Reviews (page 5 of 8)
Background music, an hour and 17 minutes that just disappeared in the background with the occasional "Is this still going? Am I done with it yet?" Not necessarily dislike but very much whatever. What could the book have said about this album in terms of needing to hear it before I die? This actively pushed another album out of the list somewhere. How?
Weird as hell. More than just beeps and boops and synth swoops, which is what I worry about with electronic music. Good beats, not a lot of melody. I will say that this, like most albums of electronic music for me, overstays its welcome by at least double. Six of fourteen tracks are over 6 1/2 minutes long and when most of them are the same eight-bar loops for the majority of their length, that's inexplicable to me. In a live setting, a good electronic musician can tailor their music to the energy in the crowd -- a real joy to witness, I might add -- but in recordings, The Sabres of Paradise have clearly struggled to decide when their compositions should peak and when they should end. Not bad music to work to, as you can forget that it's playing and focus. That's an indictment in terms of must-listen status, though. 2.5/5 but I'm rounding down to 2. I've spent too much time defending the validity of prog rock songs with multiple movements and rich with melodic ideas to put up with it in a genre that stretches two ideas over eight minutes.
Budget Chemical Brothers. Zzzzz
A little too much for me. I was lost in what the album was trying to do.
So it’s everyone’s least favourite British music time. And everyone’s least favourite electronica time. i dont like this. 2/5
BOOOORING. Who is this for?
Not good, but it could work as ambient if you're hardly listening
Felt pretty drawn out. I've heard better electronic music.
Einige schöne Ideen, aber unterm Strich: zu viele Klingeltöne, zu wenig Songs. Ganz weit am Herz vorbei.
Interesting songs, but it drags for waaaaaaay too long. Now I'm 100% sure that artificially increasing the album's duration is the capital sin of late 90s/early 00s records.
Haunted Dancehall This was decent to work to, and it definitely got better over the last half, but I struggled a bit to engage and find much that was particularly memorable. Compared to some of the 90s electronic music on here it felt like there were fewer interesting ideas, and I wasn’t keen on the production and overall sound. Orbital, Leftfield and something like Tricky give their music with a hypnotic sense, whereas this felt far more stolid, the dubby bits not really working in adding any atmosphere and the beats felt a bit tinny, with a slightly cold and removed sheen to it. As I say it did pick up in the 2nd half, with some slightly more interesting atmospherics and moods. I really liked Tow Truck though, with a bit of Portishead’s cinematic feel with the guitars, drums and reverb. Theme was also decent, the bass giving it a bit of warmth and life and I liked Chapel Street Market, a nice bit of Eno-esque spaciness and noises that reminded me of some of the Tomorrow Never Knows tape loops. Ultimately I think neither liked nor disliked it, there are a couple of songs for a playlist but I’m very unlikely to come back to it in full as I think there are other albums in this style I prefer, so I’ll go 2. 👻👻 Playlist submission: Tow Truck
The tribute to the second greatest British Gary - 'Wilmot' - is probably the highlight. A sultry bass that's helped along by a nice drumbeat and touches of piano, that all create a nice dub groove. Although they know they're on to a good thing which is why they drag it out for 7 minutes. What is rather telling us that the main guy Andrew Weatherall produced for Bjork, Beth Orton, the Orb, New Order - the list goes on. The man produced Screamadelica! His production skills were clearly magnificent, but without the creative melodic force to partner with, it all feels a little hollow. According to Wikipedia, "NME named Haunted Dancehall the 47th beat album of 1994" - that's probably about right.
What the actual fuck was that? And why was it actually kind of good at times? Idk if the album got better or I just got brainwashed by the music. Favourite Song: Tow Truck
Interesting for a couple of songs, but after that I felt like I was listening to the same song over and over again.
Listened to this while grading really disappointing essays from college freshmen and this was somehow so appropriate. It captured the despair I felt, I guess. (ntm.)
Not for me
Ciekawy m, elektroniczny bez słów ale nieporywając.
Every time one of these questionable albums pop up, I just know I’m listening to an English artist.
Electronic music. Sounded like an interesting soundtrack, but that’s about all.
This one's tough to rate. Theres moments of brilliance in there, especially the last few tracks. Also lots of tracks that drag Especially in the middle. Don't think I'll revisit the project as a whole but there are a few great tracks.
Not my cup of tea. Electrónico de esos que las canciones se sienten eternas, y cuando por fin termina una, la siguiente comienza y se escucha idéntica a la otra. La verdad me fastidió, pero supongo que no lo odié como me ha pasado con otros.
Sometimes it felt like this album was daring me to give it 1 star: the long, repetitive tracks that don’t go anywhere; the gruelling 80 minute runtime; the bits that barely qualify as music at all - just simple looping sounds. Yet, just enough of the time, a spooky little groove got under my skin and my feet started a-tappin’. I think many genres of music could be improved by being ‘haunted’, come to think of it. 1.5 / 2
didnt like it
This is ok. I have listened to more electronic music in the past years than I had ever listened to before but the majority of that music has been new so it sounds different than this and is more up tempo and/or interesting. I liked the song remixed by Portishead because it had more of a late 80s early 90s Hip Hop bass feel with bigger and older drums than the rest of the album. Towards the end there is a track that sounds a little like the Halloween theme but slightly sped up that is worthy of mentioning.
I put this on in the background and my daughter said it sounded like someone filling up milk bottles. It's an accurate description and usually I would be on board for something like that. Unfortunately, this lacks execution.
Sounded kind of French.
Zzzzzzz
So much mediocre 90's British techno on this list. It was 5 minutes into the album before I heard a sound that wasn't just a drum. Someone discovered the delay pedal and just went to town. The British obsession with reggae and dub.
