Brighter Than a Thousand Suns (album)

Brighter Than a Thousand Suns was released in November 1986 by record label E.G. It was released on vinyl, cassette and CD, with the CD and cassette versions containing three bonus tracks. It reached number 54 in the UK Albums Chart.^[1]

The album was remastered and reissued in 2007 with Chris Kimsey's mixes in place of Julian Mendelsohn's, which appeared on the original release. The reissue also features extra bonus tracks, including "Ecstasy", a rare B-side from one version of the single "Adorations". The verse riff from "Ecstasy" was reused two years later on the track "Obsession" from Killing Joke's next album Outside the Gate.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
PopMatters	6/10^[3]
Sounds	3/5^[4]

Brighter Than a Thousand Suns has received a generally less-than-favourable response from critics.

In his retrospective review, Ned Raggett of AllMusic wrote "The unexpected success of Night Time and new commercial pressures clearly came to bear – Chris Kimsey's production, effective on that earlier album, here combined with Julian Mendelsohn's mixing to result in too often blanded-out album rock throwaways, perfect for blasting on highways and little else."^[2] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wrote "Without question, 1986's Brighter Than a Thousand Suns marked a sharp decline in quality, many viewing it as a complete betrayal of Killing Joke's signature sound, but more than 20 years later, it's surprising how well parts of the album hold up."^[3]

Track listing

Original vinyl version

All tracks written by Killing Joke (Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, Paul Raven and Paul Ferguson).

Side A
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Adorations"	4:39
2.	"Sanity"	4:44
3.	"Chessboards"	5:47
4.	"Twilight of the Mortal"	4:12

Side B
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Love of the Masses"	4:54
2.	"A Southern Sky"	4:25
3.	"Wintergardens"	5:24
4.	"Rubicon"	7:06

Original cassette version

Side A
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Adorations"
2.	"Sanity"
3.	"Chessboards"
4.	"Goodbye to the Village"
5.	"Wintergardens"
6.	"Twilight of the Mortal"

Side B
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Love of the Masses"
2.	"A Southern Sky"
3.	"Victory"
4.	"Exile"
5.	"Rubicon"

Original CD version

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Adorations"	4:42
2.	"Sanity"	4:45
3.	"Chessboards"	5:51
4.	"Twilight of the Mortal"	4:15
5.	"Love of the Masses"	4:40
6.	"A Southern Sky"	4:39
7.	"Victory"	7:11
8.	"Wintergardens"	5:24
9.	"Rubicon"	7:03
10.	"Goodbye to the Village"	5:26
11.	"Exile"	6:38

2007 reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
12.	"Ecstasy"	4:10
13.	"Adorations (Supernatural Mix)"	6:39
14.	"Sanity (Insane Mix)"	6:15

Personnel

Killing Joke

Jaz Coleman – vocals, synthesizer
Kevin "Geordie" Walker – guitar
Paul Raven – bass guitar
Paul Ferguson – drums, vocals

Additional personnel

Dave Kovacevic – synthesizer

Technical

Chris Kimsey – production, mixing
Thomas Stiehler – engineering
Chris Tsangarides – production on "A Southern Sky"
Bob Kraushaar – mixing on "A Southern Sky"
Stewart Levine – production on "Victory"
Glen Skinner – engineering on "Victory"
Julian Mendelsohn – remixing (original release only)

Charts

Chart (1986)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart	54^[1]
U.S. Billboard 200	194^[5]

References

1 2 "Killing Joke | Artist | Official Charts". Official Charts. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
1 2 Raggett, Ned. "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns – Killing Joke | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
1 2 Begrand, Adrien (30 April 2008). "Fun & Games: Killing Joke in the Mid-'80s | PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
↑ Cook, Richard (15 November 1986). "Killing Joke: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (EG)***". Sounds. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
↑ "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns – Killing Joke | Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 February 2015.

External links

Brighter Than a Thousand Suns at Discogs (list of releases)

Killing Joke
Jaz Coleman Kevin "Geordie" Walker Martin "Youth" Glover Paul Ferguson Paul Raven Dave Kovacevic Martin Atkins Dave "Taif" Ball John Bechdel Nick Holywell-Walker Geoff Dugmore Troy Gregory Dave Grohl Ted Parsons Ben Calvert Reza Udhin
Studio albums	Killing Joke What's THIS For...! Revelations Fire Dances Night Time Brighter Than a Thousand Suns Outside the Gate Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions Pandemonium Democracy Killing Joke Hosannas from the Basements of Hell Absolute Dissent MMXII Pylon
EPs	Turn to Red Almost Red Birds of a Feather
Live albums	Ha BBC in Concert The Courtauld Talks ...No Way Out but Forward Go (Love Like Blood) The Peel Sessions 1979–1981 Requiem
Compilation albums	Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!
Singles	"Nervous System" "Wardance" "Change" "Requiem" "Follow the Leaders" "Empire Song" "Chop-Chop" "Birds of a Feather" "Let's All Go (To the Fire Dances)" "Me or You?" "Eighties" "A New Day" "Love Like Blood" "Kings and Queens" "Adorations" "Sanity" "America" "My Love of This Land" "Money Is Not Our God" "Change: Spiral Tribe Mix" "Exorcism" "Pandemonium"
Related articles	Discography Pigface Murder, Inc. The Damage Manual Transmission
Book:Killing Joke Category:Killing Joke

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