient house, a music genre that first emerged in the late 1980s, is a sub-genre of house music, combining elements of acid house and ambient music...
scene, and Jeczalik approved the remixes that appeared on The FON Mixes the following year.
Dudley became well-known for composing numerous film and television scores in the 1990s. The most famous of these is probably The Full Monty
The Full Monty
The Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber, and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy...
, which won an Academy Award for Original Music Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
.
In 1995–1997, Jeczalik and In No Sense? Nonsense! coengineer Bob Kraushaar
Bob Kraushaar
Robert Peter Kraushaar is an English pop music record producer specializing in mixing. Kraushaar has mixed and produced commercially successful songs and albums for numerous British and international artists....
produced a number of instrumentals oriented toward dance clubs under the name Art of Silence, issuing an album titled artofsilence.co.uk. Jeczalik also embarked on a new career in trading in futures contract
Futures contract
In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract between two parties to exchange a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed today with delivery occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date. The contracts are traded on a futures exchange...
s.
Other appearances
Four-fifths of The Art of Noise worked on the Yes album 90125, with Trevor Horn producing, Gary Langan engineering, and Anne Dudley and J.J. Jeczalik providing arrangements and keyboard programming. Many of the samples used on that album also appear on Into BattleInto Battle with the Art of Noise
Into Battle with the Art of Noise is an EP by the Art of Noise—its first release, and also the first release by ZTT Records. The record represented the first instalment in the ZTT's Incidental Series ....
. The same four also appeared on Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
's 1982 album Duck Rock
Duck Rock
Duck Rock is an album released by British impresario Malcolm McLaren In 1983. The album mixes up styles from South Africa, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and the US, including hip hop. The album proved to be highly influential in bringing hip hop to a wider audience in the UK...
and the 1982 album The Lexicon of Love
The Lexicon of Love
The Lexicon of Love is the critically acclaimed chart-topping debut album by British pop band ABC, released in 1982. It is a concept album in which the singer experiences heartache as he tries and fails to have a meaningful relationship....
by ABC
ABC (band)
ABC are an English band, that charted ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band continues to tour and released a new album, Traffic, in 2008.-Formation:...
, on which Dudley also cowrote a track and began her scoring career.
Anne Dudley and Killing Joke
Killing Joke
Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England; other sources report the band formed in early 1979.Related news articles: Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock,...
's Jaz Coleman
Jaz Coleman
Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman is a musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is notable for his vocal contributions to rock band Killing Joke...
collaborated on the 1990 album Songs from the Victorious City, inspired by a trip the two made to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
The Art of Noise also gets a full writing credit for The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
's "Firestarter
Firestarter (song)
"Firestarter" is a song by the English band The Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996. It was the first single from their third album The Fat of the Land, and their tenth single. It was also the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks...
", which samples the female "hey, hey" voice from "Close to the Edit". The Prodigy also contributed the remix "Instruments of Darkness (All of Us are One People)" to the 1991 compilation The FON Mixes. Also, an edited version of "Close to the Edit" is featured on the monthly educational Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
game, Ready Robot Club. The Art of Noise is also credited for the music to the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
series The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor was a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on Mondays at 19:00....
.
Anne Dudley produced two tracks for the 1993 Deborah Harry album Debravation
Debravation
Debravation is the fourth solo album by Deborah Harry. Released in 1993, the album reached no. 24 in the UK. It was also the final album Harry made whilst signed to the Chrysalis label, thus ending a successful partnership that began with Blondie and had endured for over 15 years.The first single...
: "Strike Me Pink" and "Mood Ring," as well as cowriting and playing keyboard on "Strike Me Pink." She has scored orchestrations for dozens of pop releases over the years, and both scored and produced the album Voice for her neighbour Alison Moyet
Alison Moyet
Alison Moyet , is an English singer, songwriter and performer noted for her bluesy voice.Her UK album sales have reached a certified 2.3 million, with 800,000 singles sold, all in the UK, where all seven of her studio albums and three compilation albums have charted in the Top 40 UK Album Chart,...
