808 State - Gorgeous (Album)

808 State - Gorgeous + Disco Disc

DE 1993 LP; ZTT / WEA: ZTT 12 X / 4509-91098-1 [ltd. edition with bonus 12" - "Disco Disc"]

4:02 Plan 9
2:54 Moses
3:40 Contrique
3:33 10x10
2:55 Timebomb
2:40 One In Ten
4:16 Europa
4:01 Orbit
4:04 Black Morpheus
5:03 Southern Cross
4:34 Nimbus
4:45 Colony

808 State - Disco Disc

3:33 Sexy Synthesizer
3:20 Femme Deluxe
4:49 Lemon
4:21 Purple Dust
3:03 Sexy Dancer

Released:

1st February 1993 (Despite Copyright dates of 1992, not released until 1993).

Credits:

Written, programmed and produced by 808 State (Graham Massey, Andrew Barker and Darren Partington). All songs published by Perfect Songs Ltd except Moses written by Ian McCulloch/808 State published by Copyright Control/Perfect Songs Ltd. Contrique written by 808 State/Curtis/Hook/Sumner/Morris published by Perfect Songs Ltd/Fractured Music administered by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd for the World. 10x 10 written by 808 State/Paul Weller published by Perfect Songs Ltd/And Son Music Ltd/EMI Music (publishers) Ltd. One in Ten written by UB40 and 808 State published by New Claims - ATV Music/Perfect Songs Ltd. Europa written by Caroline Seaman/ 808 State published by Copyright Control/Perfect Songs Ltd. Contrique includes a sample of 'She's Lost Control' by Joy Division, used courtesy of Joy Division/Zomba Music. 10x 10 includes a sample of 'Start' by The Jam used courtesy of Polydor Ltd (UK). Recorded at Fon (Sheffield) Amazon (Liverpool) Vibes (Oldham) Sarm (London).

Mixed at Fon and Amazon. Edited and Sound Tooled at Amazon. Engineered by Mike Haas and Alan Fisch, Mastered by Arun at Masteroom

Moses vocals and lyrics by Ian McCulloch. Europa vocals and lyrics by Caroline Seaman 10x 10 vocals by Rachel MacFarlane and Barrington Stuart. One In Ten vocals and lyrics by UB40. Ian McCulloch appears courtesy of East West Records. Customised Moog and ARP Systems by Tony "Captain Techno" Wride. Base 3D Sound Enhancement loaned by Base Systems. Artwork by Johnson Panas. Computer images by Walmsley/Massey at Recharge. Photos by Ian Tilton.

808 would like to thank Mandy Doyle (above and beyond the call of duty, King Pin and Boss Type), Mike Haas, Alan Fisch, Dave Taylor and Fon staff, Mike 'Prinlavichockilaa' Hunter and Amazon staff, Caroline, Barry, Rachel and Ian for your contributions, UB40 and Dep International, 808 touring crew - Pablo, Lee Forde, Pattie and Walter, DJ Rofe, Crispy Collins, Eric, Hewan and Angela, Alfonso, all at ZTT and Warners, Tommy Boy types, Mike Jacobs, Ray Hearn, Bruce Kirkland and Second Vision, Gerry Gerrard, Ian Huffam, Jill Pearson, Johnny Roadhouse, Bjork, Electronic, DR JRP Hill, Binni, Katy and Offie, Kirby Sound, Eastern Bloc, 808 State radio staff, Tom Richardson, Gio Goi. Special thanks to all our families and friends for love and support.

Press Release:

808 STATE LP: Absolutely GORGEOUS

Over the last five years they've quietly become a genuine British success story, notching up high sales, chart positions and acclaim.. They've also cut some of the hardest techno, the most sublime ambient and the fastest beats available without perscription. Now they release their third album for ZTT/WEA, and announce a major UK tour.

Gorgeous features 15 tracks including the current single "Plan 9", their last hit "One In Ten" and two inspired collaborations, with IAN MCCULLOCH on "Moses" and CAROLINE SEAMAN (This Mortal Coil) on "Europa". Other titles: "Time Bomb", "Nimbus", "Stormin Norman", "Southern Cross" and "Sexy Dancer".

The album was written, programmed and produced by Graham Massey, Andrew Barker and Darren Partington and follows their most successful lp to date - 1991's Ex.El, which went Top 5 and sold over 100,000. Since then, the Manchester-based trio have completed sold-out tours of the US, Japan and the UK in their own right, as well as touring with MADNESS & THE FARM at the end of '92.

