The Anvil (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Anvil
Studio album by Visage
Released	March 1982
Recorded	Mayfair Studios, London, 1981
Genre	New Romantic
Length	40:33
Label	Polygram Records
Producer	Midge Ure, Visage
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Visage chronology
Visage (1980) The Anvil (1982) The Best of Visage (1983)

The Anvil is the second album from British New Romantic ensemble Visage, released in March 1982. The album reached #6 in the UK and was certified "Silver" by the British Phonographic Industry in April 1982.

Contents 1 History 2 Personnel 3 Track listing 3.1 Original release (Polydor): 28MM 0151 3.2 One Way Records release: OW 34518 3.3 Cherry Red Records release: CR POP 6 3.4 Credits: 4 Singles: UK chart positions 5 References 6 Media

[edit] History

This album sparked a brief controversy at the time of its release after being named after New York's infamous gay club.

The only musician of the first album lineup that didn't participate in this album's recordings was John McGeoch. McGeoch commented in an interview [1]: "One time I was in Spain [touring with Siouxsie and the Banshees] at the same time as Visage were recording the second album in London. Rusty wanted me to put a guitar solo on something or other but I only had one day off and there was no way that I could fly home on my one day off. Rusty is not a man to be put off by such things and he was actually trying to put together a satellite linkup from Madrid to London for this one guitar part. Not surprisingly it didn't come off but I was sorry not to have been as involved on The Anvil as I had been on the first album".

The Anvil was also the last Visage project to feature Ultravox frontman Midge Ure who left the band after its release.

The album saw a re-release on the CD format in 1997 with bonus tracks, albeit odd ones, as they are tracks from the 1980 Visage era and not that of The Anvil. For a long time, this was the only official CD version and was extremely rare, allegedly selling for hundreds of dollars over trading websites.

'The Anvil' was re-released on CD again on 17 March 2008, containing more bonus tracks and detailed liner notes.

[edit] Personnel

Visage members at the time of the album's recording were:

• Steve Strange - vocals
• Midge Ure - guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals
• Billy Currie - electric violin, synthesizer
• Rusty Egan - drums, electronic percussion, backing vocals
• Dave Formula - synthesizer

Guest musicians included:

• Barry Adamson - bass
• Gary Barnacle - saxophone
• Ken Perry - backing vocals
• Lorraine - backing vocals

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Original release (Polydor): 28MM 0151

Side A:

1. "The Damned Don't Cry" – 4:43
2. "Anvil (Night Club School)" – 4:39
3. "Move Up" – 4:25
4. "Night Train" – 4:29

Side B:

5. "The Horseman" – 4:41
6. "Look What They've Done" – 4:49
7. "Again We Love" – 4:44
8. "Wild Life" – 4:24
9. "Whispers" – 5:39

• "Anvil (Night Club School)" is known as "The Anvil" elsewhere, including various compilation albums and singles.

[edit] One Way Records release: OW 34518 "The Damned Don't Cry" – 4:43 "Anvil (Night Club School)" – 4:39 "Move Up" – 4:25 "Night Train" – 4:29 "The Horseman" – 4:41 "Look What They've Done" – 4:49 "Again We Love" – 4:44 "Wild Life" – 4:24 "Whispers" – 5:39 Bonus tracks: "We Move (Dance Mix)" – 6:28 "Frequency 7 (Dance Mix)" – 5:02

[edit] Cherry Red Records release: CR POP 6 "The Damned Don't Cry" – 4:43 "Anvil (Night Club School)" – 4:39 "Move Up" – 4:25 "Night Train" – 4:29 "The Horseman" – 4:41 "Look What They've Done" – 4:49 "Again We Love" – 4:44 "Wild Life" – 4:24 "Whispers" – 5:39 Bonus tracks: "We Move (Dance Mix)" – 6:28 "Frequency 7 (Dance Mix)" – 5:02 "The Damned Don't Cry (Dance Mix)" – 5:45 "Motivation" – 3:51 "I'm Still Searching" – 3:41 "Mind of a Toy (Dance Mix)" – 5:14

[edit] Credits:

• Tracks 1-9 and 12-14 by Strange/Ure/Currie/Egan/Formula.
• Tracks 10 and 15 by Strange/Ure/Currie/Egan/McGeoch/Formula.
• Track 11 by Strange/Ure/Currie/Egan/McGeoch/Formula/Adamson.

[edit] Singles: UK chart positions

1. "The Damned Don't Cry" – 3:55 (Jan. 1982) #11
2. "Night Train" – 4:02 (Jun. 1982) #12

[edit] References

• John McGeoch interview on ZigZag magazine, February, 1984 as reproduced in the 'Shot by Both Sides' site.

[edit] Media

This section includes music samples of B-sides composed by Visage during this album period:

Visage
Steve Strange | Midge Ure | Rusty Egan Billy Currie | Dave Formula | Barry Adamson | Steven Young | Sandrine Gouriou | Rosie Harris | Ross Tregenza
Visage discography
Studio albums and extended plays: Visage | The Anvil | Beat Boy
Compilations: The Best of Visage | Master Series | The Damned Don't Cry
Singles: Tar | Fade to Grey | Mind Of A Toy | Visage | The Damned Don't Cry | Night Train | Pleasure Boys | Love Glove | Beat Boy
Related articles
Ultravox | Magazine
This box: view • talk • edit