Review: “Electronic” by Electronic (CD, 1991)

Today’s Pop Rescue from an uncertain fate is 1991’s debut album Electronic by British super-group Electronic. Will this album be fully charged, or does its flat battery stop you from Getting The Message? Read on…

Electronic - Electronic (1991) album. — Electronic – Electronic (1991) album.

The CD opens with the hissing hi-hat and growling guitar in the intro to Idiot Country. Bernard Sumner (Joy Division, New Order) is swiftly on the microphone. The track gently chugs along, with Sumner’s soft vocals backed by catchy whistling synths, Johnny Marr’s (The Smiths) guitar, over a drum machine beat. It certainly feels like a Pet Shop Boys sound, but more about them later. It’s a nice start.

That leads on to Reality, and a thumping bass drum is sat against synths and bass. This feels much more pop-ish, with the bouncing chorus of “I’m not the man you’re looking for” repeated in a catchy lyrical loop. It feels somewhat like a 12″ mix with long sequences of synth sequences and drum machines, and at 5m 40s, it is only just the longest track on the album.

Then it’s Tighten Up, opening up with some fantastic orchestral hits – reminding me of my Yamaha PSR-27 keyboard. Here, we’re treated to layers of acoustic and bass guitars, and Bernard gets to show off a more tuneful indie-pop sound, and melodies that are perhaps more at home with Johnny’s native Smiths sound. It’s certainly a foot-tapper though.

Following that is The Patience Of A Saint, and here we find Pet Shop Boys – Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe on vocal and keyboard duties respectively, in one of a few collaborations that they did with Electronic. Sadly, this is quite a clunky track. Tennant’s vocals are of course thoroughly on the money, and they provide a nice contrast to Sumner’s (they take turns). Lowe is clearly amongst the keyboards too, as there’s some trademark PSB sounds/styles in the mixture. The song sadly lacks energy though, and doesn’t match their earlier Getting Away With It, or later Disappointed.

Gangster is next, and we’re given some lovely sounding urgent synths and drum machines. Sumner comes in hard on the microphone, cutting across the rest of the sound. Sadly, the brass-style synths just remind me of the old Apple Mac triumphant boot-up sound. They probably sounded cutting edge in 1991 though.

Next up is Soviet, and for this instrumental track we’re treated to swathes of synths, some of which again remind me of the stabbing synth sounds found on my 1990’s keyboard. At just over 2mins long, it admittedly feels longer.

Then we’re on to the album’s lead single Get The Message. Guitars and a nice crisp beat soon earn a foot tapping catchiness. Sumner’s vocals sit perfectly on top of these beats and layers of guitars, and the bass guitar gently follows him around the melody like an old dog. I’m reminded of 90’s Saint Etienne at times if you swapped his voice for Sarah Cracknell’s. It’s effortless in its flow, and the contrast of the vocals, beats, and warm waves of guitars work together really well. The track gave the group a #8 UK hit.

Try All You Want follows that, and this is a more up-beat track with a nice thudding dance beat in which Sumner weave’s his soft vocals. The track bounces along, pretty uncluttered in its journey, with a few very 1990s break moments in it. Vocals are fairly minimal in this track instead focusing on the synths and percussion.

Next is Some Distant Memory and we’re soon met by a tide of synths and drum beats again. Once again up-beat, punctuated by shuffling hi-hats and chime bars, Sumner’s vocals weave throughout the music with ease again, but at times the synth does seem oblivious of him, instead breaking out into mini-jams of new ideas.

The album closes with the album’s second and final single, Feel Every Beat. I’m reminded here in the growling guitar moments somewhat of Soho’s Hippychick, which is of course heavily sampling Marr’s Smith’s track How Soon Is Now. The dreamy ‘madchester’ vocals from Sumner sit perfectly alongside the guitars and piano, giving the album a nice closing track. The song stumbled though at #39 in the UK singles chart.

Electronic’s lead single ‘Get The Message’ (1991).

Verdict

Over all, this album sounds great on paper – Electronic, made by two musical behemoths Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner. However, the reality is one that is weaker than you’d expect.

Perhaps time hasn’t been kind to the album, and back in 1991 it would have sounded cutting edge and exciting – more so than now in 2024 as it gets a review 33 years later. What we find is an album with great ideas from great musicians but the delivery just lacks energy. Occasionally growling guitars, thumping beats, or perfectly contrasting vocals work well, but the rest feels like a compromise of narrowly-missing masterpieces.

The strongest song here is clearly Get The Message, and it deserved its hit status. Other highlights here include Reality, Tighten Up, and Feel Every Beat. These all sound well rounded, tuneful and work well. At its lowest, the album gives us Soviet, with other tracks here just a bit too sanitised to feed our ears. The Patience Of A Saint feels like an underwhelming use of the Pet Shop Boys but brilliance with them would follow in 1992.

I’m glad that I heard it, but the supergroup status didn’t really live up to my expectations.