- Audio CD (1 Sep 2000)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Original recording remastered
- Label: V2
- ASIN: B00004TL0C
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 63,055 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. Arrogance Gave Him Up |
| 2. No |
| 3. Bap De La Bap |
| 4. Gloomy Sunday |
| 5. Nude Spoons |
| 6. Skipping |
| 7. It's Better This Way |
| 8. Party Fears Two |
| 9. Club Country |
| 10. nothinginsomethingparticular |
| 11. Love Hangover |
| 12. 18 Carat Love Affair |
| 13. Ulcragyceptimol |
| 14. And Then I Read A Book |
| 15. Australia |
| 16. Grecian 2000 |
| 17. The Room We Sat In Before |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Associates' last album, Sulk, was their most fully realised. They were central to the New Pop revolution spiking the waters of the early 1980s charts, a stylish revolt against the joyless monotones of much post-punk music. On the cover of Sulk, singer Billy Mackenzie and musical half Alan Rankine are seen reclining in some hothouse, bathed in artificial blue and green light. Rankine's music was now equally "unnatural"--layer upon layer of synthetic uniqueness, its relationships to punk, funk and glam-rock no longer visible, while Mackenzie's vocals are grandiloquent without lapsing into Marc Almond-style camp cabaret. Yet there was something darkly peculiar about the Associates. "Party Fears Two" and "Club Country" were mutations of Haircut 100, extravagant yet haunted by doubt. "Alive and kicking at the country club/we're always sickening at the country club". Whatever drove the Associates, whatever was eating them remained a mystery, exacerbated by Mackenzie's suicide in 1997. --David Stubbs
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This version of Sulk is based on the original UK issue, with "Bap De La Bap", "Nude Spoons" and "Nothing In Something Particular" included, but happily also includes the old Diana Ross hit "Love Hangover" and "18 Carat Love Affair" (a vocal interpretation of "Nothing In Something Particular") which was one of The Associates' few chart hits. From the alternative Sulk issue, only "White Car In Germany" is missed and the version of both "It's Better This Way" and "Club Country" are slightly different. Of the extra tracks, "The Room We Sat In Before", a demo guitar and vocal version of "It's Better This Way" is outstanding. Very few bands, if any, were capable of matching, let alone exceeding the genious of The Associates at their peak, and this album is most definitely at their peak! Mackenzie's voice is astonishing (although "The Radio 1 Sessions" shows this in ever more detail) and the originality of Rankine's music and arrangements is superb.
This is the ultimate pop album, and should be in everyone's collection!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It's certainly taken some time, but finally the Associates' third album from 1982 has got a deserved reissue. As a testament to the 80's images of excess, flamboyance, glamour and generally everything being over the top, this serves as a fine example. But whereas their contemporaries now sound superficial, Associates had two major assets, firstly the operatic splendour of Billy Mackenzie's voice and secondly the gloriously bonkers soundscapes developed by Alan Rankine. One only has to cock an ear to the third track, 'Bap De La Bap' where the liaison of minds first proves to be a match made in heaven; Mackenzie sounding like he is fighting a screaming battle in the synthetic hellhole created by his accomplice. 'Party Fears Two', a top ten hit originally, contains one of the most memorable piano riffs ever, complemented by Mackenzie's paranoid lyric putting himself in the minds of two party gatecrashers ("I'll have a shower and then phone my brother up. Within the hour I'll smash another cup."). Save the two rather pointless instrumentals the original album is a masterpiece of unhinged originality. Extra tracks featured include many of their later singles of which the euphoric '18 Carat Love Affair' and the rawer, guitar sounds of 'The Room We Sat In Before' impress the most.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Some albums from the 80s condemn themselves to be forever incarcerated in the decade by using the fairlight or the fretless bass..."Sulk" labours under no such strife, and sounds more of this time than the day of it's release, with it's impact exacerbated by the fact that one of it's architects - the other-worldly voiced Billy Mackenzie - left this mortal coil in 97.,thus ensuring that it's brilliance will never be repeated.
The familiar one's are there - "Party Fears Two", which was mad, but not their best..and the incredible "Club Country"...Also the cacophonic "Nude Spoons", which sounds wonderful now, whilst in the 80s it just sounded a bit too much......
Other songs have matured wonderfully - "Skipping" is a hidden classic, whilst the demo "The Room We Sat In Before" improves on the finished article "It's Better This Way" by its starkness giving clarity to the full character of it's lyrics...
I'm hoping that in the glut of re-releases that subsequent albums such as "Perhaps" and maybe even the hitherto unreleased "The Glamour Chase" may see the light of day!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One of the greatest albums ever made.
Beware of hyperbole. It can only lead to disappointment. If someone tells you that an album is one of the greatest things ever, what chance has it of living up to expectations? Read more
Published on 8 July 2009 by J. A. Ravey
Billy is God
Simply the best album ever produced. Don't let anyone tell you anything different. x
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by K. P. Dean
good for three songs
This group had three good songs and three only, they are Party Fears two, Club Country and 18 c love affair, sorry to anyone who thinks otherwise, this is really the only album you... Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2008 by A. Thornton
Badly remastered 4 star album
I'm surprised none of the other reviewers have commented on the sound quality of this remastered edition. It's obvious no original master tapes were used. Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2008 by ippudo
Nothing will ever be as futuristic as this...
"O" levels 1982.Boredom.Social decline post Brixton.Punk dead (but necessary).INSPIRATION NEEDED AND FOUND.Ok enough of the flannel. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2007 by bish
Whar ever happened to the US remixes.
I bought the original version of `Sulk' on tape back in the eighties. Then you got the whole album on the B side as US remixes. Read more
Published on 23 April 2007 by P. Bougeard
My Best Album Ever
Bought this to replace my ageing 80's vinyl album, that itself replaced the well-stretch 82 "chromedioxide" cassette featuring both UK and US versions of Sulk. Read more
Published on 29 July 2006 by M. Edwards
Another careless reissue.
What the other (excellent) reviews have failed to mention, is that the version of the stunning 'Club Country' is the truncated single version and NOT the version from the original... Read more
Published on 29 April 2005 by D. Turner
Five Pounds For Sheer Brilliance- You Should Pay More
One of the great bands, as everyone who saw them when they broke through in the eighties knows. Who say them on BA Robertson's (Mr Bang Bang himself) late night Friday music &... Read more
Published on 16 Oct 2004 by RJ Greenwood
Music from a parallel world
What an extraordinary voice and sound Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine captured in Camden Town back in 1982. Read more
Published on 17 July 2004 by Laurence Upton
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