Haunted Dancehall

Classic trance beats. Not my kinda music but could play it in background while hurriedly doing chores.

Thoroughly enjoyed this even though the first track sounded like some guy taking a shit

Album 477 of 1001 The Sabres Of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall Rating : 1 / 5 Electronica. No, thanks. This is just bad background sounds, in my opinion.

Great for studying.

Very ambient

I'm not a fan of the canned sound in the beginning, but the album got better. The tracks that stand out most are Wilmot and the title track.

one hour and seventeen minutes of that sound it makes when something bad is about to happen down a dark wet alley in a nineties movie, like boom boom boom chi chi chi chi, plus other good sound effects that could be in a Steven Seagal thriller.

This is what I enjoy most about this list - discovering artists you'd never heard of, and loving what they do. This sits up there with the likes of Fingathing and Buckethead for me - great music to work to. I'll be searching out more of their material!

Fun background music.

Is this what people listen to when high on drugs? I couldn’t get into it, it was just noise! Not for me.

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.

It's Electronica, and I like Electronica. Broad ambient style, mixed with quite nice experimental sounds. Long? No, that's stuff that can go on for hours.

John Cage once praised electronic music for its ability to create "any and all sounds that can be heard". In practice that means that artists sometimes spend as much time sculpting individual sounds as they do entire songs. This can definitely be heard on 'Haunted Dancehall' which is filled with unusual sonic experiments, backed up by downtempo beats. It reminds me a bit of the days when the first synthetic colors were being created. The colors themselves were more exciting that what most artists did with them. Of course, not everyone is going to love that and there is possibly a fine line between electronic music like this and a sound effects library with added beats. I enjoyed 'Haunted Dancehall' more as it went on but to some extent, it does sound more like a musical CV than a real album. Indeed, Andrew Weatherall was a highly sought after producer and remixer, before and after Sabres of Paradise. Love it or hate it, they were at least trying new things.

i struggle to give this album a 1 because there were bits and pieces that i enjoyed or were cool. unfortunately it was about 3 minutes of that in a 70 minute album. the rest was just uninspired, boring slop. such a shame that the album title is the best thing about this

Allt í lagi, ekkert spes.

reproducí una canción y fue suficiente para sacar el álbum, la vida es muy corta para malgastarla en mala música así un librito me diga que hay que escucharlo antes de morir.

Yuck, no bueno.

Not my bag, but I could see dropping acid to this

Why is this album on this list? I don't get it... there are many more electronic records to choose from that belong here, even from 1994, and you chose this? Not worth listening.

ambient and experimental techno music. the effects are really creative this time around, the mixture of phasers, delays, and gated reverb techniques create instrumentals that sound like an interstellar space lounge. it's an alluring, enchanting album. it reminds me of an i spy picture, like the pictures from the books. everything is so vast, colorful... yet liminal and otherworldly. you can't help but look away, or in this case to stop yourself from listening. it's an oddity.

Hey, why don’t you queue up another shitty British electronic album that no one listened to when it was released and deserves to be shot into space and lost for eternity. This dreck, just like this list, is garbage.

Groovy, spooky, overall not bad.

This is 3 mid-90's electronica albums in a row and I absolutely hate the entire genre now.

The sounds aren't even interesting; and that's literally all it is - a collection of sounds.

WHY DO I HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS

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

Nice beats but too damn long!

Meh

Upon my first listen, I immediately hated this. Had to turn it off. Another electronic instrumental album that sounds like any kid in their teens threw up on their Soundcloud in the 2000's? No thanks. Wrong mindset to be in. Took a break. Listened to 3 other albums. Revisited. This has to be listened to on headphones to thoroughly enjoy. I had to focus. There are some cool things going on in here. Often times, has a Tarantino score feel to it. Not much to really say. If you like electronic and instrumental music, you will like this. I am not well versed in this world to know what this genres Beatles is VS what its Limp Bizkit is. (best VS worst, if ya didn't catch my drift)

4/5

Fun electronic instrumental album. Has some pretty neat tunes, but does kinda lag on. You start to feel that run time towards the end.

I get why this has such a low rating, IDM is definitely not the most accessible genre. But I really like this. Definitely the kind of thing you need on in the background while doing other things, otherwise the repetitive nature of this album will start to get annoying. But when you listen to this in the right mood, it's really cool and experimental, psychedelic almost.

Maybe it’s the ADHD/transfemme brainworms, but this is exactly the kind of all-inclusive, anything goes, subtextual, just plain old weird yet chaotic experience teetering between a rave and a sensory deprivation tank that soothes my mind and speaks to my soul.

