Front 242-official Version

Post Punk Albums - No.10. Front 242-Official Version. Now I am probably blurring the lines beteween post punk and electronic music here. But sometimes a album is realeased that sort of changes the landscape of the genre. Now with Front 242’s 1986 album ‘Offical Version’ it sort of crept under the radar. It probably recieved more exposure abroad before it became ntoiced in the uk. Front 242 formed in 1980/81 and initially the sound was very minimal and sparse, which was typitifed on their album 'Geography’. Albums followed like ’ No comment’. But with the advent of Richard 23 joining the sound became more reliant of drum machines and live drumming. This meant their music went from being less about the senses and more about the dance element of their sound. Front 242 were also gaining exsposure in the Uk through John peel and recieving an increased press coverage. In some ways the album that followed this was probably better produced but it was more reliant on drum machines. What I like about this album is that the drum machines are there but Richard 23’s drumming just drives almost all the tracks along. Also worth noting you normally have to adjust the EQ levels to appreciate the record. Tracks like 'Rerun time’, 'Masterhit’ mean the albums goes from danceable to laid back and then the beat picks up again where it left off. This album was getting Front 242 noticed and they toured with Depeche Mode in the same year, they would release some really good singles after this album. But the albums became more experimental and they never returned to the heights of this album.