I’m at a 2, possibly against my better judgement. I’m normally very gracious to techno / electronica stuff on the list, usually because it tends to evoke video game music, and I like video game music a lot. This was not that. This was a cacophony of synths & drums, with a myriad of aurally annoying effects thrown onto them, without any true sense of proper musical composition whatsoever. The repetition is bothersome, the zen state is basically impossible to get into, and worst of all, this isn’t even something you can move to at the club – maybe for like, 1 minute per song, at most. It is, by far, the least satisfying electronica album the list has given us so far. I take almost no joy in this album, though I honestly did kind of like 5 of the tracks here. The only reason it is getting a 2 is because it wasn’t so utterly incompetent as to deserve a 1, and there were a number of moments, however fleeting they were throughout the album, where my ears were grooving and my head was swaying. It’s also not as painfully boring as something like “Haute de gamme” was. It’s at least intriguing sometimes, even if that intrigue generally results in disdain and annoyance. This is not a horrible album, it’s just a bad one that could’ve been made much better by choosing more traditional techno instrumentation & shortening these tracks down by quite a bit. I kept taking notes throughout this thing as opposed to totally giving up, so that counts for something, right? In short, I feel like if I took enough lessons, I could probably make tracks that feel more satisfying and competently put together than this in FL Studio, of which I have very, very limited experience. If I ever feel that way about an album on the list, then you have not done a good job. This is not an album I needed to hear before I die, it did not deserve a spot on the list at all, and it barely saves itself from falling all the way down to a 1. Someone else can give it a 1 if they want, and I won’t blame them at all. Just disappointing for me. Anything above a 3 for this may require psychiatric evaluation (or at least a question about genuinely paying some level of attention to the album as opposed to just hearing it).
I really didn't mind the vibe of the album overall, but it was far too long and monotonous.
This is to stripped down for me. Fine as background music, but I honestly lost focus fairly quickly.
The 3-4 songs, where they actually tried to make music were pretty good...
Something I should like but consistently too grating to enjoy
It was fine but nothing special. It did nothing particularly of note. Inoffensive but I didn't need to listen to this. 2/5 stars.
There’s a thin line between ambient techno and a sound collage from your kitchen. This leans hard into the latter. A few interesting textures scattered here and there, but the whole thing feels like a practical joke. Spins: 2 Playlist Additions: - Wilmot
I've been yapping about the stunningly ignorant under- and misrepresentation of electronic music in this weird-ass book before so I'll spare you the rant. Sabres of Paradise' Andrew Weatherall was an important voice in 90s music at the intersection of alternative and dance/idm and could and probably should have been featured in here - the Sabres of Paradise remix of Red Snapper's "Hot Flush" is my maybe most had earworm within that ~genre - but this album? An aged like milk tedious borefest? When this could have been his Two Lone Swordsmen project? Bottom line: this inclusion, too, sucks.
OK, Haunted Dancehall. Until Rakim decides to drop some sick bars on top of you, I don’t want to hear from you again.
Well this is odd , but kinda interesting
Not for me.
Strange, no melody.
Not my vibe at all.
Yay, techno. As Eminem said succinctly, "It's over, nobody listens to techno." Every song is repetitive, and there's no shift from A to B or a bridge or ANYTHING. Look, here's an idea. We'll play it over and over for 6-8 minutes (why so long?), layering stuff over and over. Then we'll just end. That's our song. And 77 minutes? I know it's just so you don't have to shift discs, but few people listen to CDs anymore (except you know, old guys like me). At least EDM has a build. This I just found tedious. NEXT.
I don't get it. The album and it's selection on this list. I know there's a slant toward things only a British person could love, but this album never got higher than 57 on the UK charts. So not even British people loved it. It wasn't the worse electronica I ever heard, but it certainly helped that I was really focused on some other things while listening. So it came off as at least good background music. I don't really want to listen again, so I'm going to cap it at 2. If others think it's worth more, I won't completely object.
Boring bleeps and bloops, but harmless. Never heard it before and I'll never hear it again.
Ok as tinny ambient background music but not really my cup of tea
I mean not for me, didn’t like it. 2 stars.
I assumed these albums were on here because they are really good, not as in you have to hear this album because you're not going to believe this album full of noises is on here.
"Electronic. It has some ""tin"" like sounds almost like they were the beginnings of Dubstep. "
was interesting at times
Haunted, indeed.
thousands of years from now in a sci-fi space travel drama, this will be the background sound of my cryo-chamber as I am locked in for my two hundred year journey
Focus music, but I prefer when electronic/instrumental is a little less repetitive and more jazz influenced.
Quand j'ai lancé la première toune et j'ai entendu la loop d'une chiasse explosive passée au vocoder, j'ai su que l'écoute allait être longue. Puis, j'ai vu que c'était un album double, me causant un traumatisme crânien instantané.
There are a lot of sounds on this one. Boops, bleeps and other noises that seem to go almost nowhere. The good news is the album is 76 minutes long. Wait, that's not good news at all. Is this bad? No, it's not bad but it never rose above the level of background music for me. Bubble and Silde starts it off with what could conceivably sound like water going down a drain, which also happened to be where my hopes for a fun listen went upon hearing the song. The sequel is almost three times as long but 1/3 as enjoyable. I probably should like this but it's all pretty dull to me. I did like "Tow Truck" for some reason.
Soundtechnisch nicht schlecht, aber inhaltsleer und zu repetitiv.
It was good background music but not quite something i would listen to on a regular basis.
Honestly I had my mind prepared for another throbbing gristle like album (if that hasn’t generated for you yet then you’re in for a treat) so was pleasantly surprised by this one. I didn’t mind it but would probably never listen to it again.
