''As Is'' is an EP by industrial / EBM group

Nitzer Ebb Nitzer Ebb () are an English electronic body music, EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Bon Harris, Vaughan "Bon" Harris (programming, synthesizers, drums, vocals), Douglas McCarthy (vocals), and David Gooday (drums). The band were ...

, released prior to their fourth album ''

Ebbhead ''Ebbhead'' is the fourth studio album by British EBM group Nitzer Ebb. Co-produced by Depeche Mode's Alan Wilder in collaboration with Flood, it was released by Mute Records on . The album features a continuation of their industrial sound wit ...

'' on LP, CD, and cassette by

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (music producer), Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure (duo), Erasure, Einstürze ...

(as MUTE122) in the United Kingdom and Geffen/

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

(GEF-21658) in the United States. It features four tracks, each mixed by a different artist / producer.

Background

The first track, "Family Man" is the only one to feature on ''Ebbhead'' and appears here in a different form to that on the album. It was mixed by

Jaz Coleman Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman (born 26 February 1960) is an English singer and musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the lead vocalist and keyboardist of post-punk group Killing Joke. In addition, Coleman has composed orchestral and sound ...

, vocalist and frontman of English post-punk band

Killing Joke Killing Joke were an English rock music, rock band formed in Notting Hill, London, in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Killing Joke ...

. The second track, "Lovesick" was mixed by

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

, who produced the band's second and third albums, ''

Belief A belief is a subjective Attitude (psychology), attitude that something is truth, true or a State of affairs (philosophy), state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some Life stance, stance, take, or opinion ...

'' and '' Showtime'' as well as the previously mentioned ''Ebbhead''. The third track, "Come Alive" was mixed by Alan Wilder of

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

, who would eventually be drafted in to co-produce ''Ebbhead''. The last track, "Higher" was mixed by Barry Adamson and PK (also known as Paul Kendall). Barry Adamson was the bassist for

Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is an English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, an early post-punk band. After Magazine, he went ...

Magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

and

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are a Rock music, rock band formed in Melbourne in 1983 by lead vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and German guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throug ...

while PK is an engineer/producer who has worked mainly for Mute Records on various Depeche Mode and Flood projects.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave ''As Is'' a positive review, lauded the EP's cohesion despite the different producers, and concluded: "''As Is'' sees Nitzer Ebb at the height of their abilities."

Track listing

All tracks by

#"Family Man" – 3:56 #"Lovesick" – 4:00 #"Come Alive" – 6:12 #"Higher" – 5:50

Personnel

* Bon Harris – programming *Douglas McCarthy –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Julian Beeston Julian Beeston is an English musician, mainly noted for his time in the electronic groups Nitzer Ebb and Cubanate. History Julian Beeston was a member of the industrial band Nitzer Ebb from 1989 to 1992. From 1993 to 2003 he was a member ...

– additional

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

References

{{Authority control 1991 EPs Nitzer Ebb albums