Surprisingly great! Don't get why this record gets so much hate - it's inventive, has some good tunes here and there and it manages to keep your attention, though it's over an hour long. 9/10, but 5/5

Sploinky and super strange

Didn’t hate it. Did not live up to name or album cover.

Couldn’t finish. Nauseating and made my tummy hurt it sucked

Bored and annoyed?

would’ve been fun in 1994 on ecstasy in Europe.

a totally new album and new band for me. i liked it. i might not listen to it again but i liked it.

This album was alright. Interesting concept especially for the time but a bit too long. Not sure it deserves all the hate it gets but I guess music is subjective

very interesting but also very long-winded

More largely forgettable '90s music that doesn't hold up very well (as well as overstaying its welcome by being 15-20% too long). This feels in the mode of aural wallpaper and it being fairly tasteful and somewhat stylish wallpaper only gets one so far. "Wilmot" might be best cut and "Tow Truck" is not terrible and "Chapel Street Market" is undoubtedly interesting, but one feels no impulsion to rush back for a verifying re-listen, which helps explain why this doesn't really belong on this or any other list of the ages.

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

OMG - I can't believe someone was able to f*ck up EDM! This just drones.. tried real hard to listen through it start to end... nothing memorable

As a big EDM fan there was a lot to like about this album. You can see the proto EDM emerging from the bones of this. There is some really synthy, funky and jazzy rhythms here that get built upon the make the genre what it is today. That being said, you could also see this whole album being recreated today pretty easily of FL Studios by a high schooler. I think it's innovative in what it tries to do and what it inspires but the actual execution is lacking for me. Overall, I can appreciate the attempt.

I'm still waiting for it shift into second gear...

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.

What it says on the tin. Not bad.

Interesting, but not worth a second listen.

Absolutely not

Torture, could not go trough

poo

Grew on my throughout. Decent staying power despite also very obviously being a little older

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.

2nd time I have had this one, not an album I have heard often, but a solid off-beqt electronica album

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.

Starts and ends boring with a strong middle. This album's greatest weakness is its length. Whether a song is good or bad it goes on too long. This is background IDM music with some Dub flair. The drumming and dub are well done at points. The electronic parts I find boring, but the songs Wilmot and Tow Truck are dynamic and fun. I would have given it 3 stars if it were half its length.

#228. This is rave music. Probably something better to be experienced rather than listened to with a critical ear. 3/5: fairly pleasant, if monotonous Song added to playlist: None. This album has been removed from Spotify, so fuck'em I've created a playlist on Spotify that consists of the best and/or my favorite song from each of the albums in this book. This list can be found here if you are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MAXDGLWlwLkFLb8veGfkA?si=FqkQQPgZTFWG0jAUJXLFZA&utm_source=copy-link

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.

If you are reading the one-star reviews that say that this album is just the sound of pots and pans being banged together and has no actual songs on it, please note that those reviews should come with a disclaimer reading, "I listened to the first 30 seconds of the first song and said 'hey this isn't like everything else I listen to! It hurts my wittle ears" and turned it off. Please disregard my opinion." The first couple of songs are a little discordant but then it really picks up. I liked this album despite it not being my normal cup of tea. "Theme" sounds like a blaxploitation film soundtrack done by the Chemical Brothers. I should not be surprised that I enjoyed this since one of the guys from Portishead contributed to it and I love that group. This is a pretty solid album for me, although it admittedly has its flaws.

Title really suited to this album.. enjoyed grooves and eery techno acid house tunes…

Música tecno experimental, comienza el disco con mucho "breakbeat" a medio tiempo con las dos partes del tema "Bubble and Slide" señalando la dirección que va a tomar el álbum. Abundan las secciones de música "ambient" y minimalista. Para mi gusto destacaría "Wilmot", "Tow Truck" y, si acaso, la que da nombre y cierra el álbum. En mi opinión, en este disco encontramos demasiada extravagancia sonora sin sentido junto a unos pocos pasajes rítmicos estupendos.

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.

Trash

What a terrible waste of time. Why are the worst albums the longest?

Sabres Of Paradise?....more like Sabres Of Boredom.

Is it any more than meh? Not so much. "Wilmot" and "Tow Truck" and "Chapel Street Market" each has its merits, but one won't be spending much or any further time with this record. Best to have left in the '90s, the indifferent musical decade from whence (rather appropriately, one must say) it came.

Too experimental. 1/5

2.5

Apparently BBC Radio 1 had at one point said that "Haunted Dancehall" was the song they were going to play when the news broke that the Queen died. This is about the only interesting thing about this album. They did not play the song when she died. Kudos to them naming the album though, this is exactly what I imagine would be playing at an actual haunted dancehall. Favorite song: Haunted Dancehall 5/4/24

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.