Endless beats and sounds, no real fulfilling climaxes, no catchy highlights, meh
it kinda felt like the soundtrack to the tutorial stage of a video game: repetitive, no melody, and something you’re not supposed to listen to for more than 5 minutes. But it wasn’t offensive or grating, so i wasn’t in pain listening to this album like some of the others.
Baby's first electronic music. Why this made the list when there's so many better and more influential electronic albums is beyond me.
Every time I think I might enjoy one of these kinds of albums, it always degrades into the same repetitive blandness
I mean, sure. I think in terms of raw sound design we can consider this a pretty impressive achievement for its time. It's a very interesting experiment in that sense and in my opinion we have to appreciate it for that. I did enjoy Theme 4 and the final, self titled track, mainly because they stepped into a heavy contrast to the rest of the album which is where my personal resonance with this album ends. It's too repetitive, especially the percussion. I don't like that but that's okay. It's what the genre does and it shouldn't stop doing that at its core. It's mainly the genre that I'm not interested in. As for the album concept, I'm not too sure what to say. I'm not gonna go ahead and dispute that claim because if a concept was established by the artist then it is established, regardless of what the listener's opinion on that is. I will however say that the tracks seem to structurally noodle about a lot, adding or removing samples on a whim, let them play out for arbitrary durations and blur the passage of time in such a way that it makes it hard to recognize whether you just recognized a theme or whether your brain is gaslighting itself into believing that because an element has been beaten into it for the past 4 minutes without interruption. It's simply not intriguing to me but I believe if this was 'composed' a little bit more than 'produced' we could have gotten something seriously great here. 2 stars for the good outliers. 1 star otherwise
Rappers desperate to use these as samples, felt like a demo
Easy going electronic background music that combines chill beats to study to with heist movie soundtrack. Apt title - it's like a DJ booth came to life and needed to make music to calm itself down.
I didn’t enjoy this one.
Oh yay, another slab of mid-'90s electronica, deep from the warehouse rave hangover bin, engineered for people who think 8 minutes of the same groove is a virtue. Andrew Weatherall, whose production instincts usually lean weird in interesting ways, here lets the machines drone on like they’re waiting for a cutscene. Call it atmospheric if you're generous, or video game music if you're honest. Sure, "Duke of Earlsfield" tosses out a decent breakbeat, but it wears out its welcome around minute three—good luck, you're only halfway through. And while "Planet D – Portishead Remix" gestures vaguely toward trip-hop, it forgot to invite the seduction (and Beth Gibbons on vocals). 77 minutes of mood with no movie.
Boring Techno.
I think this would have been a potentially great album if there were lyrics to support the instruments.
Some of it was kinda cool Got boring
It's techno. Very repetitive.
I feel like you have to be off your face to enjoy this… but I am at work editing local govt documents so probably not the right environment. It took me at least 25 minutes to get into it. Wilmot was a good track and then I got right out of it again.
I kind of skimmed through this one yesterday, annoyed at having to deal with another electronic music album. This morning I thought I should give it a second chance, and it appealed to me more, but not enough. As someone who's a fan of dub but not electronic music, though I can't say why. Dub entrances. EM annoys the everloving shit out of me. Even a song like Wilmot, which is essentially a dub track, drove me batshit. I still don't know the answer. Also, how is there not a single dub album on this list?
Coming from someone who loves repetition and electronica...too much repetition and electronica
Hated this at the start, eventually enjoyed it a bit but I could’ve done without the last two songs. The album was starting to drag by that point.
instrumental album with some minor interesting moments, but mostly redundant and tedious as i usually find albums of this genre. this one was over 70 minutes, but it seemed like much longer.
Kinda boring 😐
I'm a little confused by this album. What does it exactly have going for it? It's not interesting, not exciting, and it stimulates me on neither an intellectual level nor an emotional one. However, it's also not calming or ambient and doesn't really work as background music. Favorite Track: Wilmot
Inconsistent and long A nice introduction to Weatherall
Interesting moments, but just not enough happening for me.
Early IDM is usually really weird because it's still kind of playing to techno and electro ideas while also trying to do something different. It's cool to hear in a sort of "oh this is where it started" way but when you get to it sometimes it just didn't make sense to make an hour and 10 minute album made up of really basic techno beats that were flirting with ambient textures or library music-esque compositions. Is it bad that albums like these existed? Oh, no obviously not, it is made for a club mix so you have a lot to pull from and work with but when you are like me, sitting down to listen to this it does make for a tedious experience where the music isn't in the right setting and beyond that the sort of simplicity of it doesn't really work for me beyond a few songs (Tow Truck and Ballad of Nicky McGuire). It sucks because sometimes I do want to get back into listening to electronic music of this era because there's so much underrated things, but lengths like these makes me wonder that perhaps it was best to stick to EPs or singles rather than albums.
Notes before listening: Kicking screaming crying I do not want to listen to another electronic album from the 90s that's over an hour long. No no no. You can't make me. I am stomping my feet. Notes after listening: It's fine and usually interesting and sometimes pretty fun, but god damn did it need to be over 70 minutes long? I'm sincerely happy for people who enjoy this; I wish I could join their ranks.
It’s ok music for the background, movies, video games, etc. - but not for intentional listening. It’s not awful and finds some good grooves occasionally, but nothing here is particularly compelling.
Kind of weird but not god awful. Def wouldn’t listen again.
Kraftworkian in nature but perhaps a bit too simple and repetitive. 3/10
had few cool tunes but few +6min songs rapidly felt draggin but i found some parts i could sample. I would go by an (2.5/5.0)
Some interesting sounds Some irritating sounds Mostly fine sounds 2
Elektronische Musik, eher ein Klangteppich
Eh it’s alright.
The 90s and the invent of the cd seems a real case of people trying to use the entire length of the cd, which can be a major negative This album could be 30 mins
My first impression was that this was going to be terribly unlistenable, but there were actually some decent tracks here. It was a little long.
