''Ismism'' is the fourth

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 English duo

Godley & Creme Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music vi ...

, released in October 1981 by

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. In the US it was released under the name ''Snack Attack''. It was recorded between April–May 1980 at Lymehouse Studios in

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and engineered and re-mixed at

Nigel Gray Nigel Gray (1947 – 30 July 2016) was an English record producer. His album credits include ''Outlandos d'Amour'' (1978), ''Reggatta de Blanc'' (1979), and ''Zenyatta Mondatta'' (1980) for the Police, ''Kaleidoscope'' (1980) and '' Juju'' (1981) ...

's Surrey Sound Studios. ''Ismism'' peaked at No. 29 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

and at No. 28 on the

Dutch Albums Chart The Dutch Album Top 100 or Album Top 100 is a weekly hit list of music albums, compiled by Dutch Charts. List shows the 100 best-selling music albums of the moment in the Netherlands. The list has passed through various name changes and has expande ...

, making it their best-selling studio album. Three singles were released from the album: "

Under Your Thumb "Under Your Thumb" is a song written and recorded by English duo Godley & Creme, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Ismism'' (1981). The single peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1981. The single feature ...

", " Wedding Bells" and "Snack Attack", with the first two singles charting within the Top 10 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. ''Ismism'' was reissued on CD in 2004 under ''Ismism... Plus'' name (with other Godley & Creme albums) with singles' B-sides as bonus tracks.

Artwork

The album's cover artwork, designed by Ben Kelly, originally was in white with the title spelt out via holes in the cover which showed a contrasting colour beneath. Later versions used coloured dots instead of holes. An alternative version of the cover featured a black background.

Critical reception

In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, critic Mark Allan wrote of the album, "Prone to pretension, these two English

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

s revel in outright silliness on much of this album", adding that "throughout all of this, you get the nagging feeling this pair was capable of so much more."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the ''Ismism'' liner notes. Musicians *

Kevin Godley Kevin Michael Godley (born 7 October 1945) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and music video director. He is known as the singer and drummer of the art rock band 10cc and later as part of collaboration duo Godley & Creme with Lol Creme ...

—

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

; drum machine *

Lol Creme Laurence Neil "Lol" Creme (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings and plays guitar, bass and keyboards. Biography Creme was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, England. ...

— vocals;

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

;

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

;

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

;

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s * Bimbo Acock –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

Production and artwork * Kevin Godley – producer * Lol Creme – producer;

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

– mixer * Ben Kelly – artwork

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1981 albums Godley & Creme albums New wave albums by English artists