I'm definitely intriqued by electronic/ambient music and found this pretty easy to enjoy. There were some segments that detracted from the vibe (Return to Planet D), but overall it is a cool journey.

Very cool

Bringing techno to the scene, English musicians are almost always a step ahead it seems. It's a double album so it does stretch on for a bit at times, but a continued shift and evolution of music towards the future

Crap record, but a good test of my car's new speakers

I hated this.

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.

This is pretty good. It starts out perhaps just a bit less compelling, but builds steam as it progresses. Some of that impression may be that I wasn't ready to listen to low-key edm in the beginning but the quality and creativity shine through here. I was in once the portishead remix hit. Weatherall did some great stuff.

more like an album you must die before you listen to

I remember giving this a listen when it came out , and taped around three of the tracks (!) , returned the LP the next day . listening to it now, it's of its time, bit too long.

Like putting on a favourite old pair of jeans. I remember getting this album at Christmas 1994 and rinsing it on the Walkman. Wilmot is still Killer but it has aged. The production is still original sounding. Weather all was God.

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.

What junk. Losing faith with the list this week. 2 unlistenable

Some chunky beats there and then, better towards the end but a bit too… boring?

I often say, on reviewing an album, about how it is good, fine, well done, BUT: yeah, it iis among the many and doesn't stand out per se and meh... Now I could technically say something similar about Sabres of Paradise... except that they are not quite "among the many." Not really. They seemed to me, song after song, to be just a step up from the greater crowd, hinting at something in there that gives them a spot at the head table. I will put them on my playlist and go through their catalog to see how I feel after that, but with this single album, things are looking pretty good.

As a 90's raver, I like this album and dont get the shade .

ZERO. GTFO WITH THIS TRASH.

Oh this is so awesome and right up my alley. I'd never heard of these guys before so what a treat. Bubble and Silde starts off on the right foot but Bubble and Slide II take the cake for me. Duke of Earlsfield is a jam with Planet D, Wilmot, and Theme amping up again. There's just so much to like, for me, on this album.

I'm a big fan of the Warp Records schtick - this kind of ambient / IDM blend is catnip to me. Amusing to see all the low scoring reviews from people that can't stand it though! 😆 I didn't have this specific album back in the day, so it's not benefiting from a direct nostalgia bump, but it's close enough to a lot of stuff I love to benefit a little. Fave tracks - "Wilmot" and "Theme" are the bangers. "Chapel Street Market 9am" from the more ambient side of things...

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.

Kinda fun rhythmic instrumental stuff. More offbeat than a lot of the albums on here. But at the end of the day, still just a silly little thing to put on in the background. The title track is a delight, though.

What exactly is the purpose of this album?

It's long, a little tedious, perhaps boring at times. But I think the reviews here are overly negative. A lot of these tracks make great use of space and texture, and the grooves are tight. Check out "Duke of Earlsfield" to hear what I mean. There aren't many gimmicks here. Just stripped down electronic beats.

Why is this on here?

Techno, very repetitive, not very engaging

groovin'

The soundtrack to a migraine.

No chance I was listening to this shit a second time

“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.

Nope

chilli elektroninen tekno ambientti joint... 1994 sound like pop corn from 1969... good homage... huomaa hyvin miten tämä teki osansa lhardcrore hardstyle rawstyle melodic cybergrind psytrance aggrotech frenchcore schranzesque maschore uptempo moombathon tyyppisen musiikin luomisessa.. Garbage. Just shitty electronic music like this is the 70s. No music, just random sounds. Imagine paying for this. 10/10... jos ei laula ...satunnaisääniä... wilmot

You know what I love? Deeply intricate electronic music. Especially that of which there is clear evidence that love and care was put into it. Long songs are common in the genre. And the best ones often warrant that length. But you know what I hate? Electronic music that just acts as mindless slop. It’s already a genre that receives enough criticism as is because people believe it genuinely lacks no substance. Show them this album and their brains might just explode. I need to sit down and have a chat with the author of this book. Because where does he find these dumpster fires? If someone recommended that he include this, they need to be slapped upside the head. This is just simply the most painstaking, boring and bland “IDM” I’ve ever heard. Fuck that genre label by the way. If you are trying to convince me this is “more intelligent” than other, better, dance music, you are an idiot. If the best song on your electronic record is a Portishead remix, and even that is still lackluster at best, you’ve got a big problem. My biggest issue is that nearly all of these songs long overstay their welcome. Even the slightly more interesting ones are still too long. The first four songs are barely even music. More just like noises. You can’t put reverb and delay on everything and call it a day. And then everything after that is just painfully boring. At least those songs tried something interesting, even if it still sucked. This just wants to be Kraftwerk so badly. And it fails miserably at even getting close to their level. Don’t listen to this. It’s utterly pointless. Rating: 2/10

I found this to be enjoyable-enough electronic music - plenty of interesting stuff happening and it wasn't too abrasive/etc but it didn't have anything that really made me feel like I wanted to be sure I came back to listen again someday. I counted a LOT of influences in here, though I'm not sure which way there were going haha. Glad for the listen - will prob not return.

