''Red Mecca'' is the third studio album by English band Cabaret Voltaire. It was released in September 1981, through record label Rough Trade.

Background

While touring the USA in November 1979, Cabaret Voltaire became strongly interested in the rise of the

Christian right The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with t ...

and its use of television, especially the fund-raising broadcasts of

TV evangelist Televangelism ( tele- "distance" and " evangelism," meaning " ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are ministers, whether official or self-p ...

Eugene Scott. They compared this to the rise of

Islamism Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is ...

, devoting a side to each strand of religious politics on their 1980 mini-album '' Three Mantras''. ''Red Mecca'' was a culmination of this interest. According to Richard H. Kirk: "The whole Afghanistan situation was kicking off,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

had the American hostages ..we were taking notice ..it's not called 'Red Mecca''by coincidence. We weren't referencing the fucking Mecca Ballroom in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

!" ''Red Mecca'' was recorded at Western Works,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

in May 1981.

Release

''Red Mecca'' reached No. 1 on the UK Independent Albums chart.

Critical reception

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'' named ''Red Mecca'' the ninth best album of 1981. Andy Kellman 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 ...

retrospectively praised the album, writing, "Unlike a fair portion of CV's studio output, ''Red Mecca'' features no failed experiments or anything that could be merely cast off as 'interesting.' It's a taught , dense, horrific slab lacking a lull." ''

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'' cited ''Red Mecca'' as Cabaret Voltaire's "masterpiece", where the band "struck the perfect balance between experimentalism and entryism". ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

''s Ian Shirley called it "a seismic release" and noted "its timeless sheen, with the Cabs' use of echo, space and

phasing A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscillat ...

lending depth and vibrancy to the album." In 2019, ''

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'' ranked ''Red Mecca'' as the fourth best

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album of all time.

Track listing

Personnel

; Cabaret Voltaire * Christopher R. Watson – organ, tape,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, recording, sleeve design * Richard H. Kirk – synthesizer, guitar, clarinet, horns, strings, production, recording, sleeve design *

Stephen Mallinder Stephen William Mallinder (born 1 January 1955) is an English artist and musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros., Hey, Rube!, Wrangler, and Creep Show. Biography Mallinder ...

– vocals, bass guitar, bongos, production, recording, sleeve design ; Additional personnel * Nik Allday – drums * Porky – mastering *

Neville Brody Neville Brody, (born 23 April 1957) is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director. He is known for his work on ''The Face'' magazine (1981–1986), ''Arena'' magazine (1987–1990), and designing record covers for artists such a ...

– sleeve design

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1981 albums Cabaret Voltaire (band) albums Music in Sheffield Rough Trade Records albums