. Cathy Dennis
Cathy Dennis
Cathy Dennis is a British dance-oriented pop singer-songwriter, record producer and actress...
added lyrics to one of Dudley's compositions and recorded it as "Too Many Walls
Too Many Walls
"Too Many Walls" is the title of a pop ballad by the British singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis.Released as a single from her album Move to This in September 1991, "Too Many Walls" became Dennis' fourth Top 10 hit on the U.S. pop chart, where it peaked at #8...
", which became a U.S. Top 10 hit in 1991.
The group's version of "Peter Gunn" was used as the theme music for the 2008 BBC TV series Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
's Wild Side.
Reformation
According to an interview with J.J. Jeczalik reported in the ZTT fanzine Outside World in 1991, Jeczalik, Anne Dudley, and Gary Langan were inspired by the commercial success of The FON Mixes and had discussed reuniting the group as a trio again. In preparation to record a new album, J.J. and Gary travelled to Cuba to gather new source material. However, no new recordings were produced with the new line-up, and the Art of Noise remained defunct.A 1997 album Balance – Music for the Eye was never released, but it is not known what line-up this featured. Several tracks from this project were included on the 2010 retrospective album Influence.
In 1998, Horn, Morley, and Dudley began talking about the original intent of the project, its relevance in 20th-century music, and the impending turn of a new century. The group temporarily reformed, adding guitarist Lol Creme
Lol Crème
Lol Creme is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings, plays guitar and keyboards.-Biography:...
but leaving J.J. Jeczalik and Gary Langan conspicuously absent. 'With it' dance act Way Out West provided engineering and production tasks usually fulfilled by these men.
A new single, Dream On—which featured remixed versions of the forthcoming album track, Dreaming In Colour—was released to club DJs later that year, showcasing mixes by Way Out West
Way Out West (producers)
Way Out West are a UK progressive house, trance and progressive breaks group from Bristol, England consisting of producers and DJs Jody Wisternoff and Nick Warren. They came to fame in the 1990s with chart hit "The Gift", and have since released four albums....
. A second single, Metaforce, featuring a rap by Rakim
Rakim
William Michael Griffin Jr. , known by his stage names Rakim , Rakim Allah, R.A.K.I.M., and The Master, is an American rapper. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and most skilled emcees of all time. Eric B...
, preceded the 1999 release of the concept album The Seduction of Claude Debussy
The Seduction of Claude Debussy
The Seduction of Claude Debussy is a 1999 concept album by Art of Noise, featuring a line-up of Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, Paul Morley, and Lol Creme. Also appearing on the album are John Hurt, soprano Sally Bradshaw, Rakim, and Donna Lewis...
on the ZTT label.
The Seduction album marked an evolution, rather than a return to the band's glory days, taking the form of a cohesive concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
depicting the life and works of Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
. However, while impressive from a technical and critical standpoint, it failed to score as a pop album.
The album did, however, form the basis of a 17 minute soundtrack for London's Millennium fireworks celebrations on the banks of the River Thames. The firework display was synchronised to an edit of "Seduction" which also featured a collage of samples from some of Britain's most famous pop and rock songs, plus classical composers. It was broadcast live on 95.8 Capital FM and BBC London 94.9. Trevor Horn worked on the project with Jill Sinclair, Bob Geldof, Capital Radio executive Clive Dickens and producer Ross Ford.
Dissolution and re-releases
After performing a handful of live shows in the UK and U.S., the band dissolved. A DVD (Into Vision) and CD (Reconstructed) were released in 2002 and 2003 respectively, featuring music recorded and filmed in Chicago, at the Coachella Festival (10 September 1999), at the Shepherd's Bush Empire (22 March 2000) and Fountain Studios, Wembley, London (1 June 2000).In 2003, a "20th Anniversary Edition" of Into Battle was released the first time in CD form in Germany, including bonus tracks and a bonus DVD of their promo videos and a selected discography slideshow of album art. The CD substituted the original version of "Beat Box" with the later "Diversion One".
In early 2004, the Karvavena label released an Art of Noise tribute album, The Abduction of The Art of Noise. This album contains covers of various tracks, including a new version of "Beat Box" performed by J.J. Jeczalik under his Art of Silence moniker. 2004 saw Dudley and Horn perform "Close (To the Edit)" together at a The Prince's Trust
The Prince's Trust
The Prince's Trust is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by Charles, Prince of Wales to help young people. They run a range of training programmes, provide mentoring support and offer financial grants to build the confidence and motivation of disadvantaged young people...
charity event.
