"Designing Heaven" is a song by the British new wave and

synth-pop 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 ...

band Heaven 17, released in 1996 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, ''

Bigger Than America ''Bigger Than America'' is the sixth studio album by the English synthpop 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 al ...

''. It was written by band members Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, and was produced by Marsh and Ware under their production company British Electric Foundation. The song peaked at number 128 in the UK Singles Chart. It was the band's first release of new material since 1988.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' called "Designing Heaven" "a charmingly old-fashioned track" from the "seminal synthesizer pop pioneers" and noted that, although the song does not "deliver a strong hook", it "captures that classic 1980s pop glamour". The reviewer added that

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...

's remix is "built around the bass sequence" he used on

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

's 1975 track " Love to Love You Baby". Alan Jones, writing for '' Music Week'', remarked that Heaven 17 "sound much as they did in their Virgin years, except that some bright spark recruited Giorgio Moroder and Motiv 8 to provide mixes". He continued, "The result, especially on the Motiv 8 mix, is a corny, slightly old fashioned but very commercial mix."

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' considered it "an engaging single that shows the act updating its sound to suit current electro-dance trends". Everett True of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' described the song as a "rather weak Human League pastiche". Neil Hannon, as a guest reviewer for the magazine, also noted it "sounds a bit like all those Human League comeback attempts" and found it "very dated ndemasculated". He continued, "In the early days of the Eighties, Heaven 17 had a very specific sound. Now, there are all these crazy sampling sequencers, and they just sound like everything else." In a review of ''Bigger Than America'', Paul Fucito of AllMusic considered it to be "as contemporary as anything Erasure, the

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...

, or The Human League have done recently". David Richards of the American magazine ''The Lexicon'' wrote, "Try to get by the first single, 'Designing Heaven'. Maybe one day it will be considered a classic like 'Let Me Go' or 'Penthouse and Pavement', but it's doubtful. The song lacks energy or a good melody, seemingly constructed without a real master plan. None of the remixes set the song on fire, but seem serviceable enough for clubs."

Formats

12-inch single #"Designing Heaven (Starck Mix)" - 8:33 #"Designing Heaven (Le Courbosier Mix)" - 4:43 #"Designing Heaven (Rodgers Mix)" - 7:00 #"Designing Heaven (Mies Van Der Rohe Mix)" - 5:43 12-inch single (promo) #"Designing Heaven (Hysterix Pure Pumpin' Mix)" - 6:55 #"Designing Heaven (Moroder's Subterranean Mix)" - 5:45 2x 12-inch single (German promo) #"Designing Heaven (Motiv-8's Vocal 12")" - 7:05 #"Designing Heaven (Gregorio's 12" arispeed 130BPM" - 6:07 #"Designing Heaven (Moroder's Extended Mix)" - 6:45 #"Designing Heaven (Motiv-8's Vocal Dub)" - 4:42 #"Designing Heaven (Gregorio's 12")" - 6:23 #"Designing Heaven (Moroder's Subterranean Mix)" - 5:45 #"Designing Heaven (Trans European Heaven Mix)" - 4:50 #"Designing Heaven (Motiv-8 Extended Instrumental)" - 7:25 #"Designing Heaven (Motiv-8's Radio Edit)" - 3:54 CD single #1 #"Designing Heaven (Radio Mix)" - 4:12 #"Designing Heaven (Lloyd-Wright Mix - Motiv 8's Radio Mix)" - 4:10 #"Designing Heaven (Le Corbusier Mix - Motiv 8's Dub 12)" - 4:42 #"Designing Heaven (Trans European Heaven)" - 4:52 #"Designing Heaven (Den Hemmel Designen)" - 4:27 CD single #2 #"Designing Heaven (Meis Van Der Rohe Mix - Giorgio Moroder's Subterranean 12")" - 5:43 #"Designing Heaven (Stark Mix - Gregorio's 12")" - 8:33 #"Designing Heaven (Venturi Mix - Giorgio Moroder's Vocal 12")" - 6:46 #"Designing Heaven (Rodgers Mix - James Reynold's Vocal 12")" - 7:00 CD single (UK promo) #"Designing Heaven (Radio Edit)" - 4:10 CD single (Germany promo) #"Designing Heaven (Pump Up Mix Edit)"

Personnel

Heaven 17 * Glenn Gregory - vocals * Martyn Ware - keyboards * Ian Craig Marsh - keyboards Additional personnel * Chris Cox,

, Gregorio, Motiv 8, James Reynolds, Hysterix - remixes

Charts

References

{{authority control 1996 songs 1996 singles Heaven 17 songs Songs written by Martyn Ware Songs written by Glenn Gregory Songs written by Ian Craig Marsh Warner Music Group singles