Documentary Evidence - Cabaret Voltaire

Cabaret Voltaire

release : album // Live At The Hacienda '83/'86

The concept is a thrilling one - one of the most important acts of the last thirty years recorded live at one of the most significant UK clubs, Manchester's Hacienda - the Factory Records nightspot famously designed and conceptualised by Peter Saville and given its own catalogue number by Tony Wilson. In writing this review, my thanks must go to Cherry Red Records for providing me with a promotional copy of this release.

CD1 - 11/08/1983

CD1 captures the Cabs - Richard H Kirk, Stephen Mallinder with Alan Fish on drums - on stage in 1983, performing material mostly taken from their debut album for Some Bizarre / Virgin, Crackdown, and finds them at a point somewhere between the gritty Sheffield sound of their early material with Chris Watson and their later, techno and house-referencing output. The sound on this set is dirty, aggressive and funky in a way that the actual Virgin albums promised, but rarely delivered. Clearly influenced by the crisp electro sounds coming out of the US, the tracks mix clever drum programming (overlaid with Fish's metronomic drumming) with Mal's almost-rapped vocal delivery. Yet, smeared over the shiny synths and clean drums is a thick layer of oil - heavily-processed spoken word samples, Kirk's trademark sax and guitars, and Mal's grinding bass.

Audience approval is notably absent at the start, and I still find it hard to imagine the atmosphere in the Hac on this occasion - something doesn't seem to fit logically together between the venue and the act. In any case, after a few songs the audience are audibly warming to the hypnotic sounds flooding out from the stage. The set begins with some subtle arpeggiated bass noodlings which start to sound a bit seasick after a while, before moving onto '24/24' - slinky synths and a relentless groove. 'In The Shadows' sounds vaguely Eastern, with a mantra-like rhythm lurking beneath some burbling electronics, and provides a link to some of Kirk's later solo works on Warp. The pace increases again on 'Gut Level', with some fine synth sequences offsetting the spiky basswork and clattering percussion. The heavily distorted sax brings to mind a jazz improvisation, as heard from a neighbouring room at 2 in the morning.

'Over And Over' begins with some punk guitar lines over a frantic drum break both reminiscent of The Beatles' 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and the later development of drum and bass. Mal's vocals are spat out with barely repressed rage, all the while the bass working at right angles to the hammered beats. This is one of the standout performances from the first set,sounding a lot like Joy Division at their rawest. By now the audience are warmed up, and the following track ('Talking Time') shows a wholly different side to the Cabs. Clever guitar lines weave their way through an electro-funk backdrop, creating a sort of intensely danceable US-influenced college rock track vaguely reminiscent of some of Devo's more accessible works. The track is almost soulful, were it not for the spooky vocal sample loops that creep in toward the middle of the track. The track extends out over the chunky rhythm into a stunning jam before cutting suddenly to leave the vocal sample hanging on loop - a brief pause before the monster 'Animation' drops in. This is one of CV's quintessential tracks from this formulative era, and is rendered here with an enviable precision and accuracy. Kirk's heavily-reverbed guitar lines merge and divide with a counter synth sequence, while Mal's trademark vocals urge the listener to 'Wait, wait'.

An urgent clatterbox rhythm and spiralling synths introduce 'Product Patrol', further mining the elctrofunk seam. Mal's vocals are insistent, frantic, reflecting the cascading drum patterns. 'Crackdown' is typically excellent, a steady electronic pulse underpinning some chunky analogue-style sequences and discrete vocals. The key melody here is hypnotic, reminiscent of some of the Mute electronic output from the same year.

The set closes with 'Dream Ticket', which finds the Cabs offering up their mix of electronic post-punk funk one last time. Mal's vocals are here at their most comfortable, his bass the most slack. On the other hand, the keyboards and guitars almost seem reluctant, as if by this time Kirk was tiring.

Just shy of an hour overall, the set shows Cabaret Voltaire in one of their most overlooked and in some ways more mainstream phases. Although the sound quality is perhaps slightly dubious - 'official' bootleg quality it seems - the set is nevertheless an exciting insight into the career of an incredible live band.

