1
I was eager to stop listening to this.
Haunted Dancehall is the second studio album by English electronic music group The Sabres of Paradise. It was released through Warp on 28 November 1994. It peaked at number 57 on the UK Albums Chart.
I was eager to stop listening to this.
Pointless bullshit noise. These aren't songs. The're pieces of songs desperately trying to pass themselves off as complete songs. Useless and angering. Why the hell is this even on the list?!
that's a no from me dawg
You remember that episode of Friends where Ross made a song by playing all the weird noises on his Casio? This is that, but the noises are a yipping dog and a coffee grinder. Also, it was kind of comical when Ross did it. Best track: Wilmot
Did not enjoy
Garbage. Just shitty electronic music like this is the 70s. No music, just random sounds. Imagine paying for this. 1/10.
cover looks like it might be rockabilly, but it's from the 90s. hmm. might also be techno cause dancehall etc. haha ok it's dank 90s techno. lol and of COURSE it's from the uk. classic 1001 albums editor shenanigans. i'll give it a chance, but at 1hr 16min there's no way this isn't gonna be WAY TOO FUCKING LONG. it's pretty... minimalist? granted I'm only on about minute 8 of 75, but I think I have a pretty good idea what to expect the rest of the time. And ok yep an hour later, that was pretty lame! This would have been a 3 if it didn't stay out its welcome, because it wasn't THAT bad for the first couple of songs. But the full thing? uuughhh, fuckin hell. 2/5.
Tracks don't show much progression in their ~ 6-minute runtime. Best tracks are Wilmot and Tow Truck. 4/10, not bad but I'm always waiting for something to happen that never does
Couldn’t get into it. Maybe it’s because I was wearing trainers.
Being given the accolade of "the 47th best album of 1994" really feels about right, for this.
Nix für mich
I expected a lot more out of an album titled Haunted Dancehall. Certainly sounds like the most boring place in the world.
Absolutely brutal.
Funky. Good background music. I'm bobbing my head along to it as I work.
I think this aged poorly. Sounds like robots banging on garbage.
I know nothing about this album. That's always dead exciting. The songs look long which is a worry. Bubble and Slide sounds nice. Slightly afrobeaty. Bubble and Slide 2 has some lovely filters over its beat. Glitchy. I love it. Duke of Earlsfield goes dubbier. And a bit crazy towards the end, another great track. Flight Path Estate is more slight, but is also shorter in line with it's relative lack of ideas. It's immediately followed by Portishead's mix of Planet D which is straight back up there again. Gloomy and dark while also feeling quite chilled. Wilmot has a baseline that makes me want it to go full junglist lunacy... It doesn't, but I still love it. It sounds like music from the weirdest arcade machine on the planet. Tow Truck is actually pretty sexy - like spy film music. Theme follows in a similar style, before another short noise experiment called Theme 4. In short, I am coming back to this, and I an gutted it's never had a vinyl repress - C'mon Warp Records, please do it!
It's of a time. I bet it sounded rad in 1994
On of the best electronic albums I've heard
enjoyed it more the more i listened. interesting.
