Penthouse and Pavement

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Penthouse and Pavement
File:Penthouse and Pavement.jpg
Studio album by Heaven 17
Released September 1981
Recorded Sheffield, Maison Rouge
Genre New wave, synthpop
Length 50:31 ¹
Label Virgin Records
Producer British Electric Foundation
Heaven 17 chronology
Penthouse and Pavement
(1981)		 The Luxury Gap
(1983)The Luxury Gap1983

Penthouse and Pavement is the debut album by the English synthpop group Heaven 17, released in 1981. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single, but did not achieve chart success partly due to a ban by the BBC.[1] The album sold reasonably well, but was not a commercial success on release.[2] It has since been regarded as "an important outing",[2] is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and was re-released in 2010 in a 3-disc special edition. The title-track was included on the soundtrack of the 1993 film Sliver.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[3]

Whilst the singles charted poorly, the album charted at No. 14 and remained in the Top 100 for 77 weeks.[4] It was certified gold (100,000 copies sold) by the BPI in October 1982.[5]

Dan LeRoy in a retrospective review for AllMusic felt that the album combined electropop with good melodies, and that Glenn Gregory was able to handle the "overtly left-wing political" lyrics without sounding "pretentious".[2]

The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Side A (Pavement)
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"   Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh, Glenn Gregory 4:20
2. "Penthouse and Pavement"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 6:23
3. "Play to Win"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 3:37
4. "Soul Warfare"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 5:04
Side B (Penthouse)
No. Title Writer(s) Length
5. "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 4:33
6. "Let's All Make a Bomb"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 4:03
7. "The Height of the Fighting"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 3:01
8. "Song with No Name"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 3:36
9. "We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time¹"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 3:15

<templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/>

Bonus tracks
Bonus Tracks (1997 US edition)
No. Title Writer(s) Length
10. "I'm Your Money (Extended Mix)"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 5:10
11. "Play To Win (Extended Mix)"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 7:29
Bonus Tracks (2006 Remastered edition)
No. Title Writer(s) Length
10. "Groove Thang (B.E.F.)"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 4:07
11. "Are Everything (12" Version)"   Pete Shelley 4:28
12. "I'm Your Money (12" Version)"   Ware, Marsh, Gregory 5:10
13. "Decline of the West (B.E.F.)"   Ware, Marsh 7:17
14. "Honeymoon in New York (B.E.F.) /
B.E.F. Ident (uncredited)"  		 Ware, Marsh, Malcolm Veale 2:52

2010 3-disc special edition

The album was reproduced live, in its entirety, in a series of concerts the band held throughout 2010, one of which (in Sheffield) was filmed and shown on BBC Two on 16 May 2010. A documentary about the making of the album was screened the following night, and was later included on a new three disc special edition of the album released in November 2010.

<templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/>

Track list
Disc 1
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>
  1. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"
  2. "Penthouse And Pavement"
  3. "Play To Win"
  4. "Soul Warfare"
  5. "Geisha Boys And Temple Girls"
  6. "Let's All Make A Bomb"
  7. "The Height of the Fighting"
  8. "Song With No Name"
  9. "We're Going To Live for a Very Long Time"
  10. "I'm Your Money" (12" Version)
  11. "Are Everything" (12" Version)
  12. "Decline of the West"*
Disc 2
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>
  1. "Penthouse And Pavement" (Original Demo)
  2. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" (Original Demo)
  3. "Play To Win" (Original Demo Instrumental)
  4. "Soul Warfare" (Original Demo)
  5. "Are Everything" (Original Demo)
  6. "BEF Ident" (Alternate Version)*
  7. "Decline of the West" (Alternate Version)*
  8. "Rise of the East" (Alternate Version)*
  9. "Music To Kill Your Parents By" (Alternate Version)*
  10. "Uptown Apocalypse" (Alternate Version)*
  11. "A Baby Called Billy" (Alternate Version)*
  12. "Rhythmic Experiment 1"*
  13. "Rhythmic Experiment 2"*
  14. "Boys of Buddha Experiment"*
  15. "At The Height of the Fighting" (Original Rhythm Track)
  16. "Rhythmic Loop Experiment"*
  17. "Funky Experiment"*
  18. "Song Experiment"*
  19. "Heavy Drum Experiment"*
  20. "Play To Win" (Original Demo With Vocals)

* credited to B.E.F.

Disc 3 (DVD)

  1. The Story of Penthouse And Pavement (2010 documentary)

Personnel

Heaven 17:

with:

  • Malcolm Veale – Synthesisers, Saxophone
  • Josie James – Vocals on Penthouse and Pavement
  • Steve Travell – Piano on Soul Warfare
  • The Boys of Buddha – Synthetic Horns
  • John Wilson – Bass guitar, Guitar and Guitar Synthesisers on Pavement side
  • Ray Smith – Cover painting

Production

  • Engineer and Assistant to the Producers: Peter Walsh
  • Engineer: Steve Rance
  • Executive Manipulator: Bob Last

Chart performance

Album

Chart (1981) Peak
position		 Certification
New Zealand Albums Chart[6] 45 −
Swedish Albums Chart[7] 24 −
UK Albums Chart[8] 14 Gold

Singles

Date Single Chart Position
March 1981 "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" UK 45
May 1981 "I'm Your Money" UK -
August 1981 "Play to Win" UK 46
November 1981 "Penthouse and Pavement" UK 57
February 1982 "The Height of the Fighting (He-La-Hu)"† UK -

† Released as a 12" single only.

Notes

  • ¹ – The last track on the original vinyl LP release, "We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time", was recorded up to and onto the runoff groove; meaning the run time of this track (as labelled on the LP sleeve) and the album is infinite, looping the line "For a very long time".
  • "Groove Thang", "Decline of the West" and "B.E.F. Ident" originally appeared on the B.E.F. cassette-only release Music For Stowaways.
  • All tracks mixed at Red Bus Studios except "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" and "Let's All Make a Bomb" which were mixed at The Townhouse.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/penthouse-and-pavement-mw0000194104
  4. ↑ ChartStats (Penthouse and Pavement)
  5. ↑ British Phonographic Industry database
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Penthouse_and_Pavement&oldid=282186"