Facts of Life

Black Box Recorder | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 20, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jet Set Records
• ASIN: B00005AKF5
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #128,537 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

  #29 in

  Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative

Track Listings

1. Art of Driving

2. Weekend

3. The English Motorway System

4. May Queen

5. Sex Life

6. French Rock 'N' Roll

7. The Facts of Life

8. Straight Life

9. Gift Horse

10. The Deverell Twins

11. Goodnight Kiss

12. Start as You Mean to Go On [*]

13. Brutality [*]

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The first Black Box Recorder album, 1998's England Made Me, was originally conceived by Auteurs and Baader Meinhof frontman Luke Haines as a typically baleful response to the cultural and political hysteria--respectively, Britpop and Tony Blair--then gripping Britain. Recorded with the help of former Jesus & Mary Chain drummer John Moore and singer Sarah Nixey, it did for Britpop roughly what the film Carrie did for the senior prom. The Facts of Life, the follow-up, maintains the withering glare but fixes it this time on the personal. The songs here obsess with unnerving clarity and mordant wit on the banal, cruel details of human relationships and are narrated perfectly by Nixey. Where her perfectly English-accented whisper infused England Made Me with the air of a bored aristocrat finding contemptuous amusement in the misery of others, on The Facts of Life she has located an edge of taunting viciousness all the more diabolical for being so understated. The tunes, as ever, are sweet and insidious, perhaps best thought of as Saint Etienne turned feral. Highlights on an album full of them are "English Motorway" and "The Art of Driving"--BBR triumphantly reclaiming the American rock & roll prerogative of the road song for their damp, claustrophobic homeland. The Facts of Life is a masterpiece. --Andrew Mueller

Product Description

Black Box Recorder are an enigma. A three piece comprised of the haunting and fragile-voiced Sarah Nixey, Auteurs henchman Luke Haines and absinthe importer (& former Jesus & Mary Chain) John Moore. Stylistally, the band have catapulted themselves into some netherworld halfway between Air and Velvet Underground. Instruments include, Guitar arpeggios, synthesizers, glockenspiels, chiming xylophones, strings and drum machines. This release features the bonus tracks, 'Start As You Mean To Go Up' and 'Brutality'. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Find the Black Box Recorder, July 5, 2001

By	Anthony R. Strain (Modesto, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facts of Life (Audio CD)

You've heard of mood music? The Facts of Life is mood music with a nasty little secret. Every track is a potential conspiracy theory, every little sweetly vicious turn of phrase by Sarah Nixey a dreamscape of uncertainty, a generous slice of middle ground between the the strangely familiar and the easily contemptible. When Nixey sings "Weekend" you start to suspect creepy crawly minions under the dustcloths and throw rugs of your most deeply private sectors. This is a sucker punch of a record that knocks you off your feet and doesnt let you up until you've reevaluated everything about every relationship you've ever had.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More like four and a half, June 10, 2001

By	Blane (Brooklyn, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facts of Life (Audio CD)

Black Box Recorder fascinated me from the moment I saw the video for "child psychology". They are probably one of the most interesting bands releasing music. "The Facts of Life", the latest offering after the simply superb debut "England Made Me", did not disappoint me. We start the album with the almost tongue and cheek sexiness (the la-da-da's of The Art of Driving), move into a beautiful lament (The English Motorway System), and rock out with instant popness on other tracks (Sex Life, The Facts of Life). The whole album is rather great, and surpasses their debut. My favourite tracks are The Gift Horse and The English Motorway System. The bonus tracks make you wonder why they weren't included in the whole. "Goodnight Kiss" is a beautiful song about that nervous moment before you lean in after a long date. Highly suggested.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars lovely, October 16, 2001

By	William E. May "vladekrussell" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Facts of Life (Audio CD)

Excellent, excellent music.... As lots of folks have said already, this indeed sounds like a slightly sinister St. Etienne, with perhaps a bit of Trembling Blue Stars thrown in...but with a pretty distinctive personality of its own, too. Has anyone else noticed how much Sarah Nixey can sound like Olivia Newton John, by the way (particularly on "The Art of Driving")? A-OK with me. On the mildly negative side, there's the occasional embarrassing lyric here and there, but on the whole they're lovely and a big leap forward from the still awfully good first album.