Going in, I had no idea what to expect from Haunted Dancehall, as I had never heard of Sabres of Paradise, and am not generally interested in techno. To my surprise, Haunted Dancehall isn't bad at all. The Sabres position themselves halfway between ambient and dance music. I can easily imagine this playing in a bar or club or sushi restaurant. It's pleasant sonically and has a laid back, cool vibe, but has enough energy to provide a consuming mood, whether that consumption be food, drugs or alcohol. The first few tracks are quite abstract. The sound sources are varied and quite tasteful. No horrid synth patches here. The sonic manipulation is creative and tasteful as well. The rhythms are mostly fairly simple. The interest comes from how the various elements fit together. On these early tracks, the Sabres sometimes deconstruct the tunes a bit to point out the art in what they're doing. It's a savvy strategy because the parts fit together so naturally, the effort and creativity involved would otherwise go unnoticed. About six tracks in, the tunes get less abstract and more songlike. For me, this is a mistake because it calls too much attention to the functional nature of the music. This kind of music should glide over the smooth brains of the listeners, lulling them into the desired emotional state. Even here though, the same virtues of economy, taste, and studio mastery remain. After a few tracks, the Sabres return to a more abstract style for the rest of the album, which I actually prefer. How do I rate this? It's quite well done, but this is functional music, not really meant for close listening. If I put this on a playlist, it would be as a palate cleanser. Is it wrong of me to refuse to give a higher score because of a perceived lack of artistic ambition? Maybe. It feels like snobbery. Oh well. 3.5/5
This is why I don't like skipping albums! When listening to 'Bubble and Slide' as the first track I almost wrote this album off as a psychedelic bore. That couldn't be further from the truth. I could imagine that certain substances may enhance the experience of this album but it was enjoyable whilst working away regardless. I found myself head bobbing away slowly when listening to tracks like 'Planet D' and 'Tow Truck' put me in the mindset of James Bond as a lead character in Snatch. This whole album was a chilled out trip that I would never have had the pleasure of riding usually. 3/5 because of the lack of wow factor but this was a lovely listen.
Idk man my feet are itchy
I wasn’t really expecting this. This is the kind of music I would expect to hear in Spongebob during his rave with the jellyfish. The first 2 songs sound like electric zoo. They are kind of funny to me, but uninteresting. I also do not like songs without lyrics, so none of these songs really stood a chance anyways. I probably wouldn’t even put any of these songs on as background music, except maybe Wilmot.
nice songs for coding...
Completely unfamiliar with this one. I like it a lot. An innovative techno LP from 1994. Standout tracks: "Duke Of Earsfield", "Wilmot", "Tow Truck", "Theme", "Ballad Of Nicky McGuire"
Spooktacular 👻
One of the all time greats.
Comes ar you like a ray, like a beam. Loved it.
amazing
Best Sabras of Paradise album? Probably, starts off with the classic sounds of Bubble and Slide and contains The Balled of Nicky McGuire, one of the best electronic songs of the 90s.
Oh heck yeah! I loved it!
Surprisingly good.
Musiikkia korvilleni. Säännöksi voisi sanoa että chilling and wibing albumit aina ansaitsemassa yhtä tähteä. Nytten ei ansaitse heh. rento tunnelma ei johtunut laiskuudesta. Heh. Mukavan moody, mutta ei satunnainen, tässä on tarkasti määritelty mielintila. Hyvin experimental kun ottaa huomioon vuoden 1994. Stands the test of time. Kuitenkin heh.. Aphex twin dropannu 1992 senkertaparempaapaskaa heh. Onko tämä upgrade heh.. Jos oltais poimittu parhaat.. vois tämä esittää olevansa. Tokavikassa kappaleessa Chapel Street Market 9 Am lirahtaa vähän ruskiaa housuikkoon. (Objektive shit).. heh… PASKALTA KUULLOSTAA, KORVAAN TYLSÄHKÖ.Intensia jää jonnekkin.. filleriä..kö… Niin sitä luulee.. Heh.. VEDETTY KUIN KOIRAA NARUSTA.. kuuntelijaa… Vika biisi.. albumin nimikkobiisi…heh.. viimeisenä tulee.. päräyttää paikat paskaksi.. Meaning… Beuty. Buety of Sound.. Meaning.. in sound.. sound, ,, sound no text… No lyyrik.. Finding something is true.. after.. after your awakening… After beuty.. cannot discripe.. discribe the feeling.. Another world opens.. maybe full of problems… but when door open.. you dont see problems, they are hiding.. you only see light… Light shines.. glimmers and shines,, deep understanding, reflections of light.. trigonometry… light goes.. and goes…. you dont.. You dont go… you watch the glimmering… The newness should scare,, but no.. it cares… scare is not present, its away.. instead,,, love… happiness,,,, finding,, the… the,,, the,,, Light dims, door closed position.
странный альбом но допустим....