Look. My criteria for my album ratings is somewhat complex. I'm not going to explain the whole thing right now, but I have something to say. My criteria for giving an album a 1/5 is that if I am upset that I listened to a given album, that album gets a 1/5. I don't mean that in a "This album is sad" kind of way, I mean that in a "This project would be better without this album" kind of way. It is the simplest rating criteria that I have. I am upset that I listened to this album. How can you have so many albums from 1994 on this list (This is my 9th!) with some of them being worthless, culturally insignificant trash like this, and yet the Weezer blue album is nowhere to be seen?! WHY?! That album is awesome! This? I hate it. The sound itself is fine, I guess, but it leaves no lasting impact on me. There are some great instrumental albums out there with enough impact to warrant an inclusion on this list. This is not one of them. I've probably written reviews for this site that are longer than the wikipedia articles for this album and its band combined before! But you wanna know the biggest issue with this album. It does not fucking end. It lasts for 76 whole minutes, with there being multiple songs that go for 8 minutes each! On top of that, the songs are kind of repetitive. I'm pissed off. I genuinely question what logic there was behind this album being included. Wikipedia says that this was the first techno concept album. First of all, I don't believe that for one second. There had to have been something before this. Second of all, what is the concept for this album? Being shit? If so, good job "Sabres of Paradise," you succeeded! Now get out of my sight. 1/5.

Thought this one was fine for what it was, a collection of dancefloor tracks aimed for spinning at the club. Definitely not meant for targeted, full-length listening, but it helped me focus and get some work done as some great background music. Not sure why it's on here outside of a historical reason, but I can't be mad at this LP for doing exactly what it said on the box.

Little too experimental for my tastes but different and cool

I enjoyed this. It was sort of background music to me, but good in that Warp Ninja Tune way.

Enjoyable.

Production on this is exquisite. Really interesting album.

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.

wikipedia informs me haunted dancehall can be considered the techno genre's first concept album. i don't have the background knowledge to confirm that; at times i could hear that connection, at other times not. regardless, this album was cool--straight up rad as hell. with creating an album without any vocals, the sabres of paradise did an excellent job distinguishing every song from one another. it wasn't a typical techno album, either. i heard piano tinkering or metal banging sounds. one song sounded like it could've been a theme song for a seventies tv show, another had a reggae influence. a cool, unique electronica album. technically speaking, i'd rank this as 3.5, but i'll round up since i'm considering my enjoyment. as a side note, so rarely do we get an unknown artist with such a cool name for both the artist and the album!

This was a super intriguing album! I can't think of a better album title, since it's all very electronica in nature, while also having some very dark wave, sci-fi undertones. Both the title and the artist name immediately intrigued me. To that point, the "additional production" provided by Portishead is very apparent to me. I don't know how involved they were overall, but I can hear their sound all over this album. I won't necessarily say I loved this album, but it did catch my attention and keep me entertained! That's more than I can say for some things on this project. Definitely an obscure, intriguing inclusion!

A really surprising album. I've had to listen to it a few times and it has really grown on me. 70+ minutes of repetetive sounds and rhythms - no vocals.....not what I would have thought I would have liked, but it works....

Supposedly this was the first techno concept album. What is the concept, might I ask? Boredom in space? Or boredom inside a sweaty nightclub during a rave?

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

fuck off

You know, I thought this was gonna be a real chore after the first track. But I put it on while working and eventually settled into kind of a groove with this. It was almost like listening to a soundtrack, which I do sometimes to help me focus.

Meh. Assuming this album sounded fresh and exciting in 1994, it has aged poorly.

Did I find this perfectly fine? Yup. Was it slightly better than the other electronic albums we’ve heard? Yup. Was it still too long? Yup? Did I listen to more than half? No comment.

Actually. I kind of liked it. Is this project indoctrinating me? I was expecting to hate it and was so not looking forward to listening. But I thought the sounds were really interesting and they did a cool job. At one point during my listen, I considered giving this a four.

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.

