Sunday, December 28, 2014

1987 – The Art Of Noise / In No Sense ? Nonsense !
(China Records catalog # WOL4)
Side B - track #9 : Ode to Don Jose (Dudley/Jeczalik)






















Ode to Don Jose

An English ode is a lyrical stanza in praise of, or dedicated
to someone or something that captures the poet's interest
or serves as an inspiration for the ode. The lyrics can be on
various themes. The earliest odes in the English language,
using the word in its strict form, were the Epithalamium
and Prothalamium of Edmund Spenser.
Whereas Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695), is said to have been
composing at nine years old, but the earliest work that can
be certainly identified as his is an ode for the King's birthday,
written in 1670, Gustav Theodore Holst (1874 – 1934) also
an English musician, composed the Ode to Death, a setting
of a poem by Whitman, which according to Ralph Vaughan
Williams is considered by many to be Holst's most beautiful
choral work.

The reason behind Dudley/Jeczalik`s decision to name this
ambient instrumental track “Ode” is uncertain. Whilst I’m
clueless when it comes to which was the inspiring poem, I’m
totally lost when it comes to “Don Jose” (which translated
into english means Mister Joseph) to whom this music is
dedicated. Besides this minor hybrid title reproach, this cut
is a TAON purebred exponent.

The Art Of Noise members
Anne Dudley (Anne Jennifer Beckingham)
(piano, orchestral arrangements, vocals,  keyboards), 
(vocals, keyboards, 1983-85, 1996-present),
co-founder of  ZTT Records (Zang Tumb Tuum), 
Trevor Horn  (Trevor Charles Horn)
(bass, vocals, keyboards, 1983-85, 1996-present),
Co-founder of ZTT Records (Zang Tumb Tuum), 
Lol Creme (Laurence Neil Crème)
(guitar, vocals, keyboards, 1996-present),
Gary Langan
(multi-instrumentalist, 1983-85), 
J.J. Jeczalik (Jonathan Edward Stephen Jeczalik)
(keyboards, 1983-90)

Trevor Horn biography by Jason Ankeny


After producing Yes' Tormato, both Horn and Downes
joined the venerable prog rock band as full members.
When Yes disbanded in 1981, Downes joined Asia, at
which time Horn moved into production. In 1983 he
helmed Yes' comeback effort 90125, and a short time later
founded his own label, ZTT, in the years to come produ-
cing material for artists as diverse as ABC, Grace Jones,
Tina Turner. Horn also co-founded the band Art of Noise,
and produced Band Aid's all-star charity single "Do They
Know It's Christmas."

Anne Dudley biography by Jason Ankeny


A graduate of the Royal College of Music, the classically-
trained Dudley began her professional career as a session
keyboardist; a protege of producer Trevor Horn. Forming
Art of Noise in 1983 with Horn, JJ Jeczalik, Gary Langan
and Paul Morley.The Art of Noise's groundbreaking expe-
riments in sampling and mixing proved to be enormously
influential on the emerging techno movement, and during the
1990s the group's own material was itself sampled endlessly.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anne-dudley-mn0000580723

A handy overview of an amazing yet frustrating band.
BBC album Review - Ian Wade 2010

Their debut, Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise, encap-
sulated everything in its nine tracks. If they’d vanished im-
mediately afterwards, it would’ve been a (The Sex Pistols)
Never Mind the Bollocks-style statement of when hip hop
met Dadaism and rammed the Fairlight centre stage while
japing around with masks and spanners. It spoke of the
beginning of a whole new world during the mid-80s, during
the period between the post new-pop fall-out and seriousface
issues-based stadiumness. It was of its time and yet still
way ahead of it.

Evan Cater album Review 


But the Art of Noise are aptly named and consequently
limited. Their artful noise collage lacks the visceral impact
afforded by those later bands. In No Sense? is more often
interesting than beautiful

IN NO SENSE? NONSENSE!
George Starostin album Review - Only Solitaire

Main Category:
Also applicable:
Starting Period:
Also active in:

If Who's Afraid was a gamble that actually paid off,
then Nonsense! is a bluff so obvious that I find myself
reaching for the candlestick. Well, actually, side 2 is a
bit better. I do like 'Ode To Don Jose' with its freaky
synth melody and great idea of sampling (Dudley's?)
laughter several times before passing it through a
"vocal grinder" for the last time.

Introduction

The Art Of Noise never were an actual band; they were
an artistic project who liked to make music but hardly
ever felt like playing music, way before creative DJing
became a mass phenomenon. Calling them the Beatles
of electronic dance music would be too high an honour
considering they only really put out one total classic and
the rest of their output has remained of debatable quality
over the years; but certainly the impact of that one album
had been huge, so huge that The Art Of Noise are guaran-
teed a stable spot in the annals of music history regardless
of any opposing opinions that I, or you, or the spirit of
Frank Sinatra might come up with.