в целом я понимаю смысл нахождения этого альбома в списке. альбом в большой степени состоит из зацикленных ударных, пропущенных через дилэй и прочую гадость: такой саунддизайн был необычен в 1995, и по прежнему остается таковым. структуры в треках этого альбома крайне устарели на наше время, но я уверен, что этот альбом вдохновил многих современных продюсеров на усовершенствование находок самих Сабель, напрмер характерный подгруженный синтезированный бас, ставший столь модным за последние лет 10. интересно, свежо и крайне изобретательно, но не бриллиантово, поэтому 8/10.
I like it. Would be 3.5. But tiebreaker I’ll lean up.
Me gustó pero no es para todos los públicos
Techno. Parece banda sonora.
Theme y wilnot
Never even heard of these but absolutely loved it. Like listening to one of those albums as a teenager where you just wanted to know more about them and listen to everything. Fantastic.
Pretty mesmerizing by the end
I would listen to this again. It was pretty chill while I prepped dinner.
Pleasant surprise. Enjoyable listen, not sure it will be a regular listen mind.
Brilliant stuff - gets better and better as it goes on
Слушать можно, не раздражает
Seemed to the nail the vibe it was going for
Oh my....
A techno concept album. Worked for me.
Brilliant stuff - gets better and better as it goes on
It was nice to have this album pop up the week before Halloween. True to its title, HAUNTED DANCEHALL would make a great soundtrack to a Halloween cocktail party. Or any shmoozy cocktail party. Or the dim lobby or lounge in a boutique hotel. I enjoyed having this music on. There are some great beats, unique sounds, and interesting melodies. Hard to pick any favorites as all worked well for me. Loved the music and sounds in “Tow Truck” and “Theme” had some cool beats and guitar. The title track “Haunted Dancehall” was well-titled and would make great music for a horror movie. Loved it! The album isn’t something I’d put on as an activity in and of itself, but it makes great background music for doing other things. The music is interesting without being overly distracting. HAUNTED DANCEHALL is long, but that works fine when I’m listening to it in the background. It’s full of tricks and treats, not boring or annoying as it explores some unique musical soundscapes.
I listened to this while having some Guinness and talking about life with my brother, for that it is really fitting. Really unique ambient house with some interesting textures, especially on the drum tracks. A lot of the songs feel like you're listening to an 808 trapped inside of a black hole
massa, viu
Some very good songs on this record, especially the Ballad of Nicky McGuire and the closing title song, but also a few tracks that I found quite repetitive and uninteresting (Wilmot for example). So overall a good album, but not as good as I remembered it to be.
Really interesting sonically. Can tell that this album had an influence on the urban/hardccore music to come from the UK in the years to follow.
Mad techno sounds and cool beats and includes the classics Wilmot and Theme. Play this in the background to improve your focus.
As soon as I saw this was on Warp Records, I knew to expect something off-beat and interesting. Put this on in my earbuds while running errands. Great instrumental background music. Very interested in hearing more of their work.
This record is a mood. I like it and I will listen again. Wilmot is my favorite track.
Very tasteful techno music during the whole project, which is one of the best of the genre at least of that period.
It was a good background work album
Pretty niche electronica, but plenty of interest, I really enjoyed it
Finally some good electronic music! I do not understand the hate this album got. It is fresh
Really good stuff. Had never heard of it before.
Weird and haunted - in a good way. Unique beats.
Yeah it’s slow and boring but that’s the point. I think I had Wilmot on 10” single. Good times.
Totally dig this. 4/5
Though I prefer Andrew Weatherall's other project, Two Lone Swordsmen, slightly more, I do appreciate this. Has lots of interesting layered pitch shifting and dubby reverb and delay all over it, giving it a high contrast blend of treble and bass. Very textured atmosphere, but it definitely has a harshness to it, so I can see why some people find it unpalatable. I gravitate towards the more downtempo numbers like "Duke of Earlsfield" and the one remixed by Portishead. If I heard this high AF at a 90's rave it might've broken my brain.
Some excellent grooves here, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. Its spareness means it works as background music, but has intricacies that makes it worthy of close headphone listening too. "Duke of Earlsfield" was the song that hooked me.
