The Age of Consent

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[[Image:: This article is about the Bronski Beat album. For the legal concept regarding sexual activity, see Age of consent. For other uses, see Age of consent (disambiguation).

Professional reviews
The Age of Consent

Studio album by Bronski Beat
Released	1984
Genre	Synth Pop
Length	61:23
Label	London Records
Producer(s)	Mike Thorne
All Music Guide: link
Bronski Beat chronology
	The Age of Consent (1984)	100's & 1000's

The Age of Consent is a synthpop album by Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville, Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski, released at the end of 1984 (see 1984 in music) on London Records. The album was produced by Mike Thorne. Recorded in London and New York City.

The single "Smalltown Boy", recorded in "The Garden" studio London, owned by former Ultravox singer Jon Foxx, and mixed at "Maison Rouge" studio London, was released in June 1984, peaked at number 3 in the UK singles pop charts and is a poetically poignant, soul searching composition addressing homophobia, loneliness and family misunderstanding. Accompanied by a video of Jimmy Somerville with fellow band member friends Larry Steinback and Steve Bronski "gay cruising" at a public swimming pool and changing room, attacked and beaten up by a gang of homophobes, returned to his family by the police, leaving home alone and a reunion with friends, Larry and Steve, travelling to a new life on a train.

The band had the telephone number of the London Gay Switchboard (telephone support and information for gays and lesbians in central London) etched into the 12" vinyl version "inner groove".

Additional congas by John Folarin.

Sleeve cover art by Gill Whisson.

The follow-up single "Why?", recorded at "RPM Studios" NYC and mixed at "Townhouse Studio" London, pursued a more energetic musical formula, while the lyrics focussed more centrally and darkly on anti-gay prejudice. Opening with and featuring a questioning vocal from Jimmy and the shattering of breaking glass, in an emulation of the character "Oscar" from the book and movie "The Tin Drum", written by award winning novelist "Gunther Grasse", where, in protest to get his own way, screams in an extremely high pitch, resulting in the smashing of any glass objects in the vicinity. It made the Top 5 in the UK.

The promotional video begins Larry and Steve buying artificial bombs and a small statue of the Michelangelo "David" in a crazy supermarket. At checkout, because they are openly gay, the assistant telephones the "management" for a yes or no to whether they can pay for the items. They are refused. Meanwhile, Jimmy is singing behind a counter of sausages and salamis and, seeing the dilemma in progress, starts complaining to the checkout girl. All three are arrested by "the thought police" and made to appear for trial before a puppet court and senile judge (Jimmys father in Smalltown Boy") and are sent to a workhouse. From the workplace Jimmy rises up into the air and confronts "God". The workers revolt, and strip "the thought police" of authority and clothing. The band members are placed on pedastals, before "God" transforms all three of them into statues of salt for their alleged "sins".

Ironically, "the thought police" actors who arrest the trio are the swimmer / homophobic gang-leader from the "Smalltown Boy" video and "Martin", a friend of the band whose situation in a gay relationship with a younger man actually inspired the lyrical content of the song.

The video extras were mostly friends of the band, and demonstrated a strike during the video shoot, due to the excess labour endured by them in the production.

"Smalltown Boy"and "Why" videos were directed by Bernard Rose who also directed "Frankie Goes To Hollywood" videos "Relax" and "Two Tribes".

The song is dedicated to the memory of Drew Griffiths, playwright, tragically murdered in !984, for no reason other than being openly gay.

Sleeve cover art by Robert McAuley.

The third single "It Ain't Necessarily So", the George and Ira Gershwin/ DuBose Heyward classic (from the opera Porgy and Bess) which questions the authenticity of Biblical tales, reaching the UK Top 20. Recorded at "The Garden" studio London and "Skyline Studios" NYC. Featuring Arno Hecht from "The Uptown Horns" on clarinet solo and the openly gay male choir from London,"The Pink Singers".

The promotional video featured Jimmy and Larry as inmates in a "borstal" ( UK prison custody for young men) with Jimmy and "Martin" ("thought police" actor from "Why") having a Christmas pie eating competition which takes place during the Christmas religious service, which Jimmy, of course, wins. Steve plays a closeted prison warden who has a "keen eye" for one of the other prisoners.

The cover sleeve art was a parody of "The Wizard Of Oz" with Dorothy having the head of the "devil".

A further single (early mash-up) was released of "I Feel Love / Johnny Remember Me / Love To Love You Baby", a re-recording of the same song on the album and featuring former "Soft Cell" singer Marc Almond sharing vocals with Jimmy Sommerville, and reached UK top 5. Choir by "The Pink Singers" and cellos by Beverly Lauridsen, Jesse Levy, Mark Shuman.

Sleeve cover art by Gill Whisson.

The song "Heatwave" features the tap dancing rhythms of Caroline O'Connor.

The album ranked #12 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1985" [CMJ (1/5/04, p.16)].

The inner sleeve of the album contains the different international ages of consent for males to engage in gay sex, but this was removed from the United States release of the album by MCA Records after sales and radio play were reportedly lower than anticipated because of this little known information.

1 Track listing
2 Singles
3 Personnel and credits
4 Sources
5 Contact

[edit] Track listing

"Why?" – 4:04
"It Ain't Necessarily So" – 4:43
"Screaming" – 4:15
"No More War" – 3:55
"Love And Money" – 5:07
"Smalltown Boy" – 5:02
"Heatwave" – 2:40
"Junk" – 4:17
"Need A Man Blues" – 4:20
"I Feel Love / Johnny Remember Me" – 5:59

Added to the CD release:

"Smalltown Boy" (Full 12" Version) 9:04
"Why?" (Full 12" Version) 7:46

All tracks written by Somerville / Steinbachek / Bronski except "It Ain't Necessarily So" written by George & Ira Gershwin / DuBose Heyward, and "I Feel Love / Johnny Remember Me" written by Moroder / Belotte / Summer / Goddard.

[edit] Singles

"Smalltown Boy", June, 1984, UK chart number 3
"Why?", September, 1984, UK chart number 5
"It Ain't Necessarily So", December, 1984, UK chart number 16

[edit] Personnel and credits

Music - Bronski Beat
Vocals & words - Jimmy Somerville
Keyboards & percussion - Steve Bronski & Larry Steinbachek
Cellos - Beverly Lauridsen, Jesse Levy, Mark Shuman
Choir - The Pink Singers
Congas - John Folarin
Horns - Uptown Horns (Cris Cioe (alto sax & solo, "Love And Money"), Arno Hecht (tenor sax & clarinet solo,"It Ain't Necessarily So"), Hollywood Paul (trumpet) & Bob Funk (trombone))
Tap Dance - Caroline O'Connor
Recording engineers: Peter Griffiths (London), Carl Beatty (NYC) & Dominick Maita (NYC)
Mixing engineers - Harvey Goldberg & Julian Mendelsohn ("Why?")
Recorded at The Garden (London), Skyline (NYC) & RPM (NYC)
Mixed at Maison Rouge, The Town House & Right Track Recording
Mastered by Jack Skinner (Sterling Sound, NYC) & Aaron Chackraverty (The Master Room, London)
Producer - Mike Thorne