Customer Reviews

Red Mecca

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

there is nothing wrong with the sound quality. it was recorded in 1981 using a lot of analogue equipment, so what? it still sounds like it could have been made yesterday while 90% of the so-called "industrial music" that came after sounds unbelievably dated. so what does it sound like? very dense, lots of reel to reel tape loops, processed guitar noise, smooth basslines, analogue synths, and primitive drum machines. the vocals are a sinister sort of barking (also run through a myriad of effects) which were subsequently copied by every single "industrial" band that came after them. there ARE melodies in there, if you can't hear them you need to clean your ears out! yes, the song structures are unconventional, and it isn't exactly "catchy", but THAT IS THE POINT! they were trying to create a nightmarish, hallucinogenic experience for the listener. there is nothing cheesy about this album. if you want cheesy catchy melodies and standard pop song structures go listen to tripe like velvet acid christ, vnv nation, or pretty much any ebm/electro industrial album released in the last 8 years. if you want REAL industrial music get this. also, be sure to check out their previous album "the voice of america".

I haven't tried dancing to this - - I'll leave that to bigger feet than mine - - but it pretty much beats the hot pants off most 'industrial' music even after all these years. Cabaret Voltaire were still ahead of their time at this point, prolifically releasing disturbing albums of rhythm and noise (this was their fifth in three years, and that doesn't include several EPs, singles and compilation tracks) that are as haunting today as in yesteryear. Henry Mancini's 'A Touch Of Evil' opens and closes the album with appropriately oblique audio-verite, with just enough deference to the original to render it recognizable. In between are several examples of near-melodic, atmospheric excursions into CV's iconoclastic anti-NeverNeverLand. Bongos. Violin. Guitar. Dirty, lo-fi, analogue waspish synths. Strangulated vocals, inarticulate verbiage. Primitive production. My only complaint is that 'Landslide' is too brief. It certainly isn't a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, and with a title like that it should go on forever.

This is the music you'll screw to as the fires of the nuclear winter cleanse the flotsam and jetsam of this toilet earth. When you're dying in the fallout of the radioactive rain, the malevolent rhythms of songs like "Touch of Evil" and "Spread the Virus" will remind you that the human race is, after all, just a footnote in the long, long story of the universe. Red Mecca isn't art; rather, it's the absence of any pretension to artistry. Red Mecca isn't culturally significant; rather, it's the abnegation of culture itself. Like Orwell's 1984, Red Mecca says it plainly and succinctly: if you want an image of the future, think of a boot stamping on a human face forever. Essential listening for the new dark age that is already upon us...and passed.

While it ranks high overall in what they have done, this is maybe not the place to start if you want to get in Cabaret Voltaire. It was still in their real avant-garde electronic phase and remains difficult and challenging today.

I like putting this on because it disengages me from the world and plugs me into a cold, alien place that temporarily removes me from my problems. This CD can turn something even as mundane as housecleaning into an otherworldly experience.

This is strange music to be sure, full of strange sounds, electronic manipulations and mind-numbing repetition with meandering, quasi-psychedelic guitar and synth passages. RED MECCA gives me a feeling of disconnectedness, but the group is actually quite integrated and the beat is paramount.

This album never could nor will be accepted by the mainstream and that's the point. It's anti-mainstream. CV came about during the Sex Pistols punk era in England. In true punk spirit, they set out to do their own thing and succeeded. 4 stars because, after all, it's not the greatest music in the world, either. But it's very good for what it is.

An aside: look at the cover closely for a while and you'll see faces and bodies!

Most people cite 'The Crackdown' as the point where CV "went disco", but there were clear signs of this direction as far back as 'Red Mecca'. Compared to the measured rhythms of 'Mix Up' and 'Voice of America', the songs here are more up-tempo, and the drum machines more propulsive. From the almost funky 'Sly Doubt' to the chaotic horn-fueled 'Spread The Virus', this is music you can dance to.

It is still very much Industrial music (plenty of heavily processed, chopped-up guitar lines, distorted vocals, samples and tape loops), but overall it feels more accessible than CV's earlier work, with more prominent melodies and slightly less claustrophobic production. The guitar-driven noise of 'Red Mask', for example, is unsettling but danceable, and nowhere near as abrasive as 'Nag Nag Nag', say. Probably the closest to the old CV sound are the extended mantra-rant 'A Thousand Ways' and the hypnotic guitar noise of 'Split Second Feeling'.

From all accounts, the lyrics on 'Red Mecca' comment on the simultaneous rise of religious fundamentalism in the US and the Middle East. And Stephen Mallinder certainly sounds upset about something. Often, however, his vocals are heavily processed or buried under the layers of noise, and when his lyrics are decipherable they are typically enigmatic phrases and word-splatters. What he is actually saying is probably less important than the mood his sinister monotone is able to project, and his fiery-but-indecipherable vocals do actually suit the songs.

'Red Mecca' is widely regarded as an Industrial masterpiece, and I agree. But for all its unconventional tonalities and abrasive textures, its accessibility surprised me. For fans of old-school CV, this will be a no-brainer, but I'd even recommend this to those who jumped on board with 'Crackdown'. Because this is not just challenging unsettling noise....it's challenging unsettling noise that's danceable.

This is the Cabs first really strong release, setting the stage for 2X45 and The Crackdown. Highly recommended, though expect A Thousand Ways to test your patience.

great record. Just bought it yesterday. Has elements of Residents, Beefheart, Pil....maybe even Throbbing Gristle. But overall this is a unique sound. Apparently they are singing about the spead of Fundamentalism, but for me it sounds like the kind of record that would of been produced by the Daleks....we will exterminate Industrial style...Brilliant....best record Ive heard for a while.