''Bigger Than America'' is the sixth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by the English
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
band
Heaven 17. It was originally released in September 1996, on the label Eye of the Storm, eight years after their previous album, ''
Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho''.
The album peaked at number one on Germany Alphabeat Redaktionscharts' Rock/Pop/Alternative Charts in November 1996, but did not chart in the UK. It was listed as number 6 on the online music magazine
Addicted to Noise's Writers Poll.
In an interview with ''
The Guardian'' in 2010, Ware recalled: "This went under the radar to the extent that hardly anybody in this country knew about it; we did do an album in '95 called ''Bigger Than America'', which was our attempt to re-engage early analogue synths and create an album based on that. It just got lost in the big Warner Brothers machine."
Critical reception
Upon its release, Caroline Sullivan of ''
The Guardian'' commented: "Heaven 17 have hardly changed
ndthings are much the same - just less melodic. Marsh and Ware still produce plinky, one-tempo backbeats,
ndGregory's lyrics are disillusioned, even morose. "We Blame Love" has the closest thing to a tune, which brings us to the crux of the matter - their status as godfathers of techno is unchallenged, but these songs are hollow and too samey."
Robert Semrow of ''
Keyboard'' wrote: "
eaven 17were outstanding before, and have only improved with time. Each song is solid and very dancefloor-friendly. ''Bigger Than America'' is similar to their previous sound, with pads and dance grooves providing a backdrop for Gregory's unmistakable strong vocals. Lots of movement, lots of changes, and lots to enjoy." Howard Cohen of
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper brand ...
summarised: "Erasure-like Europop cuts "Freak!" and "Another Big Idea" are danceable enough, and there's a throbbing Giorgio Moroder dance remix. But this is largely tuneless, boring stuff. Which explains why few missed Heaven 17 in the first place."
Track listing
# "Dive" – 4:30
# "
Designing Heaven
"Designing Heaven" is a song by the British new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released in 1996 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, ''Bigger Than America''. It was written by band members Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and M ...
" – 5:15
# "We Blame Love" – 4:49
# "Another Big Idea" – 4:57
# "Freak!" – 4:09
# "Bigger Than America" – 4:00
# "Unreal Everything" – 4:10
# "The Big Dipper" – 4:57
# "Do I Believe?" – 4:57
# "Resurrection Man" – 4:06
# "Maybe Forever" – 4:42
# "An Electronic Prayer" – 4:06
# "Designing Heaven – (Mies Van Der Rohe mix)" +
# "Designing Heaven (Den Hemmel Designen) – (Gregorio remix)" +
Tracks marked with "+" are bonus tracks added to the other version of the CD album.
Singles
"Designing Heaven" (30 August 1996)
"We Blame Love" (17 February 1997)
Personnel
*
Glenn Gregory
*
Ian Craig Marsh
*
Martyn Ware
Production
*
Ray Smith – cover art
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigger Than America
1996 albums
Cleopatra Records albums
Heaven 17 albums