Couldn’t get into this much at all
Some cool IDM sounds on here on the first handful of tracks before moving towards more traditional song structures. There’s a lot of interesting ideas and sound design, specifically the synths, that often make up catchy grooves and fun sections, though some people may find the sound design dated it didn’t stand out to me as a negative. However so much of this project feels unnecessarily bloated and many of the tracks are overly reliant on one instrumental run or line that is repeated ad nauseam. I think if the runtimes on the tracks were cut down or even a good portion of the tracks removed this could have been a more enjoyable listen. If the goal was ambience and atmosphere I can see the appeal, it certainly does well at creating atmospheres. However there’s no consistency to the type of atmosphere being created, flip flopping between dark and moody and futuristic and upbeat one track to the next, which unfortunately for me meant as soon as I was getting into each atmosphere it goes away completely. Alternatively this record feels like it could have been made with the purpose in mind of being sampled for future dance music. Almost laying out all of these ideas, not refining them into full tracks hoping that others will do it, or coming back to them later with remixes. There were a lot of times I really wanted to enjoy this album as a whole but it just doesn’t do enough to earn its runtime. 2.5/5
Electronica just doesn't do it for me
some songs sounded good but a lot of it had no progression and just repeated and i don’t really seem to enjoy stuff like that
Gear: Letshuoer S12 PRO Artwork: 🔪💈🩸 Production: 🧏♂️📏💩 Music: 💻🛠️🤔❓🤷♂️🤯 Rating: 👽👽/5
I think they recorded this in a toilet. Not a bathroom, a toilet
I know the name andy wetherall from somewhere idk where though anyway honestly with albums like this I just wish they had a singer or something, each song feels like a constant build up going to a dead end. 2/5 in the background it’s okay but still not for me
Some nice ambient tracks but nothing that really hit me
Another electronic album. Not very interesting and wouldn’t be fun at all party either. 1.5/5 Won’t listen again
An electronic album that dabbles a lot in it's negative space. It's all about the notes you don't play, although I feel that's mostly applicable to jazz. Unfortunately does very little interesting things with its runtime, counter to the likes of Aphex Twin who explores his soundscapes much more thoroughly.
This kind of electronic instrumental is pleasant enough but nothing really grabbed me. I guess Wilmot made me smile when it came on.
Very much of its time. Really tiresome in a surprisingly large number of places. Benefited much less than you'd expect from being the album I got right after Kid Rock.
Very generic electronic music. Couldn't care less about this, but not actively bad
Eletronic ambient sounds.
Never heard of this previously. I saw some of the poor reviews, but quite enjoyed the vibe of the first track, and found myself thinking it might end up with a four star score. But as it wore on I got more and more tired of it. By the end of an hour and a quarter I was thoroughly fed up of it. Two stars.
Pretty cosmic sounding electronic music from 1994. I can't really comprehend how this influenced the broader scene but it was generally pleasant or weird in a cool way.
This was odd
First few tracks are real meh, but then once you get to Planet D, it gets better
Eh palloso
Nah
This would be a good soundtrack for a new Austin powers movie
interesting instrumentals that i might put on in the background or could hear in a movie score
As someone who really enjoys electronic acts of many genres from the past 5 decades, I am sincerely perplexed why this is on the list? Clean production but not particularly inspired, even for 1994.
Not for me
Movie soundtrack at best
37/100. I don’t even know what I just listened to. This album was painfully bad—some songs were so terrible that I might have overrated others by comparison. The 77-minute runtime doesn’t help either.
It's like The Sabres of Paradise couldn't afford the proper equipment to make electronic music so they just used whatever they had around the house. Not enjoyable at all.
I didn’t mind it
to eery for my taste all in all but some songs were enjoyable to walk or clean too. 2.5-3 stars
I don't know not quite my thing
I can imagine it as background at a trendy art exhibition as you spend time looking at reimagined rubbish, drink some bubbly, and then go home to find out you've bought a milk carton with ribbons attached.
If the first 2 tracks are any indication of the full album ... how is looping something basic/boring that I would have made at 21 on my first drum machine anything remotely interesting to listen to for 10 minutes....? ...and it *was* an indication. I can see the appeal of music in this genre of course and there's definite usage as a background aspect for some of these tracks but there's nothing special or unique or notable in any way about this album. It very literally could be a demo reel for any early/mid 90s electronic instrument. TL;DR: There must be 500 more-interesting and creative techno/downtempo albums than this. Shocking waste of an hour listening to what conceivably could be a big gag on all of us. 3/10 2 stars
Ok, not the best
Kind of just noise to me.
There are a few moments of really lovely electronica here, but they're totally outweighed by the kind of relentless blipping that puts you in mind of being too sober in a bar late at night, listening to conversations you have no part in and waiting to go home.
Interesting beats to have in the background while working but nothing memorable to write off.
Another interesting choice. Sounds like sound effects not music.
Eh.. dont really understand why is this on here, but here we are
rarete pero molon aunque un poco largo
This is a new sound to me but around “Wilmot” I started getting into it. Afterwards it became bad again. 2/5
at first i hated it, did not understand the wierd noises droning in my ears. but then "planet d" hit and something clicked and i started to feel inspired. all in all it is a decent album that lends itself to some background sounds that help daydreaming. if you leave out the first couple songs.
Never heard this album before. Yawn.
It was fine, but not something that I needed to hear urgently.
Blue up some bald guys and this could be the soundtrack to the Blue Man Group in Las Vegas circa early 2000's. A bit underwhelming for EDM, and too distracting for ambience. There were a few good songs, and aspects of songs that were interesting, but the album didn't work for me.
Not horrible, but not my thing.
