''Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions'' is the eighth studio album by English

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

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 ...

, released in November 1990 by

Noise Records Noise Records is a German heavy metal record label founded in 1983 by German music industry personality Karl-Ulrich Walterbach as an expansion of his company Modern Music Records. It was sold to the Sanctuary Records Group in 2001 and ceased an ...

. After the commercial failure of their previous album '' Outside the Gate'' in 1988, singer

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 ...

and guitarist

Geordie Walker Kevin Walker (18 December 1958 – 26 November 2023), known professionally as Geordie Walker, was an English rock musician, songwriter and producer. He was best known as the guitarist of post-punk group Killing Joke. He joined the band in March 1 ...

were the last remaining members of the group. In December 1988, they recruited new musicians to perform a one-off concert in Porchester and premiered new songs, including early versions of "Extremities" and "The Beautiful Dead". The band didn't have any support of a record company anymore:

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

had fired them and their label

E.G. Eg or EG may refer to: In arts and media * ''E.G.'' (EP), an EP by Goodshirt * ''EG'' (magazine), a journal dedicated to chess endgame studies * Eg White (born 1966), a British musician, songwriter and producer * E.G. Records, a music record ...

sued them. Coleman stated that it was a very stressful period of time for him and Walker. The new material was more intense, the band performed it live during a US tour in 1989. ''Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions'' was recorded in 1990 for a German independent label: bassist Paul Raven was called back before entering into the studio. Drummer

Martin Atkins Martin Clive Atkins (born 3 August 1959) is an English drummer, best known for his work in post-punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, and Killing Joke. He also works as a consultant, has ...

, formerly of

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

and Ministry, had joined the band in 1988 and co-composed the songs with Coleman and Walker. " Money Is Not Our God" was the leading single of the album. The new line-up toured extensively to support the album in 1991.

Content

Musical style

''Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions'' saw a return to prominent guitars after the synthesised sound on previous album '' Outside the Gate''. ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' wrote, "Perhaps inspired by all the new industrial bands aping their early style, Killing Joke reformed for a tour, demonstrating new resolve to recapture the old formula", describing it as having "all the intoxicating intensity and righteous fury missing from ''Outside the Gate'' mated to a timelier Ministry-like feel." It was recorded shortly after Jaz Coleman's Arabic-influenced album with

The Art of Noise Art of Noise (also the Art of Noise) were a British avant-garde synth-rock group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and mus ...

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genre ...

, ''

Songs from the Victorious City ''Songs from the Victorious City'' is an album in the world music genre written by Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman, recorded in 1990 in Cairo and London. It takes its name from Cairo itself, in Arabic القاهرة (pronounced: al-Qahirah), litera ...

''. The chorus riff from "Intravenous" would be reprised in 2006's "Majestic" and 2012's "Glitch".

Artwork

The eyes on the cover of the album belong to actor

Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt ( , ; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German and British actor. He attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man ...

, as featured in the 1920 German film ''

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' () is a 1920 German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. The quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypno ...

''.. The top pair is original, the other three are upside down, and the cover for the cassette version shows all four pairs original. The back of the CD bears two

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

phrases: the first, "hoc volo, sic iubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas", means: "I wish it, I command it. Let my will take the place of a reason", and was quoted from Roman poet

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...

; the second, "semper imitatum nunquam idem", means: "always imitated, never replicated".

Release

''Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions'' was released in November 1990 by the German label

. It was re-released on 15 October 2007 by

Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in London, founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bass guitarist Lee Barrett in 1993. The record label originally specialized in black metal, but quickly expanded to various other forms of hea ...

in three editions: double LP, normal CD and a Deluxe Edition with a CD and a

dual disc The DualDisc is a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including MJJ Productions Inc., EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group ...

. " Money Is Not Our God" was the only single released from the album, and failed to chart. The double LP edition features the track "Age of Greed (Live)" as a bonus, whereas both CD reissues also feature four tracks from a very rare 1989 cassette demo. One of these tracks, "Jubilation", is actually an early version of "The Beautiful Dead" and had been released previously on a

flexi disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

. Of the other tracks, only "The Fanatic" was known, having been performed live at several concerts in 1989. The Deluxe Edition featured all bonus tracks on a separate

, with the DVD side containing the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Money Is Not Our God".

Reception

In his retrospective review, Ned Raggett 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 ...

wrote that the album " ecapturesthe sprawling spirit of the early days" of the band.

Track listing

; Cassette version

Personnel

; Killing Joke *

- vocals, keyboards,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

Kevin "Geordie" Walker Kevin Walker (18 December 1958 – 26 November 2023), known professionally as Geordie Walker, was an English rock musician, songwriter and producer. He was best known as the guitarist of post-punk group Killing Joke. He joined the band in March 1 ...

- guitar, production * Paul Raven - bass guitar (tracks 1–11), production * Dave "Taif" Ball - bass guitar (tracks 12–16), production *

- drums, vocals, production ; Additional personnel * John Bechdel - programming, sampler (tracks 1–11) * Dave Kovacevic - synthesizer (track 16) ; Technical * Martin Rex (as J.M. Rex) - production,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing * Michael Butterworth - engineering assistance * Dominic Robson - engineering assistance * Shawn Cymbalisty - engineering assistance (Marcus Studios) * Geoff Pryce - technical engineer (Marcus Studios) * Malcolm Haywood - photography * Birgit Nielsen - artwork * Henni Hell - artwork * Paul Raven - art direction

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions 1990 albums Killing Joke albums Industrial rock albums Post-punk albums by English artists Candlelight Records albums