The 1981 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca

 Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca

#409

By John Tommassino

September 15 1981

Cabaret Voltaire

Red Mecca

Genre: techno, new wave, art rock. 

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

John's Rating 4.5 out of 5 

Highlights:

A Touch of Evil

A Thousand Ways

Black Mask

...I'm not much of a fan of techno...I like New Wave and all of its styles but I tend to listen to basic guitar, bass, drums and music in a heavier tone. That said, Cabaret Voltaire produced a real listening gem here. A Touch of Evil is an eerie number with unnerving blisters of noise and sporadic beats. I found it both enjoyable and a little anxiety-producing at the same time. Random thoughts entered my head during my listening session...like if there were deleted scenes in the original "Planet of the Apes" film showing Charlton Heston's astronaut companions being lobotomized, stuffed and mounted and suffocating in space- this music would work and fit in seamlessly in the original soundtrack. Sly Doubt is a catchy number that would still work in any number of dance clubs if they were still open...A Thousand Ways works as the album's centerpiece, a 10 plus minute song that is just fantastic. I imagined walking into a corporate orgy or a feast to a long forgotten pantheon of deities and this music would work perfectly, it has an edge to it that must be heard. Red Mask and Black Mask seem to be distant musical cousins but both are engaging techno tracks. The ominously titled "Spreading the Virus" had me at the get-go but the track itself sounds more like Disney's Herbie the Lovebug trapped in a nihilistic demolition derby and winning the event to the dismay of the crowd. The reprise of A Touch of Evil ends the album on an epic note. Listen to this record with an open mind. It is truly unique.

https://open.spotify.com/album/4W0VBisNs7yFtQJ9XX4RCd?si=h3Q0D_hUS6KaepV8-3lmfw

The 1980 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - The Voice of America

Cabaret Voltaire - The Voice of America

#291

July 1980

Cabaret Voltaire

Voice of America

Genre: Does anyone really like Cabaret Voltaire?

2.25 out of 5

On occasion I have quoted myself in some reviews. Harkening back to reviews from my blog, Septenary, I have chosen paragraphs that I felt adequately expressed my thoughts on a particular record rather than rewrite them. This usually happens in the comments. 

This is the first time I am going to copy from a Listening Post review that won’t come up until later in the chronology but, dammit, I’m just doing it. 

Fuck it. 

"When I was in college I somehow managed to find myself in the cast of an off-off-off Broadway show called "DaDaDaDaDaDa". It was a post-modern musical about the creation of the Dadaist movement. I played Tristan Tzara. 

It was a weird show. I was proud of it. There was absolutely no good reason for me to be in it. I lost sleep, nearly failed out of school because the rehearsals knocked me out and it was highly mediocre. 
The lead actress was going through a divorce and trying to sleep with every thing she came into contact with, myself and my roommates included. 
The director and other main actress were a couple and were students with my teacher in Lawrence, Kansas. I have sporadic memories of the show. I rememeber Rusty, the comic relief and have wondered, often, what has happened to him.
I bought the Seven Dada Manifestos to better understand my character. 
I fell in love with Tristan and the movement and it's embrace of chaos and the random. 
They built their art movement at the Cabaret Voltaire in Vienna.”

But here’s the twist. This time I think Voltaire comes closer to the spirit of Dadaism than on their other records. 

It isn’t good. It’s off putting and annoying. Like the Dadaists. It doesn’t serve to offer a view of a placid world apathetic to the horrors of war, but then again, once the Dadaists got through that phase, what were they really about anyway? 

Being annoying. Exactly. 

In that respect, this is my favorite Cabaret Voltaire album. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/voice-of-america/825449188 

The 1980 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - Three Mantras

Cabaret Voltaire - Three Mantras

#201

by Daniel Irwin

May 1 1980

Cabaret Voltaire

Three Mantras

Genre: Electronic

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

Daniel’s Rating: 1.5 out of 5 

by Daniel Irwin

 Cabaret Voltaire’s “Three Mantras” is the electronic equivalent of a Grateful Dead record, qne I don’t care for the Grateful Dead. In general, I like my music to have structure. This album is sorely lacking structure. Two tracks, each clocking in at 20-odd minutes, “Western Mantra” and “Eastern Mantra”. Both tracks are a mashup of tape loops and atonal sounds that would never end if that had to stop due to running out of vinyl groove space. Where is the Third Mantra? Their idea at irony, it seems. This is not an album that begs to be heard more than once. Why did I give it a 1.5 and not a “0”? I think it deserves recognition as a signpost along the evolutionary highway of electronic music.

https://open.spotify.com/album/06KyWlg9SzNdO1D0CXgsnE?si=3BOQydLsSLqTyOss8Bxwow

The 1985 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - The Covenant, the Sword and the Lord

Cabaret Voltaire - The Covenant, the Sword and the Lord

#479/1112

November 1985

Cabaret Voltaire

The Covenant, the Sword and the Lord

Genre: Electronic

2.75 out of 5

I’m on record with my disdain for Cabaret Voltaire. As a student of Dadaism and Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball and all of that I’m pretty sure Cabaret Voltaire’s music would not have been played at the Cabaret Voltaire.

And I’ve never cared much for their output. 

This time, however, I think the club scene has finally caught up with them. Case in point: the frenetic dance floor schism of “I Want You” followed by the nihilistic disco “Hells Home”.

Musically, its more interesting than any of their previous records. It’s also much much darker. But it still leaves me cold. 

Unless you like Charles Manson, cuz they put some of him on the record in between tracks. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-covenant-the-sword-and-the-arms-of-the-lord-remastered/825389082

The 1984 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - Micro-Phonies

Cabaret Voltaire - Micro-Phonies

#348
1984 Housekeeping
Cabaret Voltaire
Micro-Phonies
2 out of 5

When I was in college I somehow managed to find myself in the cast of an off-off-off Broadway show called "DaDaDaDaDaDa". It was a post-modern musical about the creation of the Dadaist movement. I played Tristan Tzara.
It was a weird show. I was proud of it. There was absolutely no good reason for me to be in it. I lost sleep, nearly failed out of school because the rehearsals knocked me out and it was highly mediocre.
The lead actress was going through a divorce and trying to sleep with every thing she came into contact with, myself and my roommates included.
The director and other main actress were a couple and were students with my teacher in Lawrence, Kansas. I have sporadic memories of the show. I rememeber Rusty, the comic relief and have wondered, often, what has happened to him.
I bought the Seven Dada Manifestos to better understand my character.
I fell in love with Tristan and the movement and it's embrace of chaos and the random.
They built their art movement at the Cabaret Voltaire in Vienna.
If they knew that there was a post-disco New Wave trance-dance band that named itself after that club and represents absolutely nothing ground breaking, art shattering or chaotic I believe none of them would be happy or fans.
I am not a fan of Cabaret Voltaire and cringe every time their name pops up on this list.
I found this dull and uninspired. The exact opposite of Dada-ism.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/micro-phonies-remastered/825385482

The 1983 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - The Crackdown

Cabaret Voltaire - The Crackdown

#150
August 1983
Cabaret Voltaire
The Crackdown
2.5 out of 5

I have never cared for Cabaret Voltaire. Partly because I was a student and admirer of Dadaism back in the day and I was pretty sure that this kind of music wouldn’t be the kind playing at the home of the movement. I think it would be more discordant and difficult. It might be pretty sounds mashed up with the likes of post-punk or avant-rock. I think The Residents have more in common with Dadaism than this band.
Also, my son was insisting on playing a video game in the same room with me and every few minutes or so I would hear traffic noises and car horns honking and, for the life of me, I thought it was part of the record. I thought that actually made it better.