Search - Cabaret Voltaire :: Original Sound of Sheffield '78/'82

Solid collection of the Cabs' Phase One

H. Jin | Melbourne, Australia | 06/21/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"'The Original Sound Of Sheffield' chronicles Phase One of the Cabs' recording career, collecting important singles and album tracks from their Industrial period. It contains early tracks from EPs, non-album singles, plus selections from their first four studio albums. You could argue that one or two of the album cuts are a bit arbitrary ('Voice Of America' and 'Red Mecca' have other tracks that would fit just as well here), but in general this is a strong collection that contains most of the essential songs from the period.



What this album demonstrates very clearly is the diversity of the Cabs' sound. Nearly every track is different: the sparse squelch of 'Do The Mussolini', the sinister spoken-word minimalism of 'Baader Meinhof', the assaultive 'Nag Nag Nag', the hypnotic 'Seconds Too Late', the gurgling 'This Is Entertainment', the disco of 'Yashar' and the demented dance-funk of 'Wait And Shuffle' and 'Loosen The Clamp'.



Presenting the tracks in chronological order is important, as it showcases the progession of their music during this period toward more accessible and danceable arrangements. Most people regard 'The Crackdown' as the point where the Cabs "went disco" (or more harshly, "sold out"), but listen to this album and you'll see that hints of that direction are clear as early as 'Silent Command', while 'Yashar' is a disco masterpiece recorded when Chris Watson was still around. Their brilliant cover of 'No Escape' also showcased at an early stage how their distinctive sound could work within conventional song structures. There was no "selling out", just a gradual streamlining of their sound, and the album correctly ends at the point where their refined arrangements began breaking into the mainstream.



Since many important Cabs songs didn't appear on studio albums, and many of the original singles and EPs can be hard to find, this collection is essential for fans of the band's early work."