Released
in May of 1982, Cabaret Voltaire’s fourth studio album, 2x45, is
marking 40 years on the shelf this month. It was the transitional album
between their early experimental work and their more dance floor
friendly fare which would dominate their career going forward. It also
marked a downsizing of the band’s core members from a trio to a duo as
Chris Watson left the group half way through its production. The first
disc of the set was recorded with Chris at the group’s Sheffield Western
Works studio in October of 1981 while the second disc was recorded
without Watson at Pluto Studios, Manchester, in February of 1982.
The
title for the album is a direct reference to its original format, being
a set of two 45 RPM 12” EPs enclosed in a black textured foldout card
stock sleeve with Neville Brody graphics concealed on the interior. As
the album focuses on a set of long rhythmic tracks, the higher fidelity
afforded by the format offered optimum sound quality for the material.
Though they were decidedly moving into a funkier groove, the music
beyond the beat felt more “jazz” inspired, though still thick with the
group’s experimental discordance. They hadn’t quite landed in the “EBM”
zone which would define their next LP, The Crackdown, but the remixed
single version of Yashar by John Robie would create a direct bridge to
that era. For 2x45, however, the rhythms are primarily provided by real
drums and the use of electronics is surprisingly limited.
Because
the album moved so far outside the “industrial” framework of its
predecessor, Red Mecca, and didn’t quite arrive at their eventual EBM
destination, it tends to be overlooked by both of the band’s fan camps
for their early vs later output. Initial reviews for the album saw it
as a lesser success than Red Mecca, but the benefit of hindsight has
shown that what the group were doing was still very much outside what
anyone else were up to at the time and still on the cutting edge of
experimental pop. As such, it remains one of their most idiosyncratic
releases.
