The Art of Noise • Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise
Ariola Records 200 589-320
33-RPM LP
The Art of Noise were a foursome (whose members were Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J. J. Jeczalik, and Gary Langan) in the 1980s who relied more or less completely on sampled sounds to make their music, and made particularly heavy use of the Fairlight CMI. Who’s Afraid was The Art of Noise’s first LP, although it was preceded by an EP called Into Battle.
Their music really must be sampled (if you’ll pardon the pun!) to appreciate it. It consists of surprisingly likeable tunes, made up from various samples: snatches of conversation, rulers being twanged, a car trying to start, fingers being clicked, and so on. Samples of real instruments even make an appearance! Two tracks, Close (to the Edit) and Moments in Love, were released as singles, and various versions (or, as they are known in The Art of Noise parlance, diversions) of a track called Beat Box appear on numerous records. Beat Box Diversion Two shrunk to become Close (to the Edit), and Moments in Love is one of The Art of Noise’s less frantic, more melodic tunes.
There’s not much to say about the sound quality: the sound quality is good enough, with great dynamics. It’s not an audiophile spectacular, but I’ve heard records that sound a lot worse. I’d describe it as an above average commercial recording. But you don’t listen to The Art of Noise for the audiophile sound quality: you listen to them for the great, fun music. If that sounds like your cup of tea, grab a copy of Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise next time you see it!