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Not sure why it's taken me 23 years to ask this, but do you think the "vocal" on Ecstacy is similar to that which was originally planned for Blue Monday?
Been trying to imagine it - if it hadn't been accidentally wiped, would BM with a robot voice would have been as popular. 
Guess it is indeed what was planned for Blue Monday. I quite like the vocoder voice meself, pity they didn't resurrect it.
Old Blue wrote: Not sure why it's taken me 23 years to ask this...
Did you ever get that infernal Rubik's Cube to come together in the end as well, OB?
As a fan of Ecstasy, ahem, I've actually pondered this as well. I'm a sucker for vocoder parts in general, despite the recent ubiquity. That old electro vibe still can't be beat! But would BM have still been as popular with 'robotic' vocals? Would it have been too much for 1983 pop, running at 7.5 minutes with very little in the way of discernible human elements? Maybe.
Admit to singing along to entirely the wrong words in Ecstasy for years though.
:\pimp3:
depthcharge wrote:
Old Blue wrote: Not sure why it's taken me 23 years to ask this...
Did you ever get that infernal Rubik's Cube to come together in the end as well, OB?
As a fan of Ecstasy, ahem, I've actually pondered this as well. I'm a sucker for vocoder parts in general, despite the recent ubiquity. That old electro vibe still can't be beat! But would BM have still been as popular with 'robotic' vocals? Would it have been too much for 1983 pop, running at 7.5 minutes with very little in the way of discernible human elements? Maybe.
Admit to singing along to entirely the wrong words in Ecstasy for years though.
:\pimp3:
Cher fan, by any chance?:)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300001522431
...this would have been handy
and just to be a pedant, the Cher vocal was done with extreme settings on Antares Autotune and not a vocoder.
hugh mcphail wrote: Cher fan, by any chance?:)
A black day in 'vocoder' history.
In fact pop has pretty much destroyed dance over the years with their consuming of all unique dance elements for the latest Britney/Madonna/etc tracks. It's left dance with very few of its own distinct sounds.
:\pimp3:
depthcharge wrote:
Admit to singing along to entirely the wrong words in Ecstasy for years though.
:\pimp3:
You've seen a transcript somewhere? It's just "I've lost my way", isn't it?
Is it?
I was under the impression there was more to it.
It's been discussed in these parts before. Somewhere, sometime.
:\pimp3:
Just listen to The Beach instead.....seriously though, if you listen to Blue Monday, isn't there vocodered vocals behind some of Bernard's vocals?
Old Blue wrote: You've seen a transcript somewhere? It's just "I've lost my way", isn't it?
TLV posted some lyrics when he was recording his cover for the first "Community" album. They were based on his guesses, I suppose.
depthcharge wrote:
Old Blue wrote: Not sure why it's taken me 23 years to ask this...
Did you ever get that infernal Rubik's Cube to come together in the end as well, OB?
As a fan of Ecstasy, ahem, I've actually pondered this as well. I'm a sucker for vocoder parts in general, despite the recent ubiquity. That old electro vibe still can't be beat! But would BM have still been as popular with 'robotic' vocals? Would it have been too much for 1983 pop, running at 7.5 minutes with very little in the way of discernible human elements? Maybe.
Admit to singing along to entirely the wrong words in Ecstasy for years though.
:\pimp3:
So we can all blame Steve on why Blue Monday became such a big hit, and therefore why it deserves to be played at every NO gig?
depthcharge wrote:
Old Blue wrote: Not sure why it's taken me 23 years to ask this...
Did you ever get that infernal Rubik's Cube to come together in the end as well, OB?
As a fan of Ecstasy, ahem, I've actually pondered this as well. I'm a sucker for vocoder parts in general, despite the recent ubiquity. That old electro vibe still can't be beat! But would BM have still been as popular with 'robotic' vocals? Would it have been too much for 1983 pop, running at 7.5 minutes with very little in the way of discernible human elements? Maybe.
Admit to singing along to entirely the wrong words in Ecstasy for years though.
:\pimp3:
Fuck! I thought I was the only Ecstacy fan. This track really got me into NO in 1984. So does anyone actually know what the "lyrics" are? Sounds like "washed away" or "lost my way" or something. confused2:
I've always heard 'Lost my way', aswell as other lyrics
I swear i've heard 'heart grows cold' or something similar
About 2:30 in; 'leave your head? leave your soul leave your mind change your ???'
