Formica Blues

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Formica Blues
Studio album by Mono
Released	September 1997 February 10, 1998[1]
Recorded	Britannia Row, London; Strongroom, London[2]
Genre	Trip hop
Length	57:34
Label	Echo / Mercury
Producer(s)	Martin Virgo, Jim Abbiss
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Arcade Online link Boston Phoenix (favourable) link FFWD link Music Monitor (unfavourable) link NOW link The Varsity (favourable) link

Formica Blues was a 1997 album from the one-hit wonder UK band Mono.

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 U.S. bonus track 1.2 Japan bonus tracks 1.3 Bonus disc 2 Samples 3 Singles 3.1 "Life in Mono" (November 1996, April 1998) 3.2 "Silicone" (May 1997) 3.3 "Slimcea Girl" (October 1997) 3.4 "High Life" (1998) 4 Music videos 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] Track listing

Tracks 1, 3, 7, and 10 written by Martin Virgo; all others written by Virgo and Siobhan de Maré except 8 by Virgo, Jim Abbiss, and de Maré.

1. "Life in Mono"
2. "Silicone"
3. "Slimcea Girl"
4. "The Outsider"
5. "Disney Town"
6. "The Blind Man"
7. "High Life"
8. "Playboys"
9. "Penguin Freud"
10. "Hello Cleveland!"

[edit] U.S. bonus track

11. "Life in Mono" (Alice Band mix)

[edit] Japan bonus tracks

11. "Life in Mono" ("Hope" mix)
12. "Silicone" (Winchester Club Space dub mix)
13. "Slimcea Girl" (Fat Boy vocal)

[edit] Bonus disc

1. "Slimcea Girl" (Aloof remix)
2. "Silicone" (Les Rythmes Digitales remix)
3. "Slimcea Girl" (Fat Boy vocal)
4. "High Life" (Next Century Short dub)
5. "Silicone" (Mr. Scruff remix)
6. "Life in Mono" (Propellerheads Sweat Band mix)
7. "Slimcea Girl" (Sol Brothers London dub remix)
8. "High Life" (187 Lockdown Low Life dub)
9. "Life in Mono" (Banana Republic Urban dub)
10. "High Life" (Natural Born Chillers vocal mix)

[edit] Samples

• "Life in Mono": "The Ipcress File", written and recorded by John Barry
• "Silicone": "Walk On By", written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, recorded by Isaac Hayes;^[3] "Get Carter", written and recorded by Roy Budd
• "Slimcea Girl": "Viva Revolucion", written by Jon Carter, recorded by Artery
• "Penguin Freud": "Answered Prayers", written and recorded by David Sylvian; an interpolation of "The Pan Piper", written by Gil Evans

In addition, one analysis of the song "Hello Cleveland!" identifies a number of classical compositions being sampled: Sinfonia by Luciano Berio; Six Pieces (Op. 6) by Anton Webern; Five Pieces for Orchestra (Op. 16) by Arnold Schoenberg; and Lulu Suite by Alban Berg. (The latter three composers are considered the principal members of the Second Viennese School; Virgo cites the school, as well as the Klangfarbenmelodie approach to melody they pioneered, as among his influences.)^[2] The sources sampled are found to be most likely recordings by Riccardo Chailly for Sinfonia and Simon Rattle for the three latter works — recordings all noted as being out-of-print. In addition, piano parts opening and closing the song are noted as being "strikingly similar" to Erik Satie's Gymnopédies. ^[4]

[edit] Singles

Each single was released in 12" and CD formats, and included a number of remixes distributed across the various formats.

[edit] "Life in Mono" (November 1996, April 1998)

• Radio edit
• Alice Band mix
• Sweat Band mix
• "Hope" mix
• Bushmaster
• Instrumental
• Banana Republic Urban dub
• Banana Republic Shift Control mix
• Mr. Natural vocal mix
• LHOOQ Ingenue mix

[edit] "Silicone" (May 1997)

• Les Rythmes Digitales remix
• Mr. Scruff mix
• Winchester Club Space dub mix
• L.H.B. Implant

[edit] "Slimcea Girl" (October 1997)

• Aloof remix
• Aloof dub reprise
• The Fat Boy vocal
• The Fat Boy dub
• Sol Brothers London dub remix
• Sol Brothers London bass mix
• The Danmass remix
• Fuzzed

[edit] "High Life" (1998)

• 7" mix
• 187 Lockdown Low Life dub
• 187 Lockdown Low Life instrumental
• Remember Herbert's mix
• Lowfinger's Stereo Low Life mix
• Natural Born Chillers vocal mix
• Natural Born Chillers dub mix
• Next Century Long dub mix
• Next Century Short dub mix

[edit] Music videos

The music video for "Life in Mono" was also released in a version interspersed with clips from Great Expectations. In addition, videos for "Silicone" and "Slimcea Girl" were also produced.^[5]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter #20
2. ^ ^{a b} Molineaux, Sam (June 1998). Blue Notes: Martin Virgo Of Mono; Recording Formica Blues. Sound on Sound. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
3. ^ This is the same sample as used in the 1996 debut single by Hooverphonic (then called Hoover), "2Wicky". Flohimont, Clarisse (1998). Interviews - Mono. Alternative. Impulsion (French). Retrieved on 2006-09-21.
4. ^ Nicholson, Sara (2002), "Keep Going!: The Use of Classical Music Samples in Mono’s “Hello Cleveland!”", Echo: a music-centered journal, vol. 4, no. 1, ISSN 1535-1807
5. ^ Mono. Mvdbase.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-30.

[edit] References

• Discography. Official Mono website (Retrieved from the Internet Archive) (1998). Retrieved on 2006-11-27.