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Planet d, Wilmot, Theme
Great ambient dub techno or whatever you want to describe it with. Haunted Dancehall is as good a description as anything else. Stands up well.
cool
This was really cool. I don't think I'm ever going to revisit, but I'm glad I gave it a listen. I can definitely understand how this industrial style electronica was influential.
Surprisingly enjoyable. Did not expect to like it but slid down smooth as silk. I appreciate wordless music that allows me to get some work done while listening to it. Creates a soundscape and just lets you sit in it for the whole album.
Enjoyable. It's a little more dated, definitely has the same structure a lot of 90s techno had, with "let's slowly introduce one instrument after the other and then bring it back down." But it's good.
Fett!
some good tracks, but not didn't feel enough to go back to it...
Обычные, но все же приятные ритмы и необычные звуки, но больше ничего. Этот альбом был бы хорош как саундтрек к какому-нибудь платформеру, но в музыкальном плане эта работа не очень
instrumental. a bit weird. I doubt ill listen again
I tried, really not my thing, plus I was falling way behind!
Chill dancehall/ early dub. Alot of the songs sounded like they were about to pick up, or about to end, but just kept going. Okay at best in my opinion.
Ближе к 4
OMG a 90's album, I didn't think it was going to happen. I have never head this before.... not sure I need to again. Its more interesting than most of the stuff we have been feed so far. The only thing I think when I listen to this is... Beastie boys instrumentals do it better. meh out of 5
At first I thought this album was a bit dull, but about halfway through I really enjoyed some of the songs. This is fairly minimalist music and I’m surprised it takes 3 people to create this
Pretty solid techno.
Portsihead song was the best out of the bunch. Decent background music.
A totally unusual and unique mindfuck. I think it was absolute genius but I think you gotta be out of it to appreciate it's finer details.
Pretty cool. Like early minimalist electronic, but cos of the era u can hear The Prodigy vibes, some similar tempos. Decent, easy to listen to. 3/5
This sort of music I can really enjoy but I don't know if I 'get it' like other people do because I can enjoy music of this kind that's considered to be bad as much as that thats considered to be good and I might not even be able to tell the difference. But like if I'm listening to it and really focussing I can kind of listen to it with my whole body and its sort of mesmirising and beautiful.
Yeah, this was pretty good. Like a cross between holiday music and when you find a really cool bar at a festival.
I would listen to some of these songs again.
Álbum com boas opções de eletro que proporcionam um clima interessante, especialmente com o remix do Portishead
Surprisingly good! Quite eerie but good background music for working to. Some catchy tracks
Had me up and dancing, enjoyed the liquid style.
This was an interesting electronic/dance album that delivered on the spookiness promised in the title. It strayed more to the side of "interesting" than to the side of "fun" or "enjoyable". It's not super relistenable, so it loses a star.
Reminds me a bit of Fluke. Less melodic than I usually like my electronica but still good.
I enjoyed this. It's basically a lot of progressive and layered sounds/noises, so not the most compelling music in the world. But it's also pretty chill and enjoyable enough to listen to. It mostly works as background as I sit working, although sometimes the noise/dissonance gets distracting (i.e., "Flight Path Estate," "Jacob Street 7am"). I feel like it would have really benefited from a serious edit. They could have dropped several songs and had a much tighter, more cohesive album. Fave Songs: Wilmot, Ballad of Nicky McGuire, Tow Truck, Theme, Planet D
Meh
A real surprise of an album, enjoyed this from start to finish and really superb in parts. Will definitely revisit
As I started listening to the album, I thought "Cool, a new album to add to my list for listening while working!" Instrumental music with a lite dance beat can work well for me in that setting. As I continued to listen, I became more and more irritated (as did my dog) by metallic tinniness within many of the compositions that felt more like noise than an enhancement to the tune. By the end, I was at a "probably not" with regards to keeping it in my library.
Well this was a long one, wasn't it? It certainly had a lot of electronic sounds, and not unpleasant ones. It took a long time to warm up and get going, though I imagine that this was by design. I was very happy to get to the middle section, with "Wilmot," "Tow Truck," and "Theme," where it went to interesting places beyond ambient for a while before heading back. I enjoyed those pieces. Some cool, interesting stuff.
6/10