Back in the early 90's, barely a week went by without spying some mad raver rocking up on Top of the Pops, waving their arms in the air, possibly with a mask slapped to their face and a chemical hazard suit as attire. It was the age of rave, where some of the music was passable but most of it was awful. It the midst of this, but never really belonging to it, was 808 State. Formed in Manchester in 1988, they rose to prominence with their stand-out track ‘Pacific State', first championed by Gary Davis of all people. Their second full length LP ‘90" was a heady rush of full force drumbeats, blessed with a musicality worlds away for their gurning peers. In an age where digital techniques were still in their infancy, they carried on where bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle left off, yet with an eye more on the charts than the avant garde.

‘EX:EL' was their breakthrough album, and has been released and expanded, fully re-mastered with an extra CD of bonus tracks, mostly mixes from the period available on 12" singles. It also set the template for many bands to come, being a mixture of instrumentals and lyrical contributions from guest artistes. The Chemical Brothers through Mr Gallagher and Beth Orton make great use of vocalists in their work, but 808 State pioneered this, enlisting the efforts here of both Bjork (fresh from the Sugarcubes before embarking on her solo work) and New Order frontman Bernard Sumner. Sumner sings on ‘Spanish Heart', and given the paucity of the lyrics it seems clear he did not turn up on the day with much prepared material in his notebook. In spite of this, it is a track flecked with warm sunshine, practically reeking of Factor 15.

Bjork sings on two songs, first on ‘Qmart', a light piece of whimsy where her confusing vocal winds itself tight round the electronics. Far better is ‘Ooops', with its marvellous guitar intro laid over squishy, swirling drum patterns. However, this album is better remembered for two towering tracks - ‘Cubik' and ‘In Yer Face'. The latter is made all the better by the rather dull track that precedes, ‘Empire' ending with a repetitive, parping keyboard line before all hell breaks loose. ‘In Yer Face' opens with bang, and sounds incredible on this re-mastered version, particularly the frenzy of breakbeats that whip and hiss under the melody. And then straight into ‘Cubik', a song with all the historical value of ‘Firestarter' or ‘Setting Sun'. Its use of electric guitar at the time was daring and original, and overall it has lost none of its potency over the years.

The album does sag a little in the middle. ‘Lift' and ‘Nephatiti' sound rather ordinary, ‘Lambrusco Cowboy' containing lots of ideas without much cohesion. Thankfully, it ends on a masterstroke, the glorious rush of ‘Techno Bell'. It at first sounds simple, and you may be tempted to think that with an evening to kill and a copy of Garageband, you might be able to come up with something similar. However, you would be wrong, as intricate drum and guitar lines mutually mesh into a hypnotic cavalcade of dance.

The bonus CD brings a few items of interest; particularly the two mixes of ‘Olympic' it contains, the Euro Bass mixes bringing back happy memories of bad Friday night television. Also included is an excellent mix of Ooops and a mostly more sedate version of ‘Cubik'. Other albums have also been reissued in an extended form - ‘90', the follow-up to EX:EL ‘Gorgeous', and ‘Don Solaris' from 1997. For my money though, this is the pick of the bunch, and a landmark album in 90's dance music. Every bit as good as ‘The White Room' and ‘Exit Planet Dust', and whilst it may be showing its age, that does not diminish the strength of the music.
82%