Rating: 7/10

Track Amount: 11

Running Time: 41 minutes and 35 seconds

Genre: Industrial Music, Experimental Music

Personnel: Genesis P-Orridge (lead vocals and other instrumentation), Cosey Fanni Tutti (guitars, vocals and other instrumentation), Chris Carter (keyboards, electronics and backing vocals), Peter Christopherson (tapes, backing vocals and other instrumentation)

Producer: Sinclair/Brooks

Record Label: Industrial Records

Recording Location: The Death Factory, Hackney, London

Art Direction: Clay Holden

Best Tracks: Hot On The Heels Of Love

Quick Verdict: Music for people who love dark and psychologically disturbing listening

This was a watershed moment in the Industrial Music movement. It’s actually not a Jazz record, this album, but it was designed to be bought by Jazz purists and played at home to destroy them emotionally with what has been put inside the album, quite a cynical move indeed. This, in fact, is often regarded as the best album that oddballs Throbbing Gristle ever did. By all reports, this album is a groundbreaking listen, but nonetheless a necessary one at that. The album cover was a photograph taken at Beachy Head in Sussex, UK, a notorious suicide spot for people who take their lives. In short, very dark and eerie. Let’s take a listen to this confrontational album, and hopefully it will be a good listen.

1. 20 Jazz Funk Greats launches into it with some electronic beats and melodies. This is definitely not Jazz Music, just in case you thought it was. A weird and wackily discordant tune to listen to, from the beginning. This does have some horn samples and other instrumentation that is equally completely wacky. All in all, this sounds very different to listen to. Very spare, minimal and freakily sounding, this music is deep, dark and weird. If you want to hear a potentially psychologically disturbing music experience, then this is it. Great, though. This music is disturbingly nightmarish in its listening experience. Excellent to listen to, all the same. Very weird, though.

2. Beachy Head follows with some dark and eerie sounds, followed by samples of seagulls. It is very, very odd to listen to. This is some of the darkest music made by this point in music history. It is like a horror movie soundtrack, set to a really interesting and consistent music approach. This is not light and happy music at all. It is some of the scariest and most disturbing psychologically sounding music ever made. Likely an instrumental reference to suicide itself, this is certainly a memorable listen. These guys were certainly about scaring others through their music. It is fantastic listening, all the same. This has some freaky stereo panned sounds towards the end. If music were ever supposed to be satanic without distorted guitars, this would be it. Great though.

3. Still Walking begins with some tripped-out and stereo-panned EDM proto beats, which is interesting to listen to. It sounds very awesome, and is the sort of music that Ministry would ape. This is, nonetheless, very fantastic music to listen to. There are some audible human screams that are digitally modified on this tune, and the whole thing sounds dark, freaky and marvellous. A really great tune overall to listen to. This is not easy listening music for Pop fans, however. It is some of the most dark and interesting music listening experiences out there, however. The bizarre sounds and samples throughout leave a major impression upon the listener. This is Nightmare on Elm Street or the Terminator films set to music. Very dark, horrific and freaky throughout. Catchy, weird and discordant with some odd vocal samples present. A very good piece of music on the rare occasion to listen to. Very, very good to hear. This sounds very weird and is a creation of satanic proportions, in the best way possible. Good listening.

4. Tanith begins with some interesting electronic sounds, and is very odd and freaky to listen to. Some interesting sounds that are very weird are thrown into the mix as well. This sounds strange, different and dramatic throughout. This is avant-garde and very nightmarish music to listen to. If you want a test of your psychology whilst listening to music, look no further. A really interesting, yet bizarre composition. Out there and freaky. It lasts for two minutes in length.

5. Convincing People begins with a drum loop and a single repeated note. This has some fuzz bass thrown into it all. This music sounds very odd, with some sampled vocals throughout that are equally oddball. These vocals are sung half-heartedly. But deliberately so. Another bizarre and out there piece of music that makes sense to freak out the listener to make them believe that they are in a literal hell. Despite the dark musical backdrop, this is already a masterpiece of psychologically messed-up music. This sort of music makes way more sense in today’s world than it ever did back in 1979. Some things have changed since that time, and not for the better. The sounds and samples throughout are utilised to maximum effect to destroy the listener’s sense of sanity. Awesome from start to finish, all the same. The instrumental track at the end is cool.