Very weird. Dont really know how to feel but doesnt warrant a 1 Best track - Wilmot
Noise.mp4
Kinda forgettable
Mostly electronic ambient noise. I was in the most receptive state possible at the beach and i could find some relaxation in the album, almost like a not-as-good Challengers soundtrack.
Haunted Dancehall is the second studio album by The Sabres of Paradise, originally released in 1994. I'm not really into the whole world of IDM music so this wasn't the best listen. There's some additional influences on here such as dub and ambient. In fact, it seems like this record was broken up into sections. The first group of songs has a pretty heavy industrial vibe. The next group of songs is more of that dub vibe with reverbed drum tracks, etc. The album finally delves into a chill ambient vibe, very reminiscent of pioneers like Eno. It just feels very disjointed to me. Lots of the songs take a really long time to develop their full melodies. Sometimes it can be hypnotic but overall felt disorienting on a lot of these tracks. There's also some questionable production choices. This is produced very bright and loud which is fatiguing. Not to mention the length of the record, which took full advantage of the CD era clocking in at 77 minutes!
Weird pseudo techno but weak at best
British group doing electronic music. Enjoyed tow truck and bubble part 2. Many of these ran too long.
Not my bag. Dutifully i did listen completely, to every work. Electronic music had moments of zen, but usually found myself thinking how much longer is this… If wishing to play as EDM, the works called Theme and the Ballad of Nicky McGuire seemed best.
I have literally never heard of this group before. After a few songs I think I got why the album's called Haunted Dancehall. Not really my genre, but it's fine for what it is (straight-up electronica, I guess). I liked "Bubble and Slide II" better than "Bubble and Slide (I)". Even though there are a lot of noises here, they weren't noises that hurt my head -- just peaceful little clinklies and wooblies.
Ok
That's a lot. Not horrible, but I didn't overly enjoy it.
Firmly in the middle of the pack. 2.5 stars.
I know Andrew Weatherall was a legendary producer and all (Screamadelica etc) but this just bored. No hooks, not trancelike enough, not interesting enough. Only listened to it once and I usually give every album at least two listene
I'm a fan of electronic music generally, but this is so uninteresting. Aphex Twin was releasing music around the same time that was leagues more complex and better constructed. Not the worst on this list but shouldn't be here. 2/5
I tried to like this but it ended up being annoying. 2 stars
2-3 Wilmot!
No recuerdo nada de este disco
In a time where electronic music was experiencing a ton of innovation, you have this which is just pointless sounds and noises.
Ah yes, NME’s 47th best album of 1994. Who can go wrong with the 47th best album of the year? 2/5
I'm already groaning before even listening. A 90's album that I've never heard of - it has to be British and probably average. The band and album name promise so much, so lets have a listen and see what this is. My fears were not unjustified. This does not even try to live up to the interesting title. Not surprisingly it's British. It's tedious and after the halfway mark I started listening to part of a song before skipping to the next just to get through it.
Eh…
2.4
What am I supposed to get out of this? What does this want from me?
Getting a lot of "my very first beats tape" vibes here. Not offensive, just totally disinteresting to me.
I like electronic music, but this just wasn't terribly interesting. Probably another marginal UK band included on the 1001 because the author is from the UK...
Too many sirens
I think I rather enjoy some of what SoP (do people call them that?) try to achieve here. They fully explore each song and let them evolve organically. I just don’t remember if I truly like it or not after 75 minutes of techno… But as I’ve come to learn from this list, it seems to be the excruciating standard runtime of any techno album.
Not a huge fan
It’s not terrible music, just overly repetitive with not much to say. I’m sure it was cool for its time, but now it sounds crunchy and antiquated. Can’t say I’ll go back for another listen.
I'm struggling to find the right words to explain just how...hollow...? this album felt. I don't know, any way you slice it this was not very vood.
Good ambient/trip hop style album. Boards of Canada ish. Portishead does a cool remix. Really weird samples but good music to zone out to when working (which is how I'm listening to it currenty).
Neat noises not much more. Minimal type albums like this either have it or they don’t.
It was alright, don't think I would actively listen to this again but would be okay background music
I can get into ambient music but honestly this is way too unsubstantial for its length. There’s only a few highlights, and unfortunately the Portishead collab here is a big dud.
Actually pretty decent for background focus music at work. But definitely not something I'd actively listen to.
Favorite Tracks: Duke of Earlsfield
electronic beats and bleeps. Certainly not Tangerine Dream or Kraftwerk.
I swear to God, if I get one more electronica album...
1.57. Pointless beeps and boops.
Fun electric band. Good music.
Another no for me. I'm genuinely curious to meet a fellow listener who enjoys this album. Maybe speaking to them I could understand why they think this so good and worthy of a 5. Too cool for me.
interesting album I guess…
2/5
It was better then expected but not huge for me
Honestamente, después de leer las críticas a este LP, pensé que lo iba a odiar, pero no lo pasé tan mal escuchándolo. Entiendo qué es lo que buscaban The Sabres Of Paradise con sus canciones y remixes, ya que expandieron efectivamente el panorama sonoro de la música electrónica. Sin embargo, este disco es innecesariamente largo; tanto, que al final uno ya está cansado de escuchar canciones de 8 minutos que repiten los mismos patrones, transformándolo en una experiencia mediocre. No entiendo por qué los discos de electrónica son tan largos ¿alguien puede explicarme?
Classic trance beats. Not my kinda music but could play it in background while hurriedly doing chores.
Very ambient
Haunted Dancehall is an awesome title - but nothing on this album really evoked that feeling for me. I've been honing my rating system as I go, and from now on, 3 and above will be albums I'd listen to at least more than once, so this one will be ranked 2. Duke of Earlsfield was the only one of the first 4 tracks I enjoyed, and the 5th track was the Portishead mix, which I enjoyed because...Portishead. I actually got really into the next few tracks, especially Tow Truck. I always choose one song from every album to add to a running playlist, and that's my pick for this one. But the last third of the album left me either irritated or bored, depending on the song. Overall, not for me.
