FSOL @ 20 - Accelerator
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:21 am
Something I've been meaning to do for a while, so now's as good a time as any. As the Future Sound of London name is 20 years old this year, I thought it would be a nice time to look back over their career and discuss what it is we love (and maybe even hate) about their past work. So I'll be starting one thread every couple of weeks, starting with Accelerator (+ singles) through to Dead Cities, then the Archives and Environments, as they're the FSOL releases we're celebrating.
If the threads are successful I'll do some for the early alias stuff and Amorphous afterwards.
Accelerator (1991, re-releases 1992, 1996, 2001), Papua New Guinea (1991, re-releases 1992, 1996, 2001, 2002 and bootlegs forever) and Expander (1994).
Oh Accelerator, you album of many covers.
Seriously.
Before I bought it, I always used to go into the shop and change the sleeve around so this one was on the front as it felt the most 'FSOL' to me (probably the font).
Hmmm.
This is less impressive in real life than I was hoping.
OK seriously, stop it now guys.
Yeah.
This era is, in some ways, very distinct from the other albums. When I got the Expander single, even my dad pointed out that it "just sounded like Orbital or something" and lacked the weirdness of their later material. It's certainly more synth-heavy in sound, and more dancey, than anything they've done since. Bizarrely at one point it was my favourite FSOL record (hmmm), but now it probably occupies the lower half of my 'albums in order of preference' list.
That said, there's not much to dislike here. I always preferred the remix of Expander, but the first half is a flawless run of tracks otherwise; I absolutely love While Others Cry and It's Not My Problem. The 6 minute mix of Papua is my favourite version of it as it incorporates the creepiness of the Dumb Child of Q mix into proceedings.
In terms of remixes, Papua has always suffered, I've thought. Journey to Pyramid is fun in a very dated way, the Qube Mix is a fun acidy version, and the Hamish McDonald version is a nice weird mix that's probably my favourite. In 2001, Blue States and Simian did decent jobs of reworking it, and Oil's version was fine. Otherwise, I'm not fond of the others, especially the hideous trance versions from 2001/2002, and Andy Weatherall's sci-fi nonsense. Oh, and the Monsoon Mix, which is barely recognisible from the original.
The song is one I can't actually judge anymore as I've heard it so many times, although occasionally I do get transported back to the time when I got the single simply because it said The Future Sound of London on the front. I'd only got My Kingdom and Dead Cities at this point so I didn't know what to expect. I thought it was brilliant, if incredibly different, and every now and then I can re-enter that world. Interestingly, I never found it a tropical, southern hemisphere sounding work, rather a slightly sinister piece soundtracking some isolated moorland - I'm not the only one, if the FutureShock video is anything to go by.
Anyway, please share your thoughts about this oft-ignored classic.
If the threads are successful I'll do some for the early alias stuff and Amorphous afterwards.
Accelerator (1991, re-releases 1992, 1996, 2001), Papua New Guinea (1991, re-releases 1992, 1996, 2001, 2002 and bootlegs forever) and Expander (1994).
Oh Accelerator, you album of many covers.
Seriously.
Before I bought it, I always used to go into the shop and change the sleeve around so this one was on the front as it felt the most 'FSOL' to me (probably the font).
Hmmm.
This is less impressive in real life than I was hoping.
OK seriously, stop it now guys.
Yeah.
This era is, in some ways, very distinct from the other albums. When I got the Expander single, even my dad pointed out that it "just sounded like Orbital or something" and lacked the weirdness of their later material. It's certainly more synth-heavy in sound, and more dancey, than anything they've done since. Bizarrely at one point it was my favourite FSOL record (hmmm), but now it probably occupies the lower half of my 'albums in order of preference' list.
That said, there's not much to dislike here. I always preferred the remix of Expander, but the first half is a flawless run of tracks otherwise; I absolutely love While Others Cry and It's Not My Problem. The 6 minute mix of Papua is my favourite version of it as it incorporates the creepiness of the Dumb Child of Q mix into proceedings.
In terms of remixes, Papua has always suffered, I've thought. Journey to Pyramid is fun in a very dated way, the Qube Mix is a fun acidy version, and the Hamish McDonald version is a nice weird mix that's probably my favourite. In 2001, Blue States and Simian did decent jobs of reworking it, and Oil's version was fine. Otherwise, I'm not fond of the others, especially the hideous trance versions from 2001/2002, and Andy Weatherall's sci-fi nonsense. Oh, and the Monsoon Mix, which is barely recognisible from the original.
The song is one I can't actually judge anymore as I've heard it so many times, although occasionally I do get transported back to the time when I got the single simply because it said The Future Sound of London on the front. I'd only got My Kingdom and Dead Cities at this point so I didn't know what to expect. I thought it was brilliant, if incredibly different, and every now and then I can re-enter that world. Interestingly, I never found it a tropical, southern hemisphere sounding work, rather a slightly sinister piece soundtracking some isolated moorland - I'm not the only one, if the FutureShock video is anything to go by.
Anyway, please share your thoughts about this oft-ignored classic.