The 1993 Gorgeous Tour looks like this:

FEBRUARY

20th: BRISTOL, University
21st: LONDON, Town & Country
22nd: BIRMINGHAM, Institute
23rd: KEELE, University
24th: MIDDLESBROUGH,- Arena
25th: SHEFFIELD, University
26th: GLASGOW, Barrowlands
27th: MANCHESTER, Academy

Tickets are on sale now from venues/usual agents, priced £10 for London and £7.50-£10 everywhere else.

January 26th, 1993.

Remarks:

Purple or Blue sleeve.

808 State - Gorgeous

DE 1993 LP; ZTT / WEA: ZTT 12 / 4509-91099-1
DE 1993 Cassette; ZTT / WEA: ZTT 12 C / 4509-91099-4
AU 1993 Cassette; ZTT / Warner Music Australia Pty / East West: ZTT12C / 450991099-4 [White Sleeve]
CA 1993 Cassette; ZTT / Warner Music Canada: 99 10994
TH 1993 Cassette; ZTT / WEA: ZTT 12 C / 4509-91099-4 (Housed in a MGA case with an MGA Records Co., Ltd./Warner Music International ifpi distribution sticker attached)
?? 1993 Cassette; ZTT / WEA: 991100-4 [Possibly Aussie?]

4:02 Plan 9
2:54 Moses
3:40 Contrique
3:33 10x10
2:55 Timebomb
2:40 One In Ten
4:16 Europa
4:01 Orbit
4:04 Black Morpheus
5:03 Southern Cross
4:34 Nimbus
4:45 Colony

Released:

1993 (Despite Copyright dates of 1992, not released until 1993).

808 State - Gorgeous

DE 1993 CD; ZTT / WEA: 4509-91100-2
CA 1993 CD; ZTT / WEA: CD 91100 / 4509-91100-2
JP 1993 CD; ZTT / WEA: WMC5-484 [Promo with OBI] [25th January 1993]
JP 1993 CD; ZTT / WEA: WMC5-484 [25th January 1993]
JP 1997 CD; ZTT / WEA: WPCR-1307 [re-issue]
UK 1998 CD; ZTT: ZTT 104 CD [June 1998]
US 1998 CD; ZTT / Universal: UD-53193 [20th October 1998]
FR 1999 CD; ZTT / Wargram: <Cat unknown> [22-Bit Digital Remaster]

4:02 Plan 9
2:54 Moses
3:40 Contrique
3:33 10x10
2:40 One In Ten
4:16 Europa
4:01 Orbit
4:04 Black Morpheus
5:03 Southern Cross
4:34 Nimbus
4:45 Colony
2:55 Timebomb
3:23 Stormin Norman
3:00 Sexy Dancer
3:37 Sexy Synthesizer

Released:

Original releases - 1993 (Despite Copyright dates of 1992, not released until 1993).

US Press Release:

808 STATE

Some people call 808 State's music futuristic. Others have dubbed it electronic hedonism. But the Manchester dance kings have, with the title of their third album, come up with the ideal description of their groundbreaking sound. Gorgeous.

As Gorgeous, the follow-up to their breakthrough ex:el (which went Gold in the UK), and the exhilarating "Time Bomb"/"Reaper" single prove, the Manchester-based three piece remains on the vanguard of techno-dance - diverting the genre's drift towards the purely technical with some of their most groove-oriented material to date.

"In England, there's a big division between the hardcore stuff and what I call the more progressive stuff. It really sort of went up an alleyway when everyone tried to just make the hardest and fastest records: there's not much stimulation in that," insists Graham Massey, the band's programmer/engineer. "As one of the bands who started that sort of thing with tracks like 'Cubik' and 'In Yer Face,' we had to make a decision and we decided to go the other way - we've made a point of diversity into the context of an LP. It made the division between what we're doing and what a lot of other groups are doing bigger."

If UK smashes like the ethereal "Lift" and "Ooops" (which featured the unmistakable vocals of the Sugarcubes' Bjork Gutmondsdottir) widened that gap, Gorgeous blasts it to Grand Canyon size. This time around, 808 augment their trailblazing electrosonics with an even more diverse array of guest vocalists - including fellow Mancunian Ian McCullough (Echo and the Bunnymen), reggae-pop superstars UB40...even a full gospel choir. At the same time Gorgeous' instrumental tracks (concentrated on side two of the cassette version) achieve a seamless moodiness that should make it tough for fans and DJ's alike to stop after spinning just one track.

"You can't follow the same ground again. It's commercially quite crazy I suppose, but we've never done the obvious," says Massey. We're aware that our roots are in the underground, and that's the way we wanna keep it. I think its much more of a buzz to get the eccentricities of what we do out there than it is to compromise like other groups in our category have recently: When you start watering it down to the lowest common denominator, that weakens the whole scene: it's like dental decay in the culture."

