''Penthouse and Pavement'' is the debut
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
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
Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn Ware (keyboards) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously of the Human League), an ...
, released in September 1981 by
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
.
"
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is a song by British synth-pop band Heaven 17. It was their debut single, released on 6 March 1981, also acting as the lead single from their debut studio album, '' Penthouse and Pavement'' (1981). It wa ...
" was released as a single, but did not achieve chart success, partly due to a ban by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
.
The album sold reasonably well, but was not a great commercial success on release.
It has since been regarded as "an important outing",
is included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
'', and was re-released in 2010 in a three-disc special edition. The title track was included on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
of the 1993 erotic thriller film ''
Sliver
Sliver may refer to:
Entertainment
*Sliver (novel), ''Sliver'' (novel), a 1991 novel by Ira Levin
**Sliver (film), ''Sliver'' (film), a 1993 film adaptation of the novel
**Sliver (soundtrack), ''Sliver'' (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the 1993 fi ...
''.
Reception
Whilst the singles charted poorly, the album charted at No. 14 and remained in the Top 100 for 77 weeks. It was certified gold (100,000 copies sold) by the
BPI in October 1982.
Reviewing the album for ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'',
Paul Morley
Paul Robert Morley is an English music journalist. He wrote for the ''New Musical Express'' from 1977 to 1983 and has since written for a wide range of publications as well as writing his own books. He was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Re ...
said: "''Penthouse and Pavement'' is fabulous and it won't deny your needs and you just put our faith in it because it is true." It was ranked the fifth best album of 1981 by ''NME''.
In a retrospective review, Dan LeRoy of
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 ...
felt that the album combined
electropop
Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...
with good melodies, and that
Glenn Gregory
Glenn Peter Gregory (born 16 May 1958) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synthpop b ...
was able to deliver the "overtly left-wing political" lyrics without sounding "pretentious".
The album is included in the musical reference book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''.
Track listing
;Additional tracks
;2010 3-disc special edition
The album was reproduced live in its entirety in a series of concerts the band held throughout 2010, one of which (in Sheffield) was filmed and shown on BBC Two on 16 May 2010. The following night a documentary about the making of the album was screened; this was later included on a new three-disc special edition of the album released in November 2010.
;Disc 1
#"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"
#"Penthouse and Pavement"
#"Play to Win"
#"Soul Warfare"
#"Geisha Boys and Temple Girls"
#"Let's All Make a Bomb"
#"The Height of the Fighting"
#"Song with No Name"
#"We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time"
#"I'm Your Money" (12" Version)
#"Are Everything" (12" Version)
#"Decline of the West"*
;Disc 2
#"Penthouse and Pavement" (Original Demo)
#"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" (Original Demo)
#"Play to Win" (Original Demo Instrumental)
#"Soul Warfare" (Original Demo)
#"Are Everything" (Original Demo)
#"BEF Ident" (Alternate Version)*
#"Decline of the West" (Alternate Version)*
#"Rise of the East" (Alternate Version)*
#"Music to Kill Your Parents By" (Alternate Version)*
#"Uptown Apocalypse" (Alternate Version)*
#"A Baby Called Billy" (Alternate Version)*
#"Rhythmic Experiment 1"*
#"Rhythmic Experiment 2"*
#"Boys of Buddha Experiment"*
#"At the Height of the Fighting" (Original Rhythm Track)
#"Rhythmic Loop Experiment"*
#"Funky Experiment"*
#"Song Experiment"*
#"Heavy Drum Experiment"*
#"Play to Win" (Original Demo With Vocals)
* credited to B.E.F.
Disc 3 (DVD)
#''The Story of Penthouse And Pavement'' (2010 documentary)
Personnel
Heaven 17
*
Glenn Gregory
Glenn Peter Gregory (born 16 May 1958) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synthpop b ...
– lead vocals, backing vocals
*
Martyn Ware
Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware was partly responsible for hit songs such as " Being Boiled" and ...
– pianos, synthesizers,
Linn LM-1
The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...
, percussion, backing vocals
*
Ian Craig Marsh
Ian Craig Marsh (born 11 November 1956) is an English musician and composer. He was a founding member of the electronic band the Human League, writing and playing on their first two albums and several singles, until leaving in 1980 to form the ...
– synthesizers, saxophone, percussion
Session musicians
* Malcolm Veale – synthesizers, saxophone
* The Boys of Buddha – synthetic horns
* Steve Travell – acoustic piano (4)
* John Wilson – guitars (1-4),
guitar synthesizer
A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities.
Overview
Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partner ...
s (1-4), bass (1-4)
*
Josie James
Josephine James is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and recording artist. James is best known for her performances on Burt Bacharach’s world tours, such as her feature song “ Anyone Who Had a Heart". James is also the lead vocalist o ...
– backing vocals (2)
Production
* Bob Last – executive producer
*
British Electric Foundation
B.E.F. (British Electric Foundation) was a band/production company formed by former Human League members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh which became largely eclipsed by its best-known project, Heaven 17 (with lead singer Glenn Gregory).
Histor ...
– producers, packaging design
*
Peter Walsh – production assistant (2, 3, 4, 6), engineer (2, 3, 4, 6)
* Steve Rance – engineer (5, 7, 8, 9)
*
Ray Smith – cover painting
Charts
Certifications
In popular culture
The album song "Penthouse and Pavement" is featured in
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
video game ''
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' where it is played on the fictional radio station Wave 103.
Notes
*¹ – The last track on the original vinyl LP release, "We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time", was recorded up to and onto the runoff groove; meaning the runtime of this track (as labelled on the LP sleeve) and the album is infinite, looping the line "For a very long time".
*"Groove Thang", "Decline of the West" and "B.E.F. Ident" originally appeared on the B.E.F. cassette-only release ''
Music for Stowaways'' (1981).
*All tracks were mixed at Red Bus Studios except "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" and "Let's All Make a Bomb" which were mixed at
The Townhouse.
*The Canadian LP and cassette releases included the original version of "I'm Your Money" and an uncredited "B.E.F. Ident" between "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" and "Let's All Make a Bomb." The cassette's version of "Play to Win" is an edited version of the 12" single mix. This version was later released on the 1986 UK compilation ''Endless'' (cassette version only)
References
External links
*
''Penthouse and Pavement''(
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...
) at
Radio3Net
Radio 3 net is the former ''Radio România Tineret'' (or Radio 3). More than 20,000 albums are stored on Radio 3 net. A few of the prominent features available on the website are "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" and "Search & Play".
...
(streamed copy where licensed)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penthouse and Pavement
1981 debut albums
Heaven 17 albums
Virgin Records albums
Electropop albums