Turn the Dark Off

Turn the Dark Off
Studio album by Howie B
Released July 28, 1997[1]
Genre Electronic[1]
Length 51:05[1]
Label Polydor Records[2]
Producer Howie B[2]
Howie B chronology

Music for Babies Turn the Dark Off Snatch

Turn the Dark Off is a 1997 album by Howie B. It made #58 on the UK Albums Chart[3] and at the end of that year was voted at #47 on NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.[4]

Background

Turn the Dark Off is a less repetitive work than his first album, Music for Babies.[1] Whereas Music for Babies contained exclusively instrumentals, Turn the Dark Off contains a single vocal track, "Take Your Partner by the Hand". In an interview with Jockey Slut magazine, Howie revealed that the vocals were added upon request; after he had finished the album and had sent the CD out, Robbie Robertson rung Howie up and told him he wanted to add vocals to the song.[5] Other tracks contain assorted grunts and other non-coherent vocal noises.[6]

Prior to release, Howie had worked with U2 for their 1997 album, Pop[1] and with Björk for her third studio album, Post.[7] Howie had previously worked with U2 on their compilation album, Original Soundtracks 1.[8] To produce the album, he used, among other things, a turntable and a Nord Lead.[5]

Singles

"Angels Go Bald:Too" was released as the lead single in July 1997 and charted at #36 on the UK Singles Chart.[3] Three months later, "Switch" was released and suffered from a sophomore slump, stalling at #62.[3] In February 1998, Howie released the one vocal song from the album, "Take Your Partner by the Hand", which charted at #74.[3]

Critical reception

Critical reception was mixed. John Bush of AllMusic said that the album "fits in with the crop of late-'90s big beat maestros; though it doesn't quite outdistance the pack, the album still contains enough of Howie B's studio tweaks to make it worthwhile".[1] Electronicmusic.com concurred, suggesting that it might be "one of the coolest CD's to have in your collection this summer" and that it was "full of wonderful moments".[9] In addition, New Musical Express described it as a high Ennio Morricone-esque "warm, dripping collage of beats and buzzing melodies" that was "a pleasant change of pace from the cut-and-paste formula of other popular rock-techno acts".[4]

However, Jim DeRogatis gave the album a negative review, dismissing it as a "Whitman's Sampler of current electronic sounds", adding that "Howie would have been better off focusing his considerable talents to hone a particular sound, as he did on Music for Babies, rather than dabbling half-heartedly in a lot of them".[10] Matt Diehl was even less kind, finishing a diatribe by calling it a "techno turnoff".[11]

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Fizzy in My Mouth/Your Mouth"   4:22
2. "Hopscotch"   5:14
3. "Switch"   4:59
4. "Sore Brown Eyes"   4:15
5. "Take Your Partner by the Hand"   7:22
6. "Limbo"   4:58
7. "Angels Go Bald:Too"   5:20
8. "Who's Got the Bacon?"   4:25
9. "Baby Sweetcorn (Come Here)"   4:29
10. "Butt Meat"   5:41
Total length:
 51:05[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 John Bush (1997-07-28). "Turn the Dark Off - Howie B | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Turn the Dark Off (booklet). Howie B. Polydor Records. July 28, 1997.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "HOWIE B | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Howie B - Turn The Dark Off". Rolling Stone. 16 October 1997. p. 111.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Howie B.: Turn the Dark Off". The Band. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  6. ↑ Turn the Dark Off (booklet). Howie B. Polydor Records. 1997.
  7. ↑ Post (booklet). Björk. One Little Indian. 13 June 1995.
  8. ↑ Original Soundtracks 1 (booklet). Passengers. Island Records. 7 November 1995.
  9. ↑ "Music Review". Electronic Music. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  10. ↑ "Turn the Dark Off: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  11. ↑ Matt Diehl on Sep 26, 1997 (1997-09-26). "Turn the Dark Off Review | Music Reviews and News". EW.com. Retrieved 2014-02-27.