6. Exotica begins with some electronic bleeps and other random electronic sounds. This is different, all right. It sounds like an IDM pastiche from 1979 that predicted the future of music. These sounds are dark and trippy in their own way. It is, therefore, a bold step into the future of music itself. The xylophones that are treated on this tune sound weird as well. Very, very odd music. This sounds dark and surreal throughout. The xylophones continue on and make this sound even weirder as a result. Towards the end are some more dark and disturbing sounds that are really weird. This finishes up with some minor key melodies being played on the xylophone.

7. Hot On The Heels Of Love begins with a 4/4 kick beat and some other interesting electronic loops to combine with this all. This is proto-Acid House, nearly 10 years in advance! Nonetheless, this is a sexually sounding tune that has a futuristic glimpse into what music would eventually become. A fantastic tune, all the same. This is a standout on this album as it is a revolutionary tune musically. No doubt that this was loosely based on the Disco Music of the late 1970s. In the midsection, it gets quite sparse throughout. A really great listen, with freaky melodies and a dark ambience overall, just enjoyably so. This is Donna Summer on PCP (Angel Dust) and with some disturbing psychological vision as well. Still, this is better than most EDM today. Very good tune throughout, and the female vocals add a very nice musical touch to hear. Pretty for such dark and minimal music.

8. Persuasion begins with some looped banging sounds, dark ambient melodies that follow and some weird vocal samples throughout. This launches into a dark and freaky tune that seems to be about sexual activity, but not in the best expression of that. This eerie and dark music is very off-putting for some listeners, and some of the sounds are very warped throughout. This is rather unsettling to listen to. It sounds like the music that you would hear in a dark and disturbing nightmare. A really dramatic-sounding piece of music, but quite frankly, some of the sounds are awful throughout all this. A real drag at times, and rather disturbing to listen to. With references to personal and sexual abuse throughout, this is definitely from the depths of the human psyche. This is music to drive oneself crazy throughout. This tune, in particular, is quite unsettling musically. Very long for such a tune. This could have been cut down, to be fair. Nonetheless, a very freaky and odd listen from start to finish. Very weird. Definitely not the best.

9. Walkabout begins with some digital beeps and bleeps, which are very musical. Soon enough, electronic loops enter, and this piece gets going nicely. The music at hand is lighter and brighter than before. A good listen, with some nice and pleasant melodies throughout. A very different listen from this album, with hints of discordant and odd sounds throughout. This is a much shorter piece of music that has some neat melodies throughout. A better piece of music than some of the other additions on this album, to be fair. It concludes with some interesting sounds amidst the fade-out.

10. What A Day begins with some oddball electronic loops and beats, and some male human screaming on this tune. Very odd, and very wacky to listen to. This music is seriously the product of a sinister mind. It is dark, dank and very difficult to get into, without an open-mindedness to it all. This music makes little sense for most listeners out there, and even if you do get this, you are in a minority for that. A weird, iffy and freaky tune to even try to appreciate. This is music for those of you who truly appreciate the dark side of life. This isn’t very good either, to be honest. Very odd and freaky throughout. It does drag on this one, unfortunately. This makes very little sense to add to an album. It just is not really entertaining throughout, and is a poor music idea and concept in the first place. Skip ahead if you wish; you’re not missing out on much.

11. Six Six Sixties is the final track on this album. It is a great mixture of keyboards, programming and electronic beats. This has some spoken word dialogue throughout, and sounds very weird, once again. This has some interesting electric guitar throughout it all, making the whole thing sound weirder. A good effort, and certainly better than the track before it. This ends after two minutes in length, and sounds dark and ambient overall, all the way through to the fade out.

This is a game-changer in terms of musical style. However, this is not as consistent as one would hope for. It is a listenable album if you like dark and freaky. Having said that, this album seems like an exercise more in some of the latest technology of 1979 on an album than structured music itself. There is no real music concept overall here, apart from being made by the psychologically disturbed who are channelling that into the music at hand. Still, there are some good moments here overall. Should you listen to this album? Only if you want your mental health tested; otherwise, look away.

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