CD2 - 19/02/1986

The 1986 set was recorded between the release of The Covenant, The Sword And The Arm Of The Lord - the last CV album on Some Bizarre / Virgin - and Code, their debut for EMI. The set here is somehow more honed and muscular, tighter and somewhat better mixed. You don't have to struggle to hear Mal's vocals so much throughout this set. As on Covenant... Mark Tattersall joins Mallinder and Kirk on drums.

The set opens with industrial clangs and metallic rhythms on 'Trouble', a brutal onslaught of menacing beats and sludgy guitar work under which Mal produces a typically-deep funk bassline. The synth pads provide a suitable counterpoint to the possessed rhythms in a style reminiscent of the darker works on Depeche Mode's Black Celebration album of the same year. Sample loops and obscure noises usher in 'Hell's Home', which sounds vaguely like an early New Order cut until Mal's menacing vocals come in. Kirk plays some guitar lines in the style of Wire's Bruce Gilbert on the epic 'Drill'. The version of 'Hell's Home' presented here is vastly different from the muddy sound on Covenant... which seems under-produced and cloudy in comparison to this performance.

'Just Fascination' recalls the Micro-Phonies sound - a tight drum machine pattern is overlaid with subtle synth frills and heavily-processed guitar sweeps, which sound altogether darker than its recorded counterpart. Mal's bass is pushed into the centre of the mix, while the processing on his voice gives this standout cut a dark and sinister edge.

In a style similar to DJ sets, Kirk fills the gap between tracks with tiny miniature electro-acoustic touches, under which you can just make out the audience who are much more lively than in 1983. 'We Got Home' brings to mind Blancmange, and again finds CV working a classic formula - loose-limbed beats, preacher-style vocals and reedy guitar lines disguised by synth processing. At over 6 minutes, the track is about 3 minutes too long, although it does appear to be propelled by an energy and momentum all of its own.

'Piledriver' begins with looped vocal noises over which a dark and sinister bass, drums and guitar rhythm starts to develop. Recalling some of the productions Adrian Sherwood put together for Mark Stewart and The Maffia, the track is aggressive, its rhythm of metallic sounds bringing to mind a production line (Sheffield steel industry?) or Neubauten track. Here, Mal's lyrics could have been replaced with those from Devo's 'Whip It'. The track, with its grinding guitarwork is outstanding while it is punishing. 'Kino' (from the Drinking Gasoline EP), on the other hand, brings the electronics to the fore for the first time on this set. The percussion effects offset synth strings and short, ricocheting patterns, with Mal's bassline working the rhythm into a taught electrofunk jam, reminiscent in some ways of an action movie soundtrack.

Bursts of static and a positively upbeat bassline introduce 'Hey Hey', an illusion which is shattered when Mal's punked-up vocals come in. Ostensibly a funk-feedback instrumental with occasional vocal interjections, 'Hey Hey' is the track closest to pure, unadulterated discofunk were it not for the backdrop of whitenoise and seasick keyboard lines, and the imploding crescendo where all of the elements appear to fall on top of one another.

'I Want You' is here rendered in a far superior form to its album counterpart. The synths are clear and audible, whereas on Covenant... the whole thing sounded like an under-produced mess. Mal's vocals are at their most frantic, while Kirk is left to conjure up squalls of feedback from his guitar. The electronics again recall the first EPs from post-Joy Division New Order. 'Sex Money Freaks' (here incorrectly titled 'Sex Monkey Freaks') crosses into the dub electro displayed previously on 'Piledriver', adding some heavily-processed sax into the menacing mix. At well over 5 minutes, the track is one of the most intense and exciting tracks here, its relentless layers of synth percussion heading endlessly toward some unknown terror. At almost 4 minutes in, some trademark synth flourishes are added to the mix, all the while Mal's voice echoing and reverbing from the stage. 'Shakedown (The Whole Thing)' takes this formula a step further out, spreading the intro over several minutes, the drums pounding incessantly like some insane tribal mantra. Some 303 flurries recall Kirk's later solo output, and also his pairing with Parrott as Sweet Exorcist. However, it is the blend of fuzzbox guitars and Mal's snarled vocal that make this track so incredible, all the while propelled on for its nine minute duration by Mark Tattersall's thunderous playing. The track concludes with some pure whitenoise guitar and didgeridoo-esque bassloops, before abruptly ending, leaving you wanting just that minute or two more.