21 August 2006 saw ZTT release a 4-CD Art of Noise box set, titled And What Have You Done With My Body, God?, consisting of tracks exclusively from the 1983–85 ZTT era, from the initial tentative demos created by Gary Langan and J.J. Jeczalik in the wake of the Yes 90125 sessions, to selections from the Ambassadors Theatre performances featuring Horn and Morley, recorded at concerts profiling ZTT acts—prior to which, Langan, Jeczalik, and Dudley had abandoned the label (and, for the time being, the band). The set featured over 40 unreleased remixes, demos, and works in progress, as well as the complete vinyl version of Into Battle... – sourced from the original masters – for the first time on CD. The project was conceived, researched and compiled by music journalist (and Art of Noise aficionado) Ian Peel
Ian Peel
Ian Peel is a sport shooter who has represented Great Britain in the Summer Olympic Games on three occasions....
, who also wrote the box set's accompanying 36-page book, which featured new interviews with all of the original members.
In April 2011, Peel continued his archiving of classic and vaulted ZTT material, now named the Element Series, with a Deluxe Edition reissue of Into Battle With The Art Of Noise
Into Battle with the Art of Noise
Into Battle with the Art of Noise is an EP by the Art of Noise—its first release, and also the first release by ZTT Records. The record represented the first instalment in the ZTT's Incidental Series ....
. This was intended to be the first of a chronological remastering and repackaging of the Art Of Noise's output, collating the original album or EP with extended and previously unavailable tracks. Who's Afraid Of The Art Of Noise?
Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise?
The Art of Noise! was Art of Noise's debut full-length album, released in 1984, and featured the UK hit singles "Close " which reached No 8 in the UK chart in November 1984 and the double-A sided "Moments in Love"/"Beat Box," which made it to no. 51 during April 1985 in the UK.-Track listing:All...
, considered the first 'true' AON album, was released as a Deluxe Edition on 19th September 2011.
Influence
ZTT Records and Salvo released a new retrospective album titled Influence in July 2010. The album includes the hits, the collaborations, soundtracks and unreleased material spanning both the ZTT & China Records periods.Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
||
| 1984 | Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? The Art of Noise! was Art of Noise's debut full-length album, released in 1984, and featured the UK hit singles "Close " which reached No 8 in the UK chart in November 1984 and the double-A sided "Moments in Love"/"Beat Box," which made it to no. 51 during April 1985 in the UK.-Track listing:All...
|
27 | 85 |
| 1986 | In Visible Silence In Visible Silence In Visible Silence is the second full-length release by avant-garde pop group Art of Noise, and the first created by members Anne Dudley, J. J... China Records China Records was a record label founded October 1, 1984 by Derek Green. Its top-selling artists were Art of Noise, Morcheeba and The Levellers.... (UK)/Chrysalis Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis... (US) |
18 | 53 |
| 1987 | In No Sense? Nonsense! In No Sense? Nonsense! In No Sense? Nonsense! was the third full-length album by Art of Noise. By the time of its recording, the group had been reduced to a duo, with engineer Gary Langan leaving the previous year—Langan's mix engineering duties were taken over by Bob Kraushaar and Ted Hayton for this album, but the... |
55 | 134 |
| 1989 | Below the Waste Below the Waste Below the Waste is Art of Noise's fourth full-length original album and their last album for China Records before Anne Dudley reformed with ZTT's Trevor Horn and Paul Morley for 1999's The Seduction of Claude Debussy.... Polydor Records Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone... (US) |
– | – |
| 1999 | The Seduction of Claude Debussy The Seduction of Claude Debussy The Seduction of Claude Debussy is a 1999 concept album by Art of Noise, featuring a line-up of Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, Paul Morley, and Lol Creme. Also appearing on the album are John Hurt, soprano Sally Bradshaw, Rakim, and Donna Lewis... Universal Records Universal Records was a record label owned by Universal Music Group, and it is now owned by Manny Patino and Michael Jackson, and operated as part of the Universal Motown Republic Group.-History:... (US) |
150 | – |
EP
- Into Battle with the Art of NoiseInto Battle with the Art of NoiseInto Battle with the Art of Noise is an EP by the Art of Noise—its first release, and also the first release by ZTT Records. The record represented the first instalment in the ZTT's Incidental Series ....