1. bubble and zlide - 0 2. zlide 2 - 0 3. duke - 0 4. flight path - 0 5. planet d - 1 6. touu truck - 0 7. theme - 0 8. theme 4 - 0 9. planet d - 0 10. maguire - 1 11. jacob ztreet - 0 12 chapel ztreet - 0 13. haunted dancehall - 1

wilmot is kinda nice, the whole album kinda noise

Aaa pero super experimentall, interesante escuchar algo distinto... tiene algunos momentos de trance muy lindos, armonias que me encantan, algunas cosas raras, no se como tomarlo como obra o "album" pero valio la pena 100% la escucha

The description says that this was a wildly popular techno band in the UK, and I am not going to believe that at all. Overall, it seemed like a clownish and amateur effort that yielded a truly painful to hear album. Really a disappointment to me.

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.

I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as the reviews on here would have you believe. A lot of people say they're fine with electronic music, but what they really mean is they just like Daft Punk. I agree it's overlong though, chopping it down to an hour would've been nice, but there's still bangers on here and it keeps it pretty varied. 'Wilmot' especially was a good time.

I was underwhelmed by this the first listen. Usually that is enough for me to move on but I realised I'd been in a mood so gave it another go. Glad I did. So many layers, twists and turns.

Except 'Theme' mostly a bit boring and clueless soundscaping

duke of earlsfield, planet d (portishead remix), tow truck, haunted dancehall

I'm a simple girl. I see portishead and I like. the rest of the songs kinda sound like I'm in a tunnel made of aluminum and there's someone outside hitting the walls

Really awful

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.

I absolutely did not need to hear this before I die. They cleverly started with two songs so bad that the rest of the album seemed like a big improvement, and therefore perhaps worthy of more than a single star. But it was all terrible, the opening tracks just impressively reaching another level of shit. It was background music at best, though I'm not sure what for. I could maybe imagine it being played in the background during a Worms game, which is actually quite a compliment, but it should have no place on this list. ⭐️

Sounds very robotic, which isn't a good thing. Every track does nothing new or exciting after the first 20 seconds, which get boring real quick, especially on an 8 minute track. They got the first word of this album right. The album will be haunting my dreams tonight, and possibly the next week. Another hour of my life wasted listening to rubbish music

It dragged a fair bit but I actually kinda liked it. Did a lot of interesting things and every song felt like a journey to me. Would listen again, just don’t know under what set of circumstances

One or two songs might be interesting. I could never listen to a whole album of this.

This is not why I signed up for the album generator.

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

Good background chill music.

Repetitive noise with an ok beat.

8/10

I thought it was neat while listening but I will never think of it again

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.

There was a "game" for the ps1 called music 2000 where you could layer up a bunch of prerecorded samples and make "original" songs, and all of the songs you made sounded like this album. In isolation there are a few bits here and there that sound like the precursor to interesting music but it's repeated so much and put together in such a lifeless way that I lost interest after 30 seconds. And then it would go on for 7 minutes. I think there is a decent 4 minute album in this but as a whole it was dire and I can't imagine why it was included. Maybe the "electronic" music critic only had about 4 albums he actually wanted to include and after he ran out of orbital and portishead he has to scrape the bottom of the barrel for this nonsense.

This is less an album, more a test of patience. Wilmot (despite being too long) is the best track; not sure how much of the rest was needed. 0.4 stars for Wilmot.

Random noise the album. I don't understand how you could justify the inclusion of this album on the list. Highlights: Theme

Come on now, is there really justification for this to be on this list? Even if electronica was my favourite genre of music, I cannot imagine that this is a particularly good example of it? Suppose I didn't hate it, and it was pretty chilled, but I don't think I can give it anything but 1. Too many weird strange noise effects

This is the kind of album that makes you question the judgement of the makers of this list. Absolutely terrible. I can’t imagine that the 47th best album of 1994 is essential listening, even with how stacked 1994 is for great releases. There is the beginnings of something here, but none of the tracks go anywhere. It’s just a loop of sounds on every track. Who knows how they decided each track should be.

I have no clue who this is for, I can only think people on the brink of ODing from LSD would enjoy this. I've made the joke that this sounds like someone smashing their face into a cassio keyboard while all the settings are cycling, but this really does sound like that, it's shit I don't understand why it's here and people who like it scare me.

When I first heard about 1,001 albums to hear before you die I thought, man over 1,000 albums seems like a lot but I bet there is still a ton of great music that will be left out, especially considering new music is made every year that would end up displacing other albums on the list. After listening to Haunted Dancehall, it appears to me that maybe the number of truly revered albums throughout history is smaller than I thought. I was flabbergasted listening to track after track of this wondering who would possibly think this is worth recommendation. I know people say things like this all the time and after often overstating their own abilities, but I could legitimately make the songs from this album myself with little effort if I had the right equipment. This honestly sounds like it was made on a 13 year olds iMac using the garage band app with its preprogrammed sounds solely for their StarCraft Twitch stream. I cannot fathom any other setting that this Music would be suitable for. Not for waiting rooms or elevators. Certainly not for parties or listening on your commute. This barely goes above the threshold for corporate phone line hold music. In fact I think I’d prefer to hear the Cisco hold jingle on repeat for the length of this album before listening to it again. I considered rating this 2 stars because if this is truly a recommendation of an album I have to hear before I die then somehow there might possibly be something worse out there, but ultimately there is no way this deserves anything but the lowest mark. I hope future album recommendations do not sink this low or it’s going to be very difficult to get through these on a daily basis.