Since firing the first shot in the techno revolution with their 1989 debut "Pacific State" (prophetically described by the New Musical Express as "one of the blueprints for the -90's), 808 State have never failed in their ambitions to boldly go where no makers of dance music have gone before. They took both "Pacific State" and the instrumental "Cubik" to the top reaches of the Billboard Dance charts upon the US release of their Utd. State '90 LP, but rather than merely reprise those successes, they assembled ex:el. which not only continued their chart dominance, but was also voted one of 1991's Albums of the Year on Radio Four (Britain's bastion of classical and experimental music).

"I think that recognition comes from the fact that, unlike a lot of groups, we've always seen LP's as most important," Massey reckons. Of course, there have been instances this year where singles have slipped out under other names to keep us happy. We're not saying what they are, though."

That home-brew attitude comes in large part from Massey's early days (long before the dawning of the "Manchester" scene) playing in a variety of experimental music groups. "A lot of bands with three drummers and two bass players, that sort of thing," he recalls. "We were very much into a sound like '70's Miles Davis - Bitches Brew and On The Corner."

Massey's instrumental knowhow and growing interest in computer technology, combined with the sound-manipulating dexterity of DJ's Darren Partington and Andy Barker - who began their dual mixmastery at the age of 12, in a Manchester youth club and soon became, in the words of i-D, "the hottest hip-hop mixing duo in the world" - brings to 808 State's sound the unusual blend of the soulful and the mechanical. "Electronic music doesn't have to mean inhuman music," insists Massey. "Stevie Wonder influenced me more than Kraftwerk ever did."

Those influences both figure into Gorgeous, the first 808 State release since the departure of founding member Martin Price, who split off amicably to pursue a solo career, setting the stage for another shift in the tide of electro-dance: So where do this generation's premier sonic architects see their creation heading as we close out 1992?

"People have been asking where is it going to end up since 1988. Its here, isn't it?" Massey asks rhetorically. "If you look at the charts in England, it's been dominant for the past year. It needs to keep having new ideas to expand, though. It's got to be progressive. The record industry might want to keep reflogging the past, making Tubular Bells 2 where we should be making Gorgeous!. You've got all these records around - someone's got to be more concerned with creating a cultural event."

As far as dancefloor aficionados are concerned, the main event has arrived - and it is Gorgeous!

808 State - Gorgeous

US 1993 Cass; Tommy Boy: TBC 1067 / 16998-1067-4 [19th January 1993]

4:45 Colony
2:55 Moses
3:41 Contrique
3:33 10x10
2:56 Timebomb
2:42 One In Ten
4:02 Plan 9
4:17 Europa
4:01 Orbit
4:05 Black Morpheus
5:04 Southern Cross
4:34 Nimbus

Released:

19th January 1993 (Despite (p) date of 1992, not released until 1993).

Remarks:

"Printed in Canada, but US Release".

808 State - Gorgeous

US 1993 CD; Tommy Boy: TBCD 1067 / 16998-1067-2 [19th January 1993]

4:45 Colony
2:55 Moses
3:41 Contrique
3:33 10x10
2:42 One In Ten
4:02 Plan 9
4:17 Europa
4:01 Orbit
4:05 Black Morpheus
5:04 Southern Cross
4:34 Nimbus
2:56 Timebomb
3:23 Stormin' Norman
3:01 Sexy Dancer
3:39 Sexy Synthesizer

Remarks: 808 State. "Printed in Canada, but US Release".

808 State - Gorgeous Samples

UK 1992 CD; ZTT: SAM 1093 [Promo; "Gorgeous Samples", 1st October 92]

1:57 Plan 9
2:54 Moses featuring Ian McCulloch
2:18 Europa featuring Caroline Seaman
2:00 One in Ten featuring UB40
2:12 10X10
1:44 Colony
2:06 Sexy Synthesizer

[Edits of finished versions]

Remarks: 808 State.

808 State - "Free Disco Disc With First 5,000 Vinyl Albums Of Gorgeous"

UK 1993 MC; ZTT/WEA/Chop Em Out: <no cat> [Promo]

808 State - Disco Disc

3:32 12"A1 Sexy Synth [actually Sexy Synthesizer]
3:18 12"A2 Femme Deluxe
4:49 12"B1 Lemon
4:21 12"B2 Purple Dust
3:00 12"B3 Sexy Dancer

Remarks:

Promo casssette of the Gorgeous Disco disc.