Allt í lagi, ekkert spes.
Not my bag, but I could see dropping acid to this
This is 3 mid-90's electronica albums in a row and I absolutely hate the entire genre now.
i cant even lie, this was a snoozefest even if you play it in the background while doing something. im confused on why this is on the list because theres better idm out there. i thought that it might be a big influence to idm at the time, but this released in 1994, which is about where idm really started to picked up. did they run out of albums to put in the 1001 list perhaps? “techno’s first concept album” ok i guess?? but i dont know what the concept was supposed to be exactly. i didnt hear this as "haunted" dancehall or anything just dub with idm surrounding the dub thats in the middle. portishead remix and the dub songs in the middle were ok i guess. the run time was so long i checked the longer songs progress every minute and had to suffer through the rest of the song. my loss for not being able to appreciate this but oh well. also im ngl i read a review from rym on this that said this sounded like "the soundtrack to a bad detective game with no funding behind it" and laughed my ass off to that; facts my brother 🗣️🗣️ anyway, listen was tolerable but i wouldnt again, even for individual tracks imo. 2 personal favs: planet d, wilmot
Meh
Bored and annoyed?
very interesting but also very long-winded
Good god it to a long time to get to a song that wasn't the auditory equivalent of smelling wet dog. Wilmot was decent and the second half of the album was better than the first but the bar was below the floor so..... whoohoo
Rough start but not too bad by the end. Wilmot was a standout. A bit better than tolerable
There are moments of brilliance on this album but it's just overly long. I'm a huge fan of electronic music, but this was at times too experimental and all over the place. Had it been a more focused and concise project I feel I would've enjoyed it a lot more.
Interesting, but not worth a second listen.
so long so boring neither fun nor spooky as the title implies
Pass. Wilmot was a somewhat fun track, and the album does get better as it goes along, but wayyy to much garbage cluttering the little that could be considered good.
I felt like this album was a joke, was this ever relevant? If you look at other stuff coming out in 1994 like The Prodigy, Moby, Nine Inch Nails, Jamiroquai, etc. there are just so much better electronic picks. This album felt dub-influenced and surely there are even better dub albums out there. I love electronic music but the songwriting is bland, the sounds are grating, and today this feels like stuff someone could make with 10s of hours looping some stock sounds + effects in Ableton without too much regard. There is the occasional good idea in here though.
Despite being called "Haunted Dancehall," this album had very little going on to be worth that relatively interesting title. I understand that IDM is supposed to be something to ingest more subconsciously than anything, but this album does very little to ever stand out in a crowd, and one has to wonder if this is included in the 1001 albums list purely due to the Portishead inclusion. Otherwise, it is the same song and dance, over an hour long, electronic, and its from the mid-90s. I know the scene was truly blossoming at the time, but that does not make every album vital. It's sleepy, it's forgettable, and it's just that tad bit of corny so that you can just sit there and wait for it to be over. Otherwise, it's inoffensive to the ears, which I suppose you could argue is a plus compared to some other works from the time. Tedious.
i do enjoy the music itself but this album is twice as long as it needs to be. a lot of the songs are the exact same start to finish and have the audacity to be 8 minutes long despite that.
Uninspired, on the whole. I suspect (and I should check the chronology) that this borrows a fair few of the tool used to better effect on Screamadelica.
Rating: 5/10 Meh.
Took a minute it but I ended up kind of liking it. Depending on the day I would give it a two or three.
Sabres Of Paradise?....more like Sabres Of Boredom.
2.5
Trippy. Musical, I guess. What's the situation when one would even listen to this, though? Oh, so this is Trance music. Bubble and Slide II has an interesting percussion stem that I'd love to hear mixed with something... anything. It just feels incomplete. Duke of Earlsfield sounds like a 60's sitcom soundtrack... I can see a scene from My Three Sons at a party with this playing in the background! Seems I have a lot to say about an album that just isn't enjoyable for me. Good to become more familiar with the genre!
we're into 1007 and it's not what I would expect. maybe it was overlooked initially. it's a driving kinda album. driving the filling from my teeth. the jangling jingles remind me of a taught suspension cable about to break. Certainly close to breaking my spirit. The album cover doesn't help.
Crap record, but a good test of my car's new speakers
This feels like the music teacher forgot to lock up and someone decided to use everything just because it's there. I'm torn but I don't think good makes sense to be on the list. Either way, I didn't like this one much.
I might be missing something here, but I feel I made songs with the same level of complexity back in 2000 in acid pro dragging one sample out for a minute or two. This was fine.
Vad är egentligen kriterierna för att kvalificera till 1001 bästa albumen? De två första låtarna var psykos och misofoni. Jag skulle bara spela dom för någon jag hatar. Sen hände något. Tow Truck är helt okej likaså Theme. Men så dör det igen.
Gillar elektronisk musik generellt. Men detta har inte börjat bra alls. Inne på fjärde låten. Mer ljud än musik. Som vanligt undrar jag lite vad som gjort att denna skiva är med. Har oerhört svårt att tro att denna skiva haft stort kulturellt avtryck. Ska man ha lyssnat på den? Möjligen för den är så annorlunda (dålig)...
De fyra första låtarna är bara konstiga och experimentella på ett misslyckat sätt. Därefter börjar det arta sig, även om det är med blandad framgång. Tycker att Wilmot, Theme, Ballad of Nicky Mcguire och Haunted dancehall är hyfsade/bra, men de blandas med en del mindre lyckat, även om det är bättre än de första låtarna. En stabil tvåa.