(1983) - Label: ZTTZTT RecordsZTT Records is a record label founded in 1983 by NME journalist Paul Morley, record producer Trevor Horn, and businesswoman Jill Sinclair. The label's name was also printed as "Zang Tumb Tuum" and "Zang Tuum Tumb" on various releases....
(UK)/IslandIsland RecordsIsland Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
(US)
Compilation and remix albums
- DaftDaft (album)Daft is a compilation collecting Art of Noise LP Who's Afraid of the Art Of Noise? , along with portions of the Into Battle with the Art of Noise EP and "Moments in Love" remix single...
(1986) - Re-Works of Art of Noise (1986)
- The Best of the Art of NoiseThe Best of the Art of NoiseThe Best of the Art of Noise is the name of a series of compilation albums with songs by the British synthpop and industrial band The Art of Noise. The first version was released on the China Records label in 1988....
(1988) - The Ambient CollectionThe Ambient CollectionThe Ambient Collection is a 1990 album compiling songs by the Art of Noise into a chill-out mix. The album was compiled and remixed by Youth.-Track listing:# Opus 4 # Opus for 4 # Nothing Was Going to Stop Them Then, Anyway...
(1990) - The FON Mixes (1991)
- The Best of the Art of NoiseThe Best of the Art of NoiseThe Best of the Art of Noise is the name of a series of compilation albums with songs by the British synthpop and industrial band The Art of Noise. The first version was released on the China Records label in 1988....
(1992; Limited Edition; 2CD) - The Best of the Art of NoiseThe Best of the Art of NoiseThe Best of the Art of Noise is the name of a series of compilation albums with songs by the British synthpop and industrial band The Art of Noise. The first version was released on the China Records label in 1988....
(1992 with different tracks) - The Best of the Art of Noise: Art Works 12" (1992 Germany)
- The Best of the Art of Noise – The Art of Love (1992 Germany)
- The Drum and Bass Collection (1996)
- State of the Art (1997; 3-CD) #200 UK
- Belief System / Bashful / An Extra Pulse of Beauty (1999)
- Reduction (2000)
- Into Battle with the Art of Noise: 20th Anniversary Edition (2003, expanded to album length CD+DVD; Germany)
- The Abduction of the Art of Noise (Various Artists) (2003)
- Reconstructed...For Your Listening Pleasure (2004)
- And What Have You Done with My Body, God? 4-CD box set (2006)
- Influence: Hits, singles, moments, treasures... 2-CD box set (2010) #172 UK
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
AUS ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
IRL Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
NZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
US Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Dance Play | US Dance Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes... |
US Modern Rock | US Black Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
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| 1984 | "Beat Box Beat Box (song) "Beat Box" is the debut single released by the British group Art of Noise in 1983. The track, one of the world's very first and most influential Hip-Hop hits intended as an instrumental, originally appeared on the 12" EP Into Battle with the Art of Noise, recorded during the same sessions as... " |
92 | – | – | – | 101 | 1 | n/a | n/a | 10 | Into Battle with the Art of Noise |
| "Close (To the Edit) Close (to the Edit) "Close " was a single by Art of Noise, released on various formats in May 1984. It was closely related to their earlier single "Beat Box", though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage.... " |
8 | – | 11 | – | 102 | 4 | n/a | n/a | 27 | Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? | |
| 1985 | "Moments in Love" / "Beat Box Beat Box (song) "Beat Box" is the debut single released by the British group Art of Noise in 1983. The track, one of the world's very first and most influential Hip-Hop hits intended as an instrumental, originally appeared on the 12" EP Into Battle with the Art of Noise, recorded during the same sessions as... " |
51 | – | – | – | – | – | 34 | n/a | 90 | |
| "Legs" | 69 | – | – | – | – | 27 | 29 | n/a | 60 | In Visible Silence | |
| 1986 | "Peter Gunn" (featuring Duane Eddy Duane Eddy Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"... ) |
8 | – | 6 | 3 | 50 | 2 | 13 | n/a | – | |
