''Let's Get Killed'' is the second studio album by

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

DJ and producer David Holmes. It was released in the UK on 8 September 1997 through

Go! Beat Go! Discs was a London-based record label, launched in 1983 from offices in Wendell Road, Shepherd's Bush, by Andy Macdonald and Lesley Symons. The pair founded the label after Macdonald left his job as press officer at Stiff Records, and Symo ...

Records and contained two UK Top 40 singles: "Don't Die Just Yet" and "My Mate Paul"; "Gritty Shaker" was also released as a single. In addition, the album includes a re-working of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

theme, retitled as "Radio 7", and a remake of

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

's songs "Melody" and "Cargo Culte", retitled "Don't Die Just Yet". ''Let's Get Killed'' was Holmes's first album release in the United States, following the domestic acclaim of his debut long-player '' This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats''.

Background

Holmes grew up in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

as the youngest of ten children. By the age of 15 he had begun to DJ in his local pubs and bars, playing

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

. This eclecticism would remain into adulthood, and is a feature of his DJ sets. When he was 17, Holmes visited

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, spending time in the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

, Washington Square and

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areas. He took a DAT recorder with him as he explored the city, and taped conversations with many people he spoke to. Holmes kept the recordings for over ten years, using them as the basis for ''Let's Get Killed''. ''Let's Get Killed'' is so called because on one occasion Holmes and his associates were ''"... chased by eight guys through the

who were after our expensive audio equipment"''.

Music

Holmes used the recordings he made in

of conversations and other street-level noise as samples on the album. These snippets of conversation were often spoken by people from New York's cultural underbelly, including

prostitutes Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-p ...

, pimps and drug-dealers. The samples were used in between the tracks on the album, and in some cases in the tracks themselves. The record contains a wide variety of styles within the

spectrum, including

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

and drum 'n' bass. David Holmes has produced many

film scores A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

, and it has often been said that his studio albums have a cinematic feel to them.

Critical reception

''Let's Get Killed'' was well received by critics in general, and the dance music press in particular. Both

Jockey Slut ''Jockey Slut'' was a British music magazine which ran between 1993 and 2004, focusing mainly on dance music and Nightclub, club culture. It started as a Self publishing, self-published bimonthly, bi-monthly fanzine in 1993, and became a monthly ...

and

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was printe ...

awarded it Album of the Month, whilst

DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

gave it a rating of 10/10. The NME said, ''"Holmes both evokes the endless possibilities, claustrophobia and madness of The Big Apple and offers a critique ... Not bad at all for a trendy DJ"'', and placed it number 40 in the 1997 Critics Poll.

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

also included it in their end-of-year poll, this time at number 24. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine and

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

both gave the album 3 stars out of 5, with Allmusic saying the ''"effect created is like that of a soundtrack, and even though Let's Get Killed isn't attached to a film, it flows with energy and grace"''. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' rated the album A-minus, saying ''"Holmes loves airy cinematic beauty, but he tempers it with frisky Latin percussion, gritty electric guitar ... , sound-collage effects, and snippets of crazed street people."''. On the strength of the album, Holmes won Best Rock Artist at Ireland's National Entertainment Awards, the first time it was awarded to a dance artist. ''Let's Get Killed'' was also included in the book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''.

Chart performance

''Let's Get Killed'' spent two weeks in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, entering at number 34 in its first week. It dropped to number 75 in its second and final week in the chart.

Track listing

All tracks written by David Holmes, unless otherwise stated. # "Listen" – 0:49 # "My Mate Paul" – 5:29 # "Let's Get Killed" – 7:28 # "Gritty Shaker" – 6:40 # "Head Rush on Lafayette" – 1:20 # "Rodney Yates" – 6:24 # "Radio 7" (

Monty Norman Monty Norman ( Noserovitch; 4 April 1928 – 11 July 2022) was a British film score composer and singer. A contributor to West End theatre, West End musicals in the 1950s and 1960s, he is best known for composing the "James Bond Theme", first ...

) – 5:49 # "The Parcus & Madder Show" – 0:51 # "Slashers Revenge" – 4:46 # "Freaknik" – 6:45 # "Caddell Returns" – 5:42 # "Don't Die Just Yet" (

) – 6:43 # "For You" – 0:59

Personnel

David Holmes wrote and produced the majority of the album, apart from "Radio 7", which is a cover of

James Bond Theme The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the List of James Bond films, James Bond films and has been used in every Bond film, starting with ''Dr. No (film), Dr. No'' in 1962. Composed in E minor by Monty Norman, the piece has ...

, and "Don't Die Just Yet", which is based on samples of songs by

. Other appearances and credits were: *

Gem Archer Colin Murray "Gem" Archer ( '; born 7 December 1966) is an English guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the rock bands Oasis, Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, making him and Chris Sharrock the only members ...

– guitar on "Radio 7" and "Freaknik". Archer would later join

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentLondon Session Orchestra – "Radio 7" and "Don't Die Just Yet". * Jagz Kooner – production on "My Mate Paul". * Keith Tenniswood –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

on "Rodney Yates"; additional production on "Gritty Shaker", "Rodney Yates" and "Slasher's Revenge". *

Tim Goldsworthy Tim Goldsworthy is a British record producer, DJ and recording artist. Career Originally a musician/producer for Unkle with James Lavelle, he later worked with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and was formerly joint owner of DFA Records. Go ...

– remixing on "Radio 7".

Singles

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums David Holmes (musician) albums Go! Discs albums