'lost someone'?
really hard to decipher!
One Brain wrote:
Old Blue wrote: You've seen a transcript somewhere? It's just "I've lost my way", isn't it?
TLV posted some lyrics when he was recording his cover for the first "Community" album. They were based on his guesses, I suppose.
Yepp, I tried to guess as good as possible. I'll try to see if I can find the transcribed lyrics on my home computer. Otherwise they will be in the (non-searchable) archives in Digital Republic or the first Community forum... :)
/TLV
depthcharge wrote:
hugh mcphail wrote: Cher fan, by any chance?:)
A black day in 'vocoder' history.
In fact pop has pretty much destroyed dance over the years with their consuming of all unique dance elements for the latest Britney/Madonna/etc tracks. It's left dance with very few of its own distinct sounds.
:\pimp3:
Not a vocoder, that Cher record. Actually it's Anatares autotune ( a program designed to correct shit singing) with all the settings up too far. To hear what it sounds like working properly, listen to Krafty.
FrogChorus wrote: I've always heard 'Lost my way', aswell as other lyrics
I swear i've heard 'heart grows cold' or something similar
About 2:30 in; 'leave your head? leave your soul leave your mind change your ???'
'lost someone'?
really hard to decipher!
Could it be... About 2:30 in; 'leave your head? leave your soul leave your mind TURN TO GO??? or TIME TO GO???'
I am sure "lost for words" makes an appearance in there somewhere. Apart from that, gawd knows.
Love the song to pieces! My lyrics for it have always been "Lost my weed" and the cascading bit at 1:36ish was for me "Think I've lost my speed" and then a toking sound, then 'Thanks to Steve" then "Just a thief"
I know. It's just been perverted endlessly to my mind.
Found the old post...
This is my take on it...
[0:33] I've lost my way lost my way lost my way lost my way [1:29] look at us and see you were so cold [1:46] change my [...?] change my [...?] [incoherent mumbling] [2:12] lead your soul lead your soul lead your way to the cold [2:46] I'm lost and cold lost so cold lost so lost [3:15] to the cold [repeat to end]
The first sentence(s) may be "I've lost my head".
/TLV
Without listening right now, I always thought there might be a 'tainted heart' in there somewhere... Lost my mind, lost my soul, tainted heart...
SHEDi xxx
Ecstacy features the same EMS vocoder they used on The Beach. Apparently it was very unreliable - a lot of their gear was dodgy then - and the only times it worked long enough to record to tape was when Ecstacy and The Beach were being recorded. It then stopped working and, even though they spent loads on getting it repaired, it never worked again!
There has long been a rumour that the whole of Blue Monday was originally vocodered and the "when your heart goes cold" line used on The Beach is a snippit from it.
It's not surprising that vocoders make it hard to understand exactly what's being said: Yellow Magic Orchestra often used a Roland one and, coupled with Ryuichi Sakamoto's broken English with a strong Tokyo accent, it's quite difficult to understand what he's on about! Behind The Mask is a real classic but you try and listen to what he's singing!
Hi all, just came across this old post, know the answer so I thought I'd clarify. The vocoder parts on the beach are exactly the same as blue monday. On blue monday they are behind Bernards main vocal, you can hear them if you listen carefully. Therefore the vocoder on the beach is simply just the vocoder part with Bernards main vocal muted and the vocoder up more in the mix. It sounds like they have fed all of his vox track into the vocoder and looped that onto a seperate track. Then just muted the parts they don't want the vocoder in. Kind of underlines the key phrases eg "..just how I should feel today". Brilliance.
Another nice old thread resurrected - I love Ecstasy, easily one of my top New Order songs, very enigmatic with some weird and wonderful synths, very much of their time.
I just assumed it was a list of all the narcotics ingested during the recording sessions. It's probably diffucult to sound articulate when you're off your box and crooning into a vocoder.
Here's a little trivia quiz for you all....
Apart from this track and The Beach, which only other celebrated New Order song that was released also featured vocodered vocals ??
Got you there haven't I?
:p 
By 'Eck! My Neck! wrote: Here's a little trivia quiz for you all....
Apart from this track and The Beach, which only other celebrated New Order song that was released also featured vocodered vocals ??
Got you there haven't I?
Bizarre Love Triangle.
BLT it is. But of course somebody above also mentioned the very beginning to Hurt. Which is also correct! :)