far too long for what it is, which is boring

I don't know what to expect here with these guys. 1 minute into the first track and I don't even know what genre this is. Interesting. So far all lyricless. It's made for some good background noise. it's a little different but I like different. Hm, Portishead Remix on Planet D. I had to watch/listen to Wilmot on youtube. That's definetely the one with the most substance. I'll listen some more at the gym. But I'm giving this one 3.

The Sabres of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall Ambient, electronic music. Could be the score to any late 90s or early 2000s generic action flick. Once again not sure why this is one of the 1001 albums I need to hear before I die. 1/5

Jazzy beats. I liked this.

Not for me, not horrible.

I don't hate this and now i question everything. 4 stars, I'm listening again.

Mr. Krabs did it better

Interesting in places but on the whole I don’t quite get all the hype

Spent too many hours asa youth listening to this under certain influnces. In the cold light of day 20 odd years doesnt have the same appeal. Smokebelch is their tune and its not on this one. Glad it exists mind.

I remember being underwhelmed when I bought this but when I found the right moment it all clicked into place and Andy Weatherall regained his God-like status. For some reason I also remember 'Theme' being part of the soundtrack to a film called 'Shopping' with Sadie Frost, think the soundtrack was better than the film though

What an unexpected joy. I have heard of and listened to things by Andrew Weatherall before. He died in 2020 and his stuff went into heavy circulation on BBC 6Music. This was good to listen to as a whole album.

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.

Not surprised I don’t like yet another British electronic album that I’ve never heard of. Seriously, if going to a number as high as 1001 means I have to listen to this before I die, maybe shorten the list by however many British techno albums you were planning on including. Or at least give me some Aphex Twin (I know he’s Welsh) or Four Tet. For fucksake

Eh... not my thing. A bit repetitive and boring.

Los sonidos de lugares, situaciones o cosas, de todos modos podrían ser más útiles

Super cool! Amazing variety with lots of weird, funky sounds.

This one was quite different and pretty thematic. I didn’t mind it. Listens: 1 Fave Tracks: Ballad of Nicky McGuire Rating: 3

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.

Blind album and artist. Big snooze fest in my mind and I do not see how this is special. Tech os first concept album? What's the concept??

By the time it got to the 7th track, I knew I wouldn’t endure it for its 1 hour 16 minutes length. Not totally bad but over stated and quite forgettable. Minus 1 star for being too long

"Haunted Dancehall" is the second studio album by English electronic music group the Sabres of Paradise. Techno is the musical genre. The group includes Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, all involved in the production and mixing. Portishead also contributed to the mixing and production. The album reached #57 in the UK charts. "Bubble and Slide" opens the album with Carribbean-dub sort of electronic beats. This song quickly goes to "Buuble and Slide II." Ambient synths are added to the electronic beats. "Wilmot" has a Middle Eastern synth sound. Vocal chants. Loud pounding noises carry the beat. Various noises are thrown in: bird, lasers, tapes rewinding. Robotic vocals later on as well. The first single "Theme" layers different sounds throughout. Synth horns. Wobbling synths. A techno beat. A James Bond guitar. I like this song. "Ballad of Nicky McGuire" goes all over the place. It opens with video game sounds (For some reason Q-bert came to mind). Metallic noise beats with an underlying electronic drum beat. About midway through it changes gears and goes totally ambient. And, then goes back. The self-titled "Haunted Dancehall" closes things. Echoing high pitch sounds and eerie "Tubular Bells"-esque synth keys highlight the song. This album had enough variety from song to song to keep my attention. It is all instrumental with repetitive beats sometimes echoing and pulsating. A number of songs fall into the ambient category. Lots and lots of various noises used effectively. A shout out to the production and mixing teams. For those into techo or ambient music, this is one you probably like.

You can really count on Robert Dimery, an English writer and editor who had previously worked for magazines such as Time Out and Vogue, to churn out some forgettable English Electronica on his list. Jokes aside, I came close to getting locked in on some of the weird stuff going on in the arrangements, but it was so bland and repetitive I couldn’t do it. I guess if I had grown up on this kind of stuff or had heard it contextualize at the time, I would be singing a different tune, but as it stands right now I can’t be bothered to push myself into forcing appreciation for this. Top track: Bubble And Slide II

People music! I like it

Early experimental electric music. Not for me, thanks.

