''Turn the Dark Off'' is a 1997 album by Howie B. It made #58 on the UK Albums Chart and at the end of that year was voted at #47 on NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.

Background

''Turn the Dark Off'' is a less repetitive work than his first album, ''Music for Babies''. Whereas ''Music for Babies'' contained exclusively instrumentals, ''Turn the Dark Off'' contains a single vocal track, "

Take Your Partner by the Hand "Take Your Partner by the Hand" is a 1998 song by Howie B featuring Robbie Robertson. It samples The Electric Prunes' " Holy Are You". The song was the least commercially successful of the three singles from the ''Turn the Dark Off'' album, charti ...

". In an interview with ''

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'' magazine, Howie revealed that the vocals were added upon request; after he had finished the album and had sent the CD out,

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...

rung Howie up and told him he wanted to add vocals to the song. Other tracks contain assorted grunts and other non-coherent vocal noises. Prior to release, Howie had worked with U2 for their 1997 album, ''

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

'' and with

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

for her third studio album, '' Post''. Howie had previously worked with U2 on their compilation album, ''

Original Soundtracks 1 ''Original Soundtracks 1'' is a studio album recorded by rock band U2 and Brian Eno under the pseudonym Passengers as a side project. Released on 6 November 1995, the album is a collection of songs written for mostly imaginary films (the excep ...

''. To produce the album, he used, among other things, a turntable and a Nord Lead.

Singles

"Angels Go Bald:Too" was released as the lead single in July 1997 and charted at #36 on the UK Singles Chart. Three months later, "Switch" was released and suffered from a sophomore slump, stalling at #62. In February 1998, Howie released the one vocal song from the album, "Take Your Partner by the Hand", which charted at #74.

Critical reception

Critical reception was mixed. John Bush of AllMusic said that the album "fits in with the crop of late-'90s big beat maestros; though it doesn't quite outdistance the pack, the album still contains enough of Howie B's studio tweaks to make it worthwhile". Electronicmusic.com concurred, suggesting that it might be "one of the coolest CD's to have in your collection this summer" and that it was "full of wonderful moments". In addition,

New Musical Express ''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 ...

described it as a

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Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

-esque "warm, dripping collage of beats and buzzing melodies" that was "a pleasant change of pace from the cut-and-paste formula of other popular rock-techno acts". However,

Jim DeRogatis James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of ''Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', ''Guitar World'' and ''Modern Drummer'', and for 15 ...

gave the album a negative review, dismissing it as a "

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of current electronic sounds", adding that "Howie would have been better off focusing his considerable talents to hone a particular sound, as he did on ''Music for Babies'', rather than dabbling half-heartedly in a lot of them". Matt Diehl was even less kind, finishing a diatribe by calling it a "techno turnoff".

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums Howie B albums