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I find that I enjoy RTP more now than I did when it was released. I think the album's biggest weakness was that the dance tracks sounded dated by '96 standards. Nowadays pretty much all dance music from that period sounds dated anyway.
Anybody else like RTP more now?
Aries wrote: Anybody else like RTP more now?
can't say as i do.
i tried to like it, i really did, but its the weakest of the three albums to me. not really a stand out track on there. a few catchy tunes (in the vein of J-E-T..., which isn't meant to be a compliment), but nothing worthwhile to my ears.
Im still trying to understand why Marr always refers to the music as 'dance music' not one track on any of the 3 albums could have been played in a club-especially the clubs in the north of england. It was all italian house and american garage,which Electronic sound fuck all like.
I really like RTP, always have done... If it has a fault it's a couple of tracks too long, but has some of my fave Electronic tracks (Forbidden City, For You, Out Of My League)... Much prefer it to TT... To each his own...
Snorri xxx
Actually, yes, I do. I thought it was AWFUL the first time I heard it. Then, a few years later, I bought it for .99 and found I really liked the cheesy sound. Not everyday, but when I'm in the mood for it.
when I got it i thought ...WTF is Bernard thinking? cliched, out date, seemlingly fatality out of touch... why did they want to make such a record? Is Bernard trying to compete with Erasure for the much too old over the hill cheesy house band of time?
but then a few years later I liked Raise the Pressure the best of the three to be honest, it is well done, definite the most complete record of the three, New Order was toast so Bernard put everything into this record... "Forbidden City" is their best single
pumped full of drugs wrote: "Forbidden City" is their best single
Amen to that...
Snorri xxx
Funny...the music that was popular in 96 actually sounds more dated now than RTP. Again, Barney and Co. just way ahead of there time...
I recall the crap review it got in Select mag way back when, some narrow minded tosser 
I thought of writing an indignant letter, but then thought I must be a bit out of touch masel ? Anyways, Select mag is now just a distant memory... but RTP still sounds good to me. So, not re-evaluated. Just shows reviews are really not worth the paper they're printed on...
I like RTP a lot. I found it a bit cheesy at first, but liked the singles of it a lot. After repeated listenings I started to like more of the tracks. All in all very good album, at least as good as Electronic´s first effort.
It does still have a few shortcomings; too long and could have missed 2-3 of the weakest tracks. Very cheesy italian house style piano riffs. Vocals like "You´re driving me crazy, oh baby", "This love was born instead of hate, celebrate our love"
pumped full of drugs wrote: when I got it i thought ...WTF is Bernard thinking? cliched, out date, seemlingly fatality out of touch... why did they want to make such a record? Is Bernard trying to compete with Erasure for the much too old over the hill cheesy house band of time?
I think he thought: we have frightend the fans - and myself - so much with Republic, lets make a friendly record with happy sounds this time. And to do this, lets take a lot of prozac!
In fairness, it is hard to follow up the great eponymous debut, so it was inevitable that many would feel disappointed. Overall I do enjoy it, probably a little more than when it came out (I agree that it aged well) and way more than the follow up, TT.
In Fall '96, the Stanford campus paper came out with a review and cited it as an excellent cd by a very underated (in USA) band, and they even cited the singles and b-sides as proof that Electronic was one of the top groups of that year, since they could throw away top notch tunes on their cd singles.
I gave up listening to this a long, long time ago I guess I liked it but I cant tell you, you shouldnt really know.
Anyhow, its got some good songs on it. Visit Me was my favourite (quite dark and moody) as well as Second Nature. Some of the other songs were too samey, with same instrumentation, same bland lyrics and as for One Day and Only Time Can Tell the singing is horrific.
It might have been better if they had Denise Johnson sing it all with Barney doing backing vocals.:p
It's a crap album. Let's not look for things that escaped us first time around. They escaped us 'cause they weren't there in the first fucking place.