Clown music

Why is this on the list? I enjoy ambient but this is not worthy

Dogshit

Insanely shocked at how much I like this.

2.4 - As I listen to this, I picture a caffeine-addled Robert Dimery pacing frantically around his office at 4 am, just hours before a deadline to turn in a book draft to his publisher. CDs and LPs are strewn haphazardly around the room. In his panic, he slips on some liner notes and falls on his face. When he finally comes to, he opens his eyes and sees the cover to this album staring back at him. "Oh, here's one I can add! This one's obscure enough that it'll fly under everyone's radar! OK, only 389 more albums to go!"

no, 2/5

The inclusion of this album makes me not feel bad for not contributing monetarily to this project.

90’s action movie background music

meh

I listened to it at work and didn't know when it ended.

not for me :/

Interesting- not quite my cup of tea but not bad.

Did not like this at All… grated on my nerves and created anxiety

Not for my tastes. Also, the over compressed, digital samples are just grating on the ears...

Haven't listened to the sabers in over 20 years. Great album.

Maffe Pacmanmuziek van iemand die zich op zijn zolderkamertje lekker heeft zitten vermaken met deze flauwekul. Maar ik vond het eigenlijk best geinig.

Vroeger had ik iets van The Orb en iets van Orbital. Dat was ruim voldoende in het genre vage elektronica. Nooit verder gezocht. Als ik niet die platen had, maar deze, was het ook prima geweest.

Techno uit de vroege jaren 90, maar het begin klinkt alsof Giorgio Moroder nog steeds in de jaren 70 lekker vrij minimalistisch aan het rommelen is op zijn Moog. Er zit een breakbeatje in, maar ook lounge deuntjes. Het is sowieso allemaal een stuk trager dan wat ik had verwacht bij techno. Het werd niet op de radio gedraaid, het is niet bekend van een of andere film en ik ken ook geen feestjes of loungebars waar dit soort muziek gedraaid werd. Dus ondanks dat het best wel relaxed klinkt verder, vraag ik me af wie dit nu daadwerkelijk luisterde in die tijd? En hoe kan het dan weer dat dit in deze lijst staat? Ik blijf me continu verbazen over de selectiecriteria. Waarom staat yabba-dabba-dance er niet in?? Desondanks is het prkma achtergrondmuziek voor een magere 3

This is a 76 minute collection of chill beats - I put on headphones and cleaned my house and grooved. No words, no hooks, just vibes. "Planet D" and others are a predecessor to the Lo-Fi Hip Hop girl era. Good Sunday cleaning tunes. "Wilmot" is not on Spotify, I pulled it up on YouTube and was glad I did - more lively with some dubby horn pops. "Tow Truck" has surfed out guitar and a slinky spy-noir sound like some Portishead songs. According to Wikipedia, Portishead collaborated on some of these songs, so that adds up.

Yeah - this didn't do it for me. It doesn't go anywhere; it's basic...nothing moved me

One and a quarter hours of almost nothing. A near nonentity of a record. Rating: 1.5/5 Playlist track: Wilmot Date listened: 07/01/24

I'm sorry, this is just noise. The very few moments where something grabs your attention are massively outweighed by the rubbish. Like I've said before, if I want instrumental stuff, give me euphoric trance, or something that makes me feel something. This is neither of those things.

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.

This was interesting to listen to right after Fela Kuti because they’re not dissimilar. This almost felt like an evolution of afrobeat, although this band isn’t from Africa AFAIK. I loved this and it was perfect for my purposes today: travelling long distance by car. Like yesterday’s album, I wish the songs were shorter because I’d definitely listen to them frequently if they were…but I do want to keep this one my phone regardless, so it gets a 5 from me.

Great background sound.

I could go through life without listening to this and be just fine. It suffers the problem of a lot of electronica. Slow to start and oppressively repetitive.

Not the worst background music I've had while working, not the best.

vrv dobro za semplove

Really cool techno album

Technical skills demonstrated at the expense of an audience.

Interesting music that’s way outside my usual listening sphere. I like this album and would not have expected to. Love this project!

I find that half the time, an electronic album is amazing, one of the best I’ve ever heard, and the other half, you get the worst thing you’ve ever heard. This is one of the latter. So hard to put myself through. Didn’t even listen to the last song. Giving it a 2/10, just because there were some songs where I couldn’t help but tap along. I didn’t enjoy this at all. 2/10 Top 1: 1. Wilmot

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

Good experimental! 5/5

I was so excited when it ended

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

Bad

Not for me, thanks.

i didn't hate this but i didn't really like it either

Chill vibes

Atmospheric to cinemascope soundscapes. What appears to be mostly an experimental electro album sometimes proves to bounce between dark crawling Death in Vegas vibes and a heist movie score.

