''The Crackdown'' is the fifth studio album by English

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

band Cabaret Voltaire, released in August 1983 jointly through record labels

Some Bizzare Some Bizzare Records was a British independent record label owned by Stevo Pearce. The label was founded in 1981, with the release of '' Some Bizzare Album'', a compilation of unsigned bands including Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, the The, Neu Elec ...

and

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. It was produced by the band themselves and

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( 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 an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

Background and recording

''The Crackdown'' was Cabaret Voltaire's first full studio album following founding member

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, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lea ...

's departure, and their first release for

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...

via

. This album marks a turning point in the band's discography, straddling their early experimental work with their later more conventional electronic dance-funk output. It was recorded and mixed at Trident Studios, London, England in late 1982.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

wrote that the album "features the band working a number of menacing

textures into a basic dance/ funk rhythm".

Reception

described ''The Crackdown'' as "one of Cabaret Voltaire's strongest albums" and "one of their most distinctive, challenging records." It was ranked at number 11 in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'''s "Albums of the Year" list for 1983. Trouser Press, meanwhile, was less enthusiastic, accusing the album of being "rather staid-sounding" while clarifying that their indifference "shouldn't be taken as a blanket panning."

Track listing

: Note: Some discographies and CD releases of the album swap the titles of the last two tracks of the ''Doublevision'' EP.

Release

The original LP came with a bonus 12" of four tracks, comprising the EP ''Doublevision''.

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, trumpet, grand piano *

Richard H. Kirk Richard Harold Kirk (21 March 1956 – 21 September 2021) was an English musician who specialised in electronic music. His career began as a co-founder of the influential industrial music band Cabaret Voltaire, formed in 1973. He subsequentl ...

– synthesiser, guitar, clarinet, saxophone, &

shakuhachi A is a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

(Japanese bamboo flute), grand piano *Alan Fish – drums, percussion

Additional Personnel

* David Ball - keyboards and drum programming

Production

*Executive Producer: Stevo Pearce (for Some Bizzare) *Arranged by Cabaret Voltaire *Produced by

and Cabaret Voltaire *Engineered and mixed by Flood *Tape Operation on "Animation" and "Crackdown" by David Ball *Single remix by John Luongo *Mastered by

George Peckham George "Porky" Peckham (born 1942, Blackburn, Lancashire) is an English record engineer, widely recognised as among the most accomplished in the business. He has been responsible for producing the master discs from which many vinyl records have ...

*Sleeve Typography by Ken Prust and

Neville Brody Neville 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 artists such ...

*Sleeve Illustration by Phil Barnes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crackdown, The 1983 albums Cabaret Voltaire (band) albums Albums produced by Flood (producer) Electro-industrial albums Electronic body music albums Some Bizzare Records albums Albums recorded at Trident Studios