Popdose - Latest Comments in White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Kapitano — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:33:17 -0000

It was this song that made me want to make music. Just hearing it once, sometime in 1985. The sheer audacity of it - rhythm from a starter motor, "verses" that literally went dum-dum-dum, the meandering structure...the idea that you could make a 'song' from whatever sounds were lying around.

As Anne Dudley once said in interview about hearing the Fairlight for the first time, "Pressing that one key, it was as though the whole world got a bit bigger".

But like they said on their "Debusy" album, "An attempt to create beauty is always regarded by some people as a personal attack".

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Data — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:47:09 -0000

Oops, meant *Gary* Langan in that last comment!

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Data — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:46:05 -0000

Maybe depends on who you ask, but I've heard that this was much more the work of J. J. Jeczalik and Greg Langan, than it was Trevor Horn. Everybody tends to assume that it was mostly a Horn project, because it was ZTT, and has *that* sound -- but that's no surprise, as Langan was Horn's engineer!

Jeczalik retired from the biz in the late nineties or so. Certainly some bad blood too, though; Jeczalik and Langan at one time considered that AON had been kind of stolen from them.

I'm pretty sure that Jeczalik is in the Close To The Edit video -- I think he's the guy in the white glasses.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

kingofgrief — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:25:40 -0000

I didn't have the last three! By coincidence, I was browsing a candy store on my lunch break today and heard this song on their satellite radio...sandwiched in between "What You Need" and "Pictures of You". The station was First Wave, natch.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Ted — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:26:24 -0000

These are great! I have the first two versions, but not the other ones. So, thanks for rounding out my collection, David.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

DavidMedsker — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:46:42 -0000

Yeah, that blue cover version was hands down the better comp. Not sure what happened there, unless ZTT decided not to allow them to use the songs from that first album.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

eddie_w — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:50:37 -0000

Always liked both this song and "Beat Box" (and "Leave It" too, by the way).

I had to go on a hunt years ago for a CD version (to replace my old cassette) of the "blue cover" Best of album because it was out of print and the in-print one (with a pink cover) didn't include "Close (to the Edit)" like the blue cover one did. Never understood that.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Christina Viering — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:21:12 -0000

Cool!

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Christina Viering — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:57:43 -0000

Interesting.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Simon Blackadder — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:05:52 -0000

Brilliant! Thanks for posting this. You echo much of what I thought when I began listening to them in '83! No one else seemed to "get" them but the breakdancers (of which I was definitely not one!).

Thanks again,
s!

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

DavidMedsker — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:46:34 -0000

Forgot to mention, the "dum" vocal that they sample here is apparently from "Leave It."

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

DavidMedsker — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:45:46 -0000

Yep, that's exactly what the title is referencing.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

MatthewF — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:17:10 -0000

I always thought that the first Art of Noise record was mostly samples from the Yes album he did.

Re: White Label Wednesday: Art of Noise, “Close (to the Edit)”

Malchus — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:52:06 -0000

I never knew that Alan White's drums were the backbone to this song! It makes sense since Horn had been a member of Yes and he co-produced "90125". I now wonder if the title of this song isn't giving a slight nod to the epic Yes number, "Close to the Edge."