Not bad but not for me.

The dancehall is haunted by the ghosts of those who died of boredom listening to this.

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

Surprisingly great

As with many of these 90s techno albums, it’s far too long. But some of the songs have merit.

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

Cool

Honestly this is so simple but works really well as background music for work or chores. Sometimes simple can be very effective!

It got a bunch of 1s for a reason

This is amazing, love finding new electronic albums, never heard of this but great work music.

Taustamusiikkia 100% Mutta menihän se taustalla

Not my cup

2/10 generally like experimental-ish music but this mostly sounded like it should have a voice interrupting every five minutes saying "Please continue to stay on the line. We thank you for your patience."

Not crazy about this. Starting to think I just don't like techno

Totally uninspiring

Easy listening to while doing other stuff and very unique and rhythmic. Sounds like lo fi study beats. Liked it more and more as the album went on. Rating: 3.8

What sh@t is this? Not music, just sounds and crap ones!

bonne grosse daube. ça ne devrait même pas être dans les 1000001 album generator

Another totally average album with electronic music. Nothing too catchy, nothing too terrible, just a long list of tracks with some random beats and flows. Extremely unremarkable.

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.

The album starts out sounding like an Animusic sequel and ends like a Dario Argento soundtrack .

I like: Dukes of Earlsfield Planet D - Portishead Remix Wilmot Tow Truck Theme

Wine bar / design studio music.

This was the perfect distraction music that I needed as I got my head down for a Monday morning work task. I didn't want complications and Dylan introspective lyrics; I wanted uplifting noise to carry me through the morning. The sound is stretched out, even through a pair of AirPods. Lee Scratch Perry comparisons are obvious. There's also a lot borrowed here from early Art of Noise. The beat is always one step behind. It was the rhythm I needed to tap, tap, away on the keyboard. The mix of Wilmot here is unrecognisable to the 12" I bought almost thirty years ago. The Sabres still sound fresh compared to some of the crappy ED music of today.

Would probably sound great if you were stoned and lying down with headphones on. But I wasn't.

A little eerie; but somewhat chill; another instrumental good for background working/photo editing. Thought I'd hate it at first.

The thing about electronica is that it has to grab me or I lose interest. This one didn’t grab me. Aimless and meh.

Fine

Ugggh really? Electronic gibberish on Halloween?? That sucks. This sucks. Although I will say, this is a striking album cover! I do like it quite a lot. It had me geared up in antici pation, for some Rocky Horror like good times spooky tunes. Quite a letdown on what it actually holds inside. I'm going back to my friend's haunted halloween playlist which kicks way more ass than this. It's Def.Con.One... Big Mac, fries to go... Big mac, fries to go... Get me Big Mac, fries to go... Get me Big mac, get me fries to go!

Not at all my taste, but I could still occasionally appreciate the music. Just not for me.

Quite a chill album, doesn't really excite, good for background.

This type of British electronic synth garbage is way over-represented on this list. Most of the tracks on this piece of shit album are just random noises. An hour I'd love to have back to listen to something worthwhile.

Bad orbital...

I thought this would be spooky but it wasn't

Very repetitive. Songs are frustratingly too long.

Four bar repeats of basic riffs. Art has to be something I can't do. Anyone can do this. Set the drum machine to 4/4 choose a BPM and write a short bass line. Make some sounds over it. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Utter rubbish.

Elektronische 1., 2. - die komischen Drums gönnen einem keine Pause, wenig Abwechslung und nur bis zu einem Punkt progressive Erstmal nachlesen, um den Hintergeund ein bisschen zu verstehen - war wohl das erste Techno- Konzeptalbum

Not good

Might be nice as background sounds for some scary videogame, but that’s it.

Pet peeve: Wikipedia and most of the reviews here calling this techno. This is downtempo, ambient, Latin, afrobeat, triphop, jazzy, a bit of dub—a nicely varied sampling of styles actually—but not techno. Anyway, it’s pretty good.

I think I spend the whole album wondering how much more of this I had to endure, sounds like someone gave a kid a keyboard to play around with

Nice tunes to float away on

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

3.5

It's bland and most of the time pointless BUT it's musically absorbing, at least for me. It's much more interesting than a lot of other electronic albums that I've heard. In short, it's more interesting than enjoyable. I liked it, though.

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

Nah, not my thing in the slightest

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

What a load of noise

8/10 I love me some weird ol’ experimental electronic music it’s no Aphex Twin, but it’s still pretty tight

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.

Neat little album! Definitely will revisit in the future

My ears hurt.