List | E | Elegant Machinery | 'Degraded Faces' CD 1991

Track:	Name:	Time:
1.	Safety In Mind LP Version	4:00
2.	Strange Behaviour	4:09
3.	A Decade Of Thoughts	4:12
4.	State Of The Nation	4:16
5.	Process	4:51
6.	Approaching Forces	4:40
7.	Degraded Faces	3:45
8.	Black Town	4:17
9.	Things I'm Saying	5:08
10.	A Little Sacrifice 7" Version	3:36
	Total	42:54

Comments:

This is the debut album from this Swedish synth pop band, which I first discovered on the cover album I Sometimes Wish I Was Famous, where they covered the Depeche Mode song My Secret Garden. As their name might suggest, they're somewhat influenced by early 80:s synth pop band Data, but they're by no means plagiarising; it sounds a bit more like Real Life at times.

Since this is their first album (and on a small label too), it's a bit rough in production and the songs are rather varied. Some, like tracks 7, 9 & 10, really appeal to me, whereas others, like 1, 3 & 4, are a bit too naive and cheesy. Most of the music is rather catchy and synthetic - no sampled guitars or saxophones here, but more of a modernised retro-synth feel, which was quite unfashionable at the time when pre-sampled real instruments was the big thing.

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