''Sacred City'' is the seventh full-length album by

Shriekback Shriekback are an English rock band formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and the League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of Gang of Four (bass guitar), with Carl Marsh, formerl ...

. Released in 1992, after the failure of 1988's ''

Go Bang! ''Go Bang!'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Shriekback, released in 1988. It produced a significant number of ''Billboard'' modern rock hits, including "Get Down Tonight," "Intoxication," and "Shark Walk". Released after the d ...

'', the album was much more experimental, returning to the original Shriekback sound. Barry Andrews was again joined by founder, Dave Allen, and longtime collaborator

Martyn Barker Martyn Barker Born 14 September 1959 in Ellesmere Port Merseyside. Is an English drummer, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, best known as the drummer for Shriekback. He has also been a member of King Swamp. Barker ha ...

, as well as

Karl Hyde Karl Hyde (born 10 May 1957) is an English musician, composer and artist. He is a founding member of British electronic group Underworld. Hyde has also released a solo album, made albums with Brian Eno and Matthew Herbert, and contributed towar ...

. With little commercial success, the band dissolved shortly after the album's release. A companion film, also called ''Sacred City'', was offered in a limited home-video release.

Critical reception

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's Jason Ankeny said that "the advantages of 20/20 hindsight proves the group to have been well ahead of their time, their music predating the subsequent rise of electronica via its use of dub and drum'n'bass-styled sampled rhythms... ''Sacred City'' lacks the ingenious spark of such peak Shriekback efforts as '' Oil and Gold'' and '' Big Night Music'', but their intellectual art-funk always makes for intriguing listening." ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' magazine featured it in their "Heavy Rotation" column of staff favourites, with Staci Bonner describing it as an "evocative concept album exploring the myths of cities around the world". Jim Sullivan of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' called ''Sacred City'' "a probing, atmospheric album -- not unlike some of Peter Gabriel's music" but noted that it had only sold "a modest 30,000 copies." Writing for ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'', Ken Hunt remarked on the use of "tribalistic drumming" and summarized the album as "a thematically unified collection of songs analyzing what urban life is all about." In the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' Mike Boehm observed that the album's songs "have a restrained, night-time mood, and aren't supremely catchy or readily danceable" but recommended ''Sacred City'' as "a worthwhile album to chew on."

Track listing

All tracks written by Shriekback (Dave Allen, Barry Andrews, Martyn Barker) #"Signs" – 4:18 #"Psycho Drift" – 3:54 #"The Bastard Sons of Enoch" – 5:05 #"(Open Up Your) Filthy Heart (To Me)" – 5:05 #"Exquisite Corpse" – 4:20 #"Below" – 4:35 #"Beatles Zebra Crossing?" – 4:04 #"Hymn to the Local Gods" – 4:29 #"Every Force Evolves a Form" – 5:27 #"3 A.M." – 5:05

Personnel

Shriekback * Barry Andrews – keyboards, synthesizers, vocals, co-producer * Dave Allen – bass *

– drums Additional personnel *Kat Evans – violin on "Every Force Evolves a Form" *

Lu Edmonds Robert David "Lu" Edmonds (born 9 September 1957) is an English rock and folk musician. He is currently, as of 2018, a vocalist and saz and cümbüş player in the Mekons and the guitarist for Public Image Ltd. Edmonds reportedly plays elect ...

– guitar on "Signs" *

– guitar *John Kline – guitar *Sarah Partridge – backing vocals *Wendy Partridge – backing vocals *Mark Raudva –

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

, percussion * Ian Caple – engineer, co-producer

References

{{Authority control 1992 albums Shriekback albums