Bloodline (Recoil album)

Bloodline
Studio album by Recoil
Released April 14, 1992
Recorded Jan - Mar 1991, Konk Studios, London (Mixed Oct - Dec 1991)
Genre Electronica
Length 50:38
Label Mute Records
STUMM 94

Sire/Reprise/Warner Bros. Records
26850
Producer Alan Wilder
Recoil chronology

Hydrology
(1988)		 Bloodline
(1992)		 Unsound Methods
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
CDNOW [2]

Bloodline is the second Recoil studio album, released April 14, 1992. It was recorded at Konk Studio, in London, during sessions that lasted from January to March 1991, being mixed late that same year. The album was produced by Alan Wilder, engineered by Steve Lyon, and assisted by Dave Eringa.

Bloodline was Alan Wilder's third Recoil release.

After completing Depeche Mode's most successful album, Violator, and subsequent World Violation Tour (with Nitzer Ebb as the support act), Wilder co-produced Nitzer's 1991 album Ebbhead. This cemented both a good personal and working relationship with Nitzer lead singer Douglas McCarthy.[3] After completing the Nitzer Ebb album, Wilder went to work on his solo project, and McCarthy returned the favor by performing on the Recoil album.

Wilder recruited guest vocalists for the first time: Moby, Toni Halliday (from the band Curve), and Douglas McCarthy, helping produce a significant move forward. It also marked the first Recoil single, a cover of the Alex Harvey song "Faith Healer".[4]

The album is also notable for the track "Electro Blues for Bukka White", which introduced the idea of taking very old recordings and setting them in a new electronic setting. Moby, who contributed vocals for the song "Curse" under the name R.Hall, arguably used this inspiration for his breakthrough 1999 album, Play, for which he used several old field recordings by Alan Lomax, much as Wilder had used a 1937 recording of White's "Shake 'Em on Down".

Track listing

All music written by Alan Wilder except Faith Healer (Alex Harvey and Hugh McKenna)

  1. "Faith Healer" (Vocals: Douglas McCarthy)
  2. "Electro Blues for Bukka White" (Words: Bukka White)
  3. "The Defector" (instrumental)
  4. "Edge To Life" (Words: Toni Halliday)
  5. "Curse" (Words: R. Hall)
  6. "Bloodline" (Words: Toni Halliday)
  7. "Freeze" (instrumental)

Single

"Faith Healer"

7" (MUTE 110) (UK)

  1. "Faith Healer (LP Version)" – Mixed by Wilder and Lyon
  2. "Faith Healer (Healed Mix)" – Remixed by LFO

12" and CD (12 MUTE 110 / CD MUTE 110) (UK)

  1. "Faith Healer (LP Version)" – Mixed by Wilder and Lyon
  2. "Faith Healer (Trance Mix)" – Mixed by Wilder and Lyon
  3. "Faith Healer (Conspiracy Theory)" – Remixed by Daniel Miller and Philipp Erb, Engineered by Mike Bigwood
  4. "Faith Healer (Disbeliever Mix)" – Remixed by LFO
  5. "Faith Healer (Deformity)" – Mixed by Wilder and Lyon
  6. "Faith Healer (Barracuda Mix)" – Additional production and mix by Moby (Listed as Richard Hall)
  7. "Faith Healer (Conspiracy (Double Bullet) Theory)" – Remixed by Miller and Erb, Engineered by Bigwood

Credits and personnel

  • Alan Wilder – Production, Instruments
  • Douglas McCarthy – Lead vocals on "Faith Healer"
  • Toni Halliday – Lead vocals on "Edge To Life" and "Bloodline"
  • Moby – Rap on "Curse"
  • Bukka White – Vocals taken from the track "Shake 'Em On Down" and used for "Electro-Blues For Bukka White"
  • Jimmy Hughes – Bass Guitar on "Edge To Life"
  • Steve Lyon – Engineering
  • Dave Eringa – Engineering assistant
  • Martin Atkins, T + CP Associates – Sleeve photography and design

Trivia

  • At the end of "Electro-Blues for Bukka White", there's a piano sample from David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane".
  • Diamanda Galás appears on the album, reciting The Lord's Prayer between two of the tracks.
  • Samples of Anthony Hopkins' voice from The Silence of the Lambs are used throughout "The Defector".
  • In "Edge to Life", the end of Ippolita's monologue from Depeche Mode's Strange can be heard twice at the end.
  • "The Defector" is Alan's tribute to one of his favorite bands, Kraftwerk.

Notes

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ CDNOW review
  3. ↑ From Recoil's official website: Shunt
  4. ↑ From Recoil's official website: Shunt