Big ‘Ross from Friends on his keyboard’ vibes from this one. Lots of self indulgent noodling. Didn’t do anything for me.
Draft Punk and Fatboy slim had an awful baby. It's this album.
Wasn't unenjoyable at all. I even thought it was pleasant background music. But I didn't really feel like it deseved higher than a 2
Somehow managing to be avant-garde and boring at the same time. Not for me... not sure who it is for... not sure why it's on the list. Didn't bother me to have on in the background though.
Måske jeg bare er utålmodig overfor 90er techno men jeg havde forventet en del mere stemning fra et album, der hedder Haunted Dancehall... en generøs 2'er
Godt at kode til! Virker ikke umiddelbart særlig essentielt (heller ikke for 1994)
Altså.. ikke super duper ringe. Men virkelig heller ikke noget der siger mig noget.
Techno, very repetitive, not very engaging
“Haunted Dancehall” by The Sabres of Paradise is one of the first albums of the techno genre. This is a very obscure album which did not chart well or gain popularity. Overall, the music is very plain. Their “hit” single “Wilmot” is not available on Spotify.
Oh boy. Another unknown British electronic band. And the reviews are terrible. So excited for this one. 😑 Actually… I didn’t hate it. Sure most of the songs are one bar repeated 7 times, one bar of a vocal, and then the repeated one 7 more times with an added bloop or thump for 6 minutes. I would never choose to put this album on. And none of the songs were catchy enough to stick with me at all… but as background music it wasn’t too bad. Sure doesn’t belong on this list though. I’d love to know the reason it was.
Best Song: Theme. Feels like it could be a theme song to a middling 80s cop movie. Worst Song: Flight Path Estate. The aural experience of someone banging different size forks against a metal countertop and comparing how they clang. Overall: This was a weird one, because even though I often liked the composition of any given track, the individual sounds used to create those compositions were almost always annoying. Everything was tinny and metallic when I wished it would be rounder and more fluid. Very experimental in the sense that most experiments fail.
I can imagine at the time it was something, but I’m not moved
Meh. Assuming this album sounded fresh and exciting in 1994, it has aged poorly.
Aufgetaucht aus den Anfängen des Technos. Das Album hat zwar eine Grundidee aber klingt es vornehmlich noch so als hätte ich 1994 auf meinem Commodore Amiga mit der Soundprogramn experimentiert. Ganz gelungen ist „Ballad of Nicky McGuire”. Man erkennt an dem Album allenfalls wie sich das Genre in den Jahren weiterentwickelte.
Four of our last five albums have been British. One was a Mercury Prize winner, one was a Mercury Prize nominee, one came out before the award existed, and then there was Sabres of Paradise. It didn’t warrant a nomination in 1994, the award’s third year. It peaked at 57 on the UK albums chart, and only placed 47th on British music mag NME’s best of 1994 list. All this is to call into question why “Haunted Dancehall” made the 1001. It seems to go beyond the general British bias. I didn’t find the album to be bad. It's just not good. It’s bland and uninspiring. I let it fade into the background, and was actually vibing and tapping my foot a bit until the horns and Latin influence on “Wilmot” shifted the direction. It did make its way back to its more generic electronica, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. At least I noticed “Wilmot.” Though it was best not to take too much notice of “Haunted Dancehall,” because that would expose its mundane and pedestrian sound.
This sounds like someone got an electric keyboard for their birthday and spent the day trying out all the sounds. “Look mom, I can make beats!”
Please use space lasers to melt the emotionless robot spinning this album. Thank you.
Except 'Theme' mostly a bit boring and clueless soundscaping
i heard that this album is incredibly boring so lets see bubble and slide- i like weird noises. 6 bubble and slide ii- animusic. me when im in google labs. the keys arent good, remove those. i want out of here. 4 duke of earlsfield- the bass is ok. like underwater cave level in a video game type music. 4 or 5 flight path estate- MY FOOT ITCHES. dont give fuck 3 planet d- 3 wilmot- oh. stop singing. 3 tow truck- warble. 6 theme- 5 theme 4- what happened to themes two and three? 3 return to planet d- dont take me back there. sound of someone stretching gum. 3 no more soundtrack for a video game id never play
Something a bit different. Not good. But different.
One or two songs might be interesting. I could never listen to a whole album of this.
Yeah this sucked. I couldnt even make it through the full songs, I had to skip after a minute or so of each.
It's OK, but not a great album. Repetitive trance-y tracks for an hour and 16 minutes. Why in the world would anyone say that this is an album that everyone should hear before they die? 2/5
This aint essential, is it? Nothing really seems to go on, I feel it must be my fault as Andrew Weatherall is a total legend, but I just dont get it. I feel like when someone tries to explain the intricacies of art: it’s just a painting mate. Couple of decent bits here and there. I like the weird sound of Duke of Earlsfield, and quite liked parts of the Portishead remix. Wilmot was canny too. Actully theres a few songs that have some really good small parts; then they revert to that standard beat.
far too long for what it is, which is boring
Not for me, not horrible.
Interesting in places but on the whole I don’t quite get all the hype
Noted as "techno's first concept album", what that concept is, I dunno bit of a stretch, it's just a bit weird. There's a Portishead remix on there, that's a bonus.
Eh... not my thing. A bit repetitive and boring.
The only moment I found this album somewhat enjoyable was while I wasn’t actually listening to it while reading. But even in that capacity, there are far more better albums I would listen to before this.
Early experimental electric music. Not for me, thanks.
no, 2/5
90’s action movie background music
not for me :/
Yeah - this didn't do it for me. It doesn't go anywhere; it's basic...nothing moved me
Not my thing at all, really - it's uber-repetitive, not much fun techno. Theme sounds like the title - it's the music you'd get in the background of beginning of a heist movie, when they flash up the individual members of the crew with their nicknames and roles on the job. Not really sure what the purpose of this is, can't imagine it's great for dancing to, and there's not enough going on to actually want to listen to most of it. 2/5, just, there's some cool stuff in places and it only overstays its welcome by about half an hour.