| "Paranoimia Paranoimia "Paranoimia" is a song by English synthpop group Art of Noise released in 1986, from their album In Visible Silence.The song's better-known version was a version released as a single, featuring television character Max Headroom on vocals... " (featuring Max Headroom Max Headroom (character) Max Headroom is a fictional British artificial intelligence, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. The character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton in the mid nineteen eighties, and portrayed by Matt Frewer as "The World's first... ) |
12 | – | 18 | 6 | 34 | 14 | 21 | n/a | – | Re-Works of Art of Noise | |
| "Legacy" | 95 | – | – | – | n/a | 45 | – | n/a | – | ||
| 1987 | "Moments in Love" | 87 | – | – | – | n/a | – | – | n/a | – | (Who's Afraid Of?) The Art of Noise! |
| "Dragnet" | 60 | – | – | 25 | – | – | – | n/a | – | In·No·Sense? Nonsense! | |
| 1988 | "Dragnet (The '88 Mix)" | 94 | – | – | – | – | – | – | n/a | – | The Best of the Art of Noise |
| "Kiss Kiss (song) In 1988 Art of Noise released a cover of the song, featuring Tom Jones on vocals. The song became the band's biggest hit to that point, reaching number eighteen on the U.S. dance charts and number five on the UK Singles Chart, higher than the original in that country... " (featuring Tom Jones Tom Jones (singer) Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records... ) |
5 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 31 | 18 | 13 | 14 | – | ||
| 1989 | "Paranoimia '89" | 88 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| "Yebo!" (featuring Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens was a South African mbaqanga supergroup composed of:... ) |
63 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Below the Waste | |
| 1990 | "Art of Love" | 67 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | The Ambient Collection |
| 1991 | "Instruments of Darkness (All of Us Are One People)" | 45 | – | – | – | – | 42 | – | – | – | The FON Mixes |
| 1992 | "Shades of Paranoimia" | 53 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 1999 | "Metaforce" (featuring Rakim Rakim William Michael Griffin Jr. , known by his stage names Rakim , Rakim Allah, R.A.K.I.M., and The Master, is an American rapper. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and most skilled emcees of all time. Eric B... ) |
53 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | The Seduction of Claude Debussy |
"Moments in Love" was released digitally in 2008, entered the Billboard Jazz Digital Songs chart in April 2010, and, as of the 14 May 2011 chart, has been on the chart for 57 weeks.
DVD and video
- "The Art of Noise in: Visible Silence" (1986) – a concert filmed in the Hammersmith Odeon.
- The Art of Noise: "Into Vision" (2002) – four different concerts between 1999 and 2000 in Chicago; The Coachella Valley Music and Arts FestivalCoachella Valley Music and Arts FestivalThe Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
in California; in Shepherd's BushShepherd's Bush-Commerce:Commercial activity in Shepherd's Bush is now focused on the Westfield shopping centre next to Shepherd's Bush Central line station and on the many small shops which run along the northern side of the Green....
, London; and in WembleyWembleyWembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
, London.
Song appearances
- "Moments In Love" was used in the The Ongoing History of New MusicThe Ongoing History of New MusicThe Ongoing History of New Music is a Canadian radio program, produced by Corus Entertainment's ExploreMusic division in Toronto. The program, hosted by Alan Cross, is syndicated to several other radio stations, mostly but not exclusively Corus-owned, across Canada.The Ongoing History chronicles...
episode "Alt-Rock's Greatest Instrumentals" from 2003.
Band members
| 1983–1985 |
|
|---|---|
| 1985–1987 |
|
| 1987–1990 |
|
| 1998–2000 |
Lol Crème Lol Creme is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings, plays guitar and keyboards.-Biography:... |
See also
- Number one dance hits of 1984 (USA)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
External links
- Official Myspace Page
- ZTT Records official site
- ZTT Records official store
- Ian Peel: Warriors of pop, 21 years of ZTT Record CollectorRecord CollectorRecord Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...
, September 2004 (copy at Zang Tuum Tumb and all that) Article about ZTT's history, contains info on Art of Noise - Visibly Silent—Art of Noise Fan Page
- The Heart of Noise—A Tribute to The Art of Noise
- Art of Noise at WhoSampled