''The Politics of Dancing'' is the debut studio album by English new wave band Re-Flex, recorded in late 1982 and released in November 1983 by EMI Records, and was, until September 2010, their only officially released studio album.

John Punter John Punter (born 27 January 1949) is a former English record producer and recording engineer. He has worked with many bands and musicians, such as Japan, Procol Harum, Roxy Music, Doctors of Madness, Sad Café and Slade. His career in music span ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone ...

fame produced the album at Utopia Studios in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. The album received moderate success, charting at No. 34 in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, No. 53 in the

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, and No. 58 in

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, but the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

was a big international success and became the band's signature song, causing some to label them a one-hit wonder. Five other singles were released from the album with minor success in the US and UK: "Hitline", "Hurt", "Praying to the Beat", "Couldn't Stand a Day", and "Sensitive". The album was reissued on CD in 1993 through

One Way Records One Way Records was an independent record label based in Albany, New York that specialized in budget reissues of classic rock albums. In the 1990s, it gained business pressing reissues of those records that had "fallen through the cracks" in the t ...

. Jambo Music Ltd., a division of JHP, who publish and administer Re-Flex's catalogue of songs, re-released it as part of a 6-CD box set which also contained the previously unreleased ''Humanication'' album and other previously unavailable tracks recorded before and after the band's relationship with EMI. Cherry Red Records issued a 2-CD expanded edition of this album with bonus material in 2019. In 2017, the album's

was prominently featured in the film ''

Atomic Blonde ''Atomic Blonde'' is a 2017 American action thriller film directed by David Leitch (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Kurt Johnstad, based on the 2012 graphic novel ''The Coldest City'' by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart. The ...

''.

Critical reception

Writing for ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'', music journalist Terry Rompers wrote that "Re-Flex display a knack for penning strong melodies and playing walloping dance grooves, best exemplified on the title track and “Hurt.”" 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 databa ...

, critic Stephen Cook wrote that "the album is mostly a bland array of robotic bass and drums, effects-riddled guitars, and annoying keyboard accents. To the band's credit, the songwriting is impressive at times, especially on the title track and "Hitline," and lead singer Baxter's vocals are admirable in their own, Bowie-rehashed way. The album's future cutout-bin status, though, was sealed with aimless funk like "Jungle" and the Toto-aping MOR of "Sensitive." Approach with tongue firmly in cheek."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from ''The Politics of Dancing'' liner notes. Re-Flex * Baxter —

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 strin ...

; lead vocals * Paul Fishman —

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

; computers * Roland Vaughan Kerridge —

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

and acoustic drums;

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. Ex ...

; programming; backing vocals * Nigel Ross-Scott — bass; backing vocals Production and artwork *

— producer; mixing * Pete Smith —

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 limit ...

* Andrew Carb Canelle – assistant engineer *

Chris Sheldon Chris Sheldon (born 25 September 1962) is an English record producer, particularly of rock music based in London, England. He has produced or mixed records for the Foo Fighters, Garbage, Big Country, Feeder, Therapy?, Biffy Clyro, Oceansize, Pix ...

– assistant engineer *

Keith Breeden Keith Breeden RP (born 25 March 1956) is a graphic designer and portraitist. He is a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Early life Keith attended St. Wilfred's Primary in Northwich from 1962 to 1967 before attending St Ambrose Co ...

–

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Politics of Dancing, The 1983 debut albums Re-Flex albums EMI Records albums Albums produced by John Punter