It's a good album with some great tunes but it's definitely flawed.
My main gripe is that they confined a few really good songs to bsides like Imitation Of Life and I Feel Alright both of which would've slotted perfectly into the album's running order.
Secondly, some of the tracks would've benefitted from better mixing, editing and production; notably Dark Angel and Until The End Of Time. Both had loads of potential but sounded dated even one year on and a tad overlong. Barney's Fluffy Dice mix of UTEOT from the CD single is how that song should've been done.
The only track I really can't stomach is If You've Got Love and it's definitely the clanger of the album; trite, cheesy and throwaway. Barney and Johnny should've known that track had zero depth - even for a pop song - plus it sounds like M People. Why wasn't Imitation Of Life or I Feel Alright substituted instead?
7/10 but I'd give it an 8 if the bsides were included. It was panned at the time because House music was no longer flavour of the month with BritPop in full swing. It didn't stand a chance in an arena of indie guitar music albums.
"Dads At The Disco" indeed 
I like, always have since it came out. Don't mind the Euro popiness of it ( but then I am big fan of Guilt is a Useless Emotion!) I think it is the best album out of the three.
I quite like it too, and I agree bsides were actually better songs than the singles themselves and the album tracks. It's very much a product of its day though, it's got Karl Bartos written all over it - just listen to HIS solo album. 
seals wrote: I recall the crap review it got in Select mag way back when, some narrow minded tosser
You've hit the nail on the head here. When Raise The Pressure emerged in 1996 the music press, students and indie darlings were blinded and brainwashed by Oasis and the other Brit Pop bands that emerged between 1994-1996 (no disrespect to them just not into them!). Dance Music was still strong during that period but it also underwent a process of change away from the ecsatcy led, ravey sound to something which incorporated more electronic, rock and downtempo (Trip Hop) elements. Dance music IMO became more splintered and was mainly in the camps of Trance - through DJ's like Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Nick Warren, Carl Cox etc. Drum and Bass - Roni Size, Goldie etc. the new (at the time) UK Garage sound and 'dance bands' like Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Underworld, Faithless, Leftfield, Prodigy, Massive Attack, Lamb etc. who were more motivated by playing live gigs to a heavy rock crowd than DJ-ing in clubs and/or doing raves. This climate seems to have affected the reception/reviews Raise The Pressure received but when you have tossers at the likes of Select, NME and Radio 1 (Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq most notably) swooning over every little thing Liam/Noel Gallagher did and spoon-feeding the music buying public towards 1960's retro styled Brit Pop/Cool Britiania (it that s***e ever existed) then alternatives to that sound/style are likely to be ignored. Agreed Raise The Pressure is not in the same league as Electronic's debut and its debateable whether they should have included of Imitation Of Life and/or Feel Alright but I like the album and as body of work the tracks on it are reasonably good IMO even if the dancier tracks have elements of M-People cheese about them. Cheers!
Very timely that Stylus mag has a nice writeup about RTP..."On Second Thought"
Check the link here:
On Second Thought: Electronic - Raise The Pressure
thx
N.
is that the one with the owl fella on the cover or the grass and flowers?
is it worth a dust off? 
I think its a marvelous album now,wasn't so sure then though.Maybe thats because im slightly biased,lovin' both New Order and Karl Bartos.
I think its a marvelous album now,wasn't so sure then though.Maybe thats because im slightly biased,lovin' both New Order and Karl Bartos.
Bruuuue Mundaaee wrote: Very timely that Stylus mag has a nice writeup about RTP..."On Second Thought"
Check the link here:
On Second Thought: Electronic - Raise The Pressure
thx
N.
now i remember. yeah i quite liked R T P. must give it another spin
that Rasputin one was CRAP though.
My favorite electronic album, even more over the popular debut album. But couple of tracks on there couldve been cleaned up more like UTEOT and Second Nature and Dark angel, otherwise I enjoy this album very much.
