''Red Mecca'' is the fourth studio album by English industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, released in 17 August 1981 through

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

Background

While touring the United States in November 1979, Cabaret Voltaire became strongly interested in the rise of the

Christian right The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation ...

in the country and its use of television, especially the fundraising broadcasts of

televangelist Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...

Eugene Scott. They compared this phenomenon to the parallel rise of

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

in the Middle East, devoting a side of vinyl to each strand of geopolitics on their 1980 album '' Three Mantras''.'''' ''Red Mecca'' was a culmination of this interest; the album further connects these themes to the bleak atmosphere of the deindustrialising North of England under

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

. Band member

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 ...

noted that the title was inspired by then-current events in the Middle East: "The whole Afghanistan situation was kicking off,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

had the American hostages ..it's not called 'Red Mecca''by coincidence. We weren't referencing the fucking Mecca Ballroom in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

!" According to

Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia from April to August 1904. He held office as the inaugural federal leader of the Au ...

, the band "wanted to use the word 'Mecca' in the title, and we wanted a strong word complimenting it, and came up with a colour – which happened to be Red. I mean, red is a strong colour anyway, but when they came together to make Red Mecca they took on a totally different significance." ''Red Mecca'' was recorded at Western Works in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

in May 1981.

Release

''Red Mecca'' reached No. 1 on the UK Independent Albums chart.

Critical reception

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' named ''Red Mecca'' the ninth best album of 1981. Andy Kellman of

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 ...

retrospectively praised the album, writing, "Unlike a fair portion of abaret Voltaires studio output, ''Red Mecca'' features no failed experiments or anything that could be merely cast off as 'interesting.' It's a taut, dense, horrific slab lacking a lull." '' Uncut'' cited ''Red Mecca'' as the band's "masterpiece", where they "struck the perfect balance between experimentalism and

entryism Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, infiltration, a French Turn, boring from within, or boring-from-within) is a political strategy in which an organization or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organiz ...

". ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

''s Ian Shirley called it "a seismic release" and noted "its timeless sheen, with the Cabs' use of

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

, space and

phasing A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal by creating a series of peaks and troughs in the frequency spectrum. The position of the peaks and troughs of the waveform being affected is typically modulated by an intern ...

lending depth and vibrancy to the album." In 2019, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' ranked ''Red Mecca'' as the fourth best industrial album of all time, deeming it a "paranoid, claustrophobic masterpiece".

Track listing

Personnel

; Cabaret Voltaire * Christopher R. Watson – organ, tape, production, recording, sleeve design *

– synthesizer, guitar, clarinet, horns, strings, production, recording, sleeve design *

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, bongos, production, recording, sleeve design ; Additional personnel * Nik Allday – drums *

Porky Porky may refer to: As a nickname * Frank Biscan (1920–1959), Major League Baseball pitcher * Gordon Brown (Canadian football) (born 1927), Canadian Football League retired player * Porky Chedwick, Pittsburgh radio disk jockey of the 1950s and 1 ...

– mastering *

Neville Brody Neville Stanley Brody (born 23 April 1957) is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director. He is known for his work on '' The Face'' magazine (1981–1986), ''Arena'' magazine (1987–1990), and designing record covers for artis ...

– sleeve design

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1981 albums Cabaret Voltaire (band) albums Music in Sheffield Rough Trade Records albums