I know that most people have strong opinions on Raise the Pressure by Electronic - some hate it, some love it - but just dusted it off the other day and the songs that are guitar-oriented are minor classics! For You, One Day, Forbidden City, Out of My League,etc. Am I the only one who thinks this?
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Raise the Pressure an underrated masterpiece?
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Brett Hades wrote: I know that most people have strong opinions on Raise the Pressure by Electronic - some hate it, some love it - but just dusted it off the other day and the songs that are guitar-oriented are minor classics! For You, One Day, Forbidden City, Out of My League,etc. Am I the only one who thinks this?
I agree, Twisted Tenderness didn't live up to this one. I find that Bernard was very comfortable writing this album. My personal favorite is Visit Me.
I've been a huge fan of this one since it's release. For You, Second Nature, Forbidden City, and the b-sides Imitation of Life and New Religion. My favorite track though remains One Day. I think it is one of Sumner's best vocal performances of the last 15 years and the guitar work is just great. Really love this album and feel it was slighted in many ways by fans and critics.
I totally agree with this thread. All the songs are great, except the techy sounding ones. (Second Nature being the exception). It's just a really nice, fresh sounding album.
RTP gets more respect now than when it came out. Stylus wrote about it for one of their "On Second Thought" articles.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/electronic-raise-the-pressure.htm
not at all, when it first came out i thought the album was some kind of sick joke in the way it aped late 80s dance music, while taking itself so seriously. time hasn't changed my opinion of it. the only true quality track to come out of it was a b-side - I Feel Alright.
is this thread a joke? Worst album Barney has ever done! First couple of tracks are good and then is goes seriously down hill. Sounds worse now, has not dated well at all. In-fact its the worst NO related material. The massive disappointment (no pun intended) when this came out after the excellent 1st electronic album was only matched when Republic came out. BUT Republic is a far superior album to this one and Reublic is NO worse one.
I still believe Forbidden city, For you, One day, Imitation of life, All that I need, A new religion and Visit me are great songs, stronger than some Republic and/or WFTSC tracks.
I've tried really hard to like this album, and there are pieces of it that are really excellent (namely some of the instrumental breaks), but on the whole it kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Too much house-y piano, too many doo-wah background vocals, too smooth, too damn disco. And the vocals are pretty insipid. Sorry Barney, but it sounds like it was written on Prozac. It really needed more vinegar and less honey. (Twisted Tenderness, for me, went too far the other way.)
PS: it think one reason Electronic's stuff falls a little flat for me is the fact that most of the songs lack a memorable bassline.
Mr. Disco wrote: I still believe Forbidden city, For you, One day, Imitation of life, All that I need, A new religion and Visit me are great songs, stronger than some Republic and/or WFTSC tracks.
Phenomenal!!!
When I first got Raise The Pressure, my first thought was "what the fuck?" and set it aside... seemed like it has been released a few years too late, totally irrelevant at that point. I think a lot of people thought it was irrelevant. In spots it seems like he was trying to do an Erasure album, other spots a bland imitation of a middle of the road The Smiths.
After a few years I found it was much better than I thought, maybe not great or essential, even if I don't think I would listen to all at one time. I think they spent the most time on this record of the three.
"Forbidden City" is one of Bernard's best post 80s songs. And I like "Dark Angel" (maybe his best acid track) and "Until the End of Time", even if they are cheesy they are unabashedly cheesy. Nobody else seems to like the techno tracks, so I guess I'm alone on that. I never liked "One Day" or "Out of My League" much, always thought that was Bernard in his weakest element.
No its just a mixed bag of average tunes. Thats the bottom line for me. Its the worse output by New Order/Electronic except for Movement (IMO). I like some of the tracks and yet I love none.
Its all a bit too computerised and lacks real instrumentation and has mostly bland lyrics with repetitive themes and also it lacks diversity and any truely great songs.
Last year, I tried to listen to RTP again after 12 years, and it was difficult... The synth tracks sounded too polished, and aside from Forbidden City and For You, the overall album too produced.
Aries wrote:
Chase wrote: Sorry Barney, but it sounds like it was written on Prozac.
It was, actually.
Yeah, that's what I meant: you can tell. He's done better before and since.
Chris Romero wrote: I like Like No Other and Prodigal Son.
thats nice. whats your opinion of RTP?
NO Regret wrote: No its just a mixed bag of average tunes. Thats the bottom line for me. Its the worse output by New Order/Electronic except for Movement (IMO). I like some of the tracks and yet I love none.
