''Vibing Up the Senile Man (Part One)'' is the second studio album by English rock band

Alternative TV Alternative TV (sometimes known as ATV) are an English band formed in London in 1977. Author Steve Taylor writes: "Alternative TV pioneered reggae rhythms in punk and then moved on to redefine the musical rules". History Alternative TV were fo ...

, released in March 1979 by record label Deptford Fun City. On this album, the band followed an even more experimental and

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

approach than on '' The Image Has Cracked'' (1978).

Recording

The album's tracks were all reportedly recorded in a single take.

Musical style

Regarding its musical style, Alternative TV frontman Mark Perry recalled: "There are

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

influences; I'd got into the

Art Ensemble of Chicago The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians ( AACM) in the late 1960s. The ensemble integrates many jazz styles and plays many instruments, including "little ...

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

..I'd moved into this house with an amazing music room – pianos, clarinets, you name it – and we'd always be picking up stuff from junk shops."

Reception

According to Simon Reynolds in '' Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984'', the album received a "uniformly hostile" response from reviewers upon its release. ''

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 ...

'' described the record as being "up the pseudo-avant creek without a paddle". In his retrospective review of the album, Dean McFarlane 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 databa ...

noted that "... Mark Perry and friends did to punk exactly what the movement had intended for the establishment", asking, "... who would have expected a follow-up o ''The Image Has Cracked''as avant-garde abstraction ...?" He goes on to state that "Vibing Up the Senile Man became closer to free improvisation and avant-garde jazz without a punk anthem in sight ..." and continuing that what it "... represents two decades later is a door opening on multi-faceted post-rock music -- which draws on avant-garde, noise, and jazz and arguably makes more sense in the context of year 2000 as a musical treasure much more than in 1980 ...".

Legacy

Paul Hegarty, in ''Noise Music: A History'', described the album as "forming the bridge into industrial music". The record was placed at number 19 on ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

'''s list of readers' choice of 50 "Weirdest Albums".

Track listing

Personnel

; Alternative TV * Mark Perry – all other instruments,

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 ...

* Dennis Burns – all other instruments, production ; Additional personnel * Mick Linehan – guitar on "Release the Natives" and "The Good Missionary" * Steve Jameson – third voice on "Smile in the Day" * Genesis P. Orridge - percussion on "Release the Natives", "Serpentine Gallery" and "Graves of Deluxe Green" ; Technical * Wally Brill –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

, production, "vibing" *

Jill Furmanovsky Jill Furmanovsky (born 1953) is a British photographer who has specialised in documenting rock musicians. Life and work Born in Southern Rhodesia, Furmanovsky emigrated with her parents and brother Michael to London in 1965. She studied text ...

– cover photography, sleeve layout

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1979 albums Experimental music albums Alternative TV albums