Not the worst background music I've had while working, not the best.
vrv dobro za semplove
This would be fine in a small dose, but just too long here. It's ok for the genre, which is not my favorite.
Didn't hate it but in no rush for a second listen.
A couple cool jams later on . Tow truck is cool
Not weird enough to be interesting, too left of centre to tickle my fancy.
This started off like an 8 bit Nintendo game and improved, but not enough to hook me in at all.
More music that's not for me. Title track much better when remixed for Cafe Del Mar, the rest of it? No gracias mate
i didn't hate this but i didn't really like it either
Chill vibes
Oh, another electronica instrumental album that I hadn't heard of before and unsurprisingly it didn't exactly win me over. I've never enjoyed most electronic-type music and this is no exception. It's boring, tedious, repetitious and transforms you into a trance-like state that seems endless. Perhaps, in small doses this would be okay and being in the "proper" state of mind might help, but to me, it doesn't elevate past background soundtrack mode...which is fine, but not essential.
Bum tst bum tst bum tst zzzzz
Doo doo stinky techno doo doo butter
Ég skil alveg af hverju einhverjum finnst þetta skemmtilegt. Mér fannst alveg gaman að hlusta smá en það varð fljótt frekar endurtekið. Ekki líklegt að ég setji þetta á aftur.
On en a marre de toi Robert.
Inconnu, long et sans intérêt, un parfait exemple de la qualité moyenne d'un album du générateur
Not crazy about this. Starting to think I just don't like techno
This stinks. Generic shitty techno music. I don't know why people like this crap. Oh right you need to be on lots of drugs so you aren't distracted by how fucking boring it is.
Would probably sound great if you were stoned and lying down with headphones on. But I wasn't.
The thing about electronica is that it has to grab me or I lose interest. This one didn’t grab me. Aimless and meh.
Not at all my taste, but I could still occasionally appreciate the music. Just not for me.
Very repetitive. Songs are frustratingly too long.
Might be nice as background sounds for some scary videogame, but that’s it.
Having done one full playthrough and several attempts to listen to it again to form a proper review without the album making any lasting impression I must draw my conclusions..
Awful. Same thing on every song. Even some i skipped halfway through, it was still the same beat. Too much electronica and techno in this list
Chill atmospheric techno. Not seeing anything noteworthy here. Tries to be a bit creative with different genres like trip-hop, reggae, and surf, but ends up just sounding like budget attempts of Aphex Twin or Portishead. It's coherent and has a clean production, but it's way too long and has too much boring filler that makes it feel like an OST to some low-effort PS2 game. Many tracks sound like someone just playing around with their synths. Favorites: Bubble and Slide II, Duke of Earlsfield, Haunted Dancehall
No me gustó en lo personal es como música de película
just a load of noises, didn't seem to follow any real format, wasn't bothered by it but wouldn't listen to anymore by the artist either
Electric electronica with a heavy dose of reverb and echo. Sounds like a movie soundtrack from something like John Wick. Songs sound pretty similar to each other.
Clunky uninspired dance album. A peculiar choice when there are so many candidates.
This was just ok, didn't really blow me away with the experimental dance vibe it was going for. I didn't dislike it but I also question whether it needs to be heard before you die. I think the concept is pretty funny though, "haunted dancehall" and all of the sounds are reverbed out and spooky sounding. I do enjoy minimalist music from time to time but this one wasn't it. 2/5
I mean, its okay - nothing spectacular. 2/5
Personal review: 2/10
Meh. Probably went down well at the time what with the drugs n all.
Not very interesting background music
Wow, that was tedious. 75 minutes of beepy noises.
Sometimes it sounds like I'm at a construction site. The title reminds me of The Crypt of the Necrodancer, and unfortunately, it's far, far from it. Summarised in 3 words: boring, random, pointless. I was glad when it was over.
There were some songs that annoyed me and some songs with which I tapped my toes. I enjoyed the songs with progressive overlapping electronic layers the most. I can hear the roots of techno here; I wish I got more, though.
WHO DECIDED THIS WAS THAT IMPORTANT?!??! it's like whoever made this list was like FUCK were at 700 albums.. let's just add some random ones next . like jeez does anyone REALLY consider this to be that groundbreaking and culturally significant? not terrible but idc
Decent background noise
Unnecessary and redundant
mid ah 💀
Not enough going on. Over reliant on the same reverb/slap back effect. Best piece, "Theme" (NME single of the week in its day), doesn't come along until after 40 mins.
Lots of interesting ideas but never executed really well. Songs overstay their welcome just like the album.
More electronic music for nineties people on drugs. Some of the genre is good, this one falls straight into the classic "too repetitive, too boring" file.
It's entirely possible I don't know enough about the electronic music scene to know how this record is one of the multitude I simply must hear before I die. For all I know, I live in a post "Sabres of Paradise" world. All that said, This sounds like pretty generic mid-tempo electronica.
Apperently "technos first album". But I dont like twchno so...too monotonous. But I like the song Wilmot.
Bubble and Slide on deez nuts.
Sounds like one long movie score, with different songs representing different scenes and character emotions. Some tracks are cool and inventive, others tedious.
PREFS : Wilmot, Tow Truck, Theme, Ballad of Nicky McGuire, Chapel Street Market 9am, Haunted Dancehall MOINS PREF : Theme 4
I actually quite liked one of the earlier songs, Duke of Earlsfield. This type of music doesn't usually put me off but this album was too one note.
podría haber muerto sin haberlo escuchado