Its all a bit too computerised and lacks real instrumentation and has mostly bland lyrics with repetitive themes and also it lacks diversity and any truely great songs.
Good summary for mine, though I do like Movement in context.
I can't think of a NO-related track that makes me cringe more than Out of My League (*shudder*)
paul paul wrote: not at all, when it first came out i thought the album was some kind of sick joke in the way it aped late 80s dance music, while taking itself so seriously. time hasn't changed my opinion of it. the only true quality track to come out of it was a b-side - I Feel Alright.
My sentiments exactly. But replace 'I Feel All Right' with 'All that I need' off the same CD.
Seemed cheesy on the first few runs, but now I agree - Definately an underrated masterpiece!
Brett, I wholeheartedly agree with you! I didn't think much of RTP when it first came out, but I also dusted off my copy several years later, and I became hooked!
These days, however, I find that the more electronic tracks have aged considerably, but I do listen to the tracks you've listed quite regularly, i.e. For You, One Day, Forbidden City, Out of My League. Great summery pop songs!
Among the more synth-y tracks, I gotta go with Freefall. One of my fave tracks by Bernard and Johnny.
RTP is a great album. I had kind of mixed feelings when i first heard it. But like fine wine it sounds better and better every time i listen to it.
I enjoyed it when it first came out (not great but fun to listen to), but it has not stood te test of time. Half of the album I can not listen too. There are a few gems on there, but can't pull the rest of the album up outta the shitter.
Forbidden City and Second Nature stand out for me.
One of the best remixes (the first 3-4 mins anyway) came off that album...Until the end of time Fluffy Dice remix
Here's a YT link for it:
A hit and miss record really. I haven't listened to it in years, but I do like the opening song (forbidden city)and a handful of the more cheerful guitar based songs, the more electronic stuff was really weak and sounded like bad club music circa 1993. I may give it a listen again, but I doubt my opinion would change.
Forbidden City was a great single and I hoped for If You've Got Love for a single beause Karl Bartos did keyboards on that one (just like on I Feel Alright, which was a b-side). Second Nature wasn't that great for me, but it was the 3rd and last single from Raise The Pressure. I liked Out Of My League a lot more.
I REALLY like For You.
The guitars on that song are great, the single version is even better than the album version (clearer drum sound by Ged Lynch) although the structure is the same.
If I listen to THAT song, it makes my day in 5 minutes.
I Feel Alright was 'just' a b-side from the For You single, but for me it is the best dance track of that RTP-era and it reminds me of the song Twisted Tenderness, another great dance track from the 3rd album a couple of years later. A lovely melody and great lyrics. After New Orders Regret, this For You-single is probably the best of the nineties for me, also, you have a great rock track AND a great dance track on that one. Even the cover looks cool, sublime single...
I do think it got more of a panning at the time than it deserved but it's hardly a flawless masterpiece either. What NO-related album is though? (aside from say Closer or Low-life!) My main complaints with it was one or two of the dance tracks are a bit too Europop/M People (If You've Got Love is twee and totally pointless), the production is a bit too laboured (something they later admitted) and it's probably a bit too long (13 tracks? Should've been 10-11 at most).
They also let some cracking material go on the b-sides that blatantly should've been on the main album to begin with. It was nice to see them realising this with a succinct edit of Imitation Of Life on the recent Best Of; if there was ever a track that should've ended up somewhere in the RTP running order then that was it. Ditto for tracks like I Feel Alright and to a lesser extent All That I Need (which ended up on the Japanese import anyway). Add to that some of the remixes from the Second Nature and Until The End of Time releases are also just very, very good pieces of electronic pop. The Fluffy Dice UTEOT and Plastik Mix Second Nature sound great even 12-13 years on.
The album does soar at the beginning with Forbidden City, For You, Dark Angel and One Day... I would personally rearrange the rest swapping out the more dated Europop tracks and swapping in b sides and the occasional edit. Second Nature in particular benefitted from a succinct outro fade as featured on the US Promo CD. There's no need for 1 full minute of Denise Johnson going "nah nah nah-nah-nah" really.
Underrated? Yes. Masterpiece? Not really but by no means a turd.
I agree with both the above posters about the B-Sides. They made some cracking ones. "I Feel Aright" is actually one of my favourite Electronic tracks. Can't believe it didnt go on the album. Maybe it wasnt finished in time?
I also absolutely adore "Warning Sign". And "Imitation Of Life" is pretty good too.
