Code (album)
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''Code'' (stylized as ''C O D E'') is the eighth
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by the English
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...
band Cabaret Voltaire, released in October 1987 by
EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...
. While the album itself failed to chart, it featured two songs that charted on the UK singles chart, with "Don't Argue" peaking at No. 69, and "Here to Go" peaking at No. 88.


Content

The lyrics and title of "Don't Argue" incorporate verbatim a number of sentences from the narration of the short film '' Your Job in Germany'' (1945), directed by the Italian-American film director
Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...
. The film was aimed at American soldiers occupying Germany and strongly warned against trusting or fraternizing with German citizens.


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 ...
wrote that ''Code'' "finds Cabaret Voltaire at their loosest and most accessible", calling it "the closest thing CV ever made to a party record" and adding that it " chievesa genuine mechanistic
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
iness reminiscent of late-'70s
Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
". J. D. Considine, writing in ''
Musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...
'', contrasted ''Code'' with Kraftwerk's "elegant electronics," claiming that "Cabaret Voltaire processes sound the way a mainframe crunches numbers" before backing up to say: "
cybernetic Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...
as the Cabs' sound may be, their sensibility is surprisingly
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
." ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' wrote that ''Code'' "finds the ideal balance between accessibility and menace", calling it "perhaps the duo's most exhilirating work".


Track listing

# "Don't Argue" – 4:26 # "Sex, Money, Freaks" – 4:57 # "Thank You America" – 5:22 # "Here to Go" – 5:09 # "Trouble (Won't Stop)" – 5:07 # "White Car" – 2:44 # "No One Here" – 5:00 # "Life Slips By" – 3:26 # "Code" – 4:07 Bonus tracks on UK CD issue #
  • "Hey Hey" – 3:58 # "Here to Go (Little Dub)" – 4:10


    Personnel

    Cabaret Voltaire *
    Stephen Mallinder Stephen William Mallinder (born 1 January 1955) is an English artist and musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros., Hey, Rube!, Wrangler, and Creep Show. Biography Mallinder ...
    – vocals; bass guitar; keyboards *
    Richard H. Kirk Richard Harold Kirk (21 March 1956 – 21 September 2021) was an English composer, musician and producer. He is best known for his work in electronic music, and for co-founding the influential music group Cabaret Voltaire in 1973. As a solo art ...
    – guitars; keyboards; computer-generated instrumentation with: *
    Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician, attorney, and former astronaut who served from 2001 to 2019 as a United States Senate, United States senator from Florida and from 2021 to 2025 as the Administrator ...
    – guitars on "Don't Argue", "Here to Go", "Trouble (Won't Stop)", "White Car" and "No One Here" *
    Mark Brydon Mark Errington Brydon (born 22 December 1960) is an English bassist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, recording engineer, remixer and producer best known as a member of the group Moloko. Previous work Brydon comes from Sunderland, England, bu ...
    – bass guitar on "Sex, Money, Freaks" and "No One Here" * Simeon Lister – saxophone on "Sex, Money, Freaks" and "No One Here" *
    Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms ...
    – production, also
    remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
    ed a separately-released version of "Here to Go"


    References


    External links

    * {{DEFAULTSORT:Code (Album) 1987 albums Cabaret Voltaire (band) albums Albums produced by Adrian Sherwood EMI Records albums