The "band"'s creative father was Trevor Horn, former
Buggle and Yes member and by the early Eighties - head
of the experimental ZTT (Zang Tung Tuum) label, which
was, apparently, one of the main competitors of the famous
4AD studio when it came to creating radically new types
of music. However, the differences in approach were obvious:
where 4AD focused on the "ethereal", making unusual sonic
texture the cornerstone of their concerns, ZTT preferred to
focus on the "jerky electronic", making stuff that could be
appreciated by mainstream listeners yet at the same time
remain seriously experimental.
(That's putting it very roughly, of course).

Of course, there was always the ever-reliable Kraftwerk
to do that kind of thing, but, first of all, Kraftwerk were
running out of steam, not having had a new album since
1981, and, second, Kraftwerk were Germans; the world
needed something fresh out of a more trustworthy Anglo-
Saxon oven. The Art Of Noise was just the thing. Under
the guidance of Trevor Horn, three very revolutionary-
minded gentlemen and one equally revolutionary-minded
lady by the name of Anne Dudley came together and
produced an album which complied to the following
requirements:
a) it was almost entirely based upon sampling, which gave
    it both an experimental edge and an unusual danceable
    drive that would be unattainable through regular means;
b) it was perfectly accessible as a basic listening experience,
    at least to everybody who could accept the new approach
    with an open mind; 
c) it was lightweight and fun.

Lo and behold, sampling was introduced into mass culture,
and the breakdance craze hit the fan. Today, the revolutio-
nary qualities of AON's 1983-84 output can be easily over-
looked just because pretty much everybody in possession
of a good synthesizer, let alone a quality recording studio,
can do this. But before AON, nobody did it. Yes, there
were the 'elitist' works of Kraftwerk, and stuff by even more
obscure and artsy electronica wizards, and, of course, New
Wave was in full swing, but this particular brand of music-
making, which, fair enough, even now many people refuse
to acknowledge as 'music' in the first place (although it
certainly deserves to be called that much more than some-
thing like Metal Machine Music), just didn't exist.

However, that's all history talk; history talk, as interesting
as it can be, can never replace sincere enjoyment of music.
And this is where I come to the best part of all. Too often,
electronic/sampled music seems to be done by people from
a different planet, which makes it almost impossible for a
person with a primarily "rock" background to enjoy it fully
even if he's ready to respect the effort (yep, talkin' 'bout
you, Autechre). But this never applied to Art of Noise.

However innovative and, at times, openly crazy they could
be with their means, in the end the music betrays a love for
the basics of pop music; were it not so, they would not have
even begun to try and make melodies out of samples of neig-
hing horses and revved up engines. At times, they could
even be openly romantic ('Moments In Love', not surprisingly,
their best known song of all, and the one that will probably
survive even when 'Close To The Edit' no longer does).
Unfortunately, they weren't able to sustain the momentum.

Others had picked up the ball and ran with it. Perhaps one
of their big mistakes was parting ways with their guru,
Trevor Horn, and starting to make music without his
creative protection - although, to be fair, I have no idea
just how much Trevor actually brought to the recordings.
1986's In Visible Silence was a decent follow-up to the
breakthrough of Who's Afraid?, but lacked the hilariousness
and overall freshness of the former, even if they were still
experimenting like mad, even bringing in Fifties' guitar
hero Duane Eddy for inspiration. Then, the following year,
they took the hugest gamble of their career, with the spraw-
ling forty-minute collage of In No Sense? Nonsense!...
and crashed on the ground in a million broken pieces. It
was pretentious, meandering, and really made no sense, in
the bad sense of making no sense.

They were never quite the same afterwards; retreating to
make more restrained, less defiantly experimental music
didn't help their reputation much (although I do like Below
The Waste), and by the end of the Eighties the "band" – or
"project", rather - fell apart. After that, nothing was heard
of them for almost a decade, apart from a huge four-or-five
series of remixes made by outside artists, which I will not
be discussing or reviewing here because this has little to do
with The Art Of Noise per se. And a reunion in the late
Nineties, when they were unexpectedly joined by former
10cc keyboard player Lol Creme, certainly did not help to
rebuild their reputation. On the other hand, I have a hard
time trying to imagine what kind of album would help
rebuild it. Maybe they should start thinking about a collec-
tive project with Linkin Park's frontman.

In any case, what is important to understand is that Who's
Afraid is a total (or near-total) classic and if you don't
own this and yet consider yourself an electronic/trance/
techno/whatever fan, you're nothing but a helpless phoney,
like that guy next door who proclaims himself a seasoned
heavy metal fan even if he never ever ventured beyond
Metallica's Black Album. That album alone guarantees
them the current overall rating. As for the rest of their cata-
log, proceed with caution. Below The Waste is my second
favourite, but most critics pan it as their weakest effort; on
the other side, I absolutely abhor their comeback album
(brr!), but many fans prefer to see it as a modern art rock
masterpiece, so go figure.
http://starling.rinet.ru/music/artof.htm

Periods

1. The Early Years: 1962-1965
2. The Psychedelic Years: 1966-1968
3. The Artsy/Rootsy Years: 1969-1971
4. The Interim Years: 1972-1975
5. The Punk/New Wave Years: 1976-1979
6. The Divided Eighties: 1980-1989
     Art Of Noise (Class D artists)
7. From Grunge To The Present Day: 1990-2005
http://starling.rinet.ru/music/index.htm#Early











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