Cybotron's "Clear": C or D, and...

heard DJ Yoda mix this with Shakira on his new CD incidentally?

oh and i'm pretty sure its 1983, which itself seems absurd given there was nothing else that sounded like that at the time (er, apart from 'Planet Rock')...i'd have guessed 85/86 myself

'81 was the year Cybotron's first single ("Alleys of Your Mind") was released.

"Cosmic Cars" is my overall favorite.

WOW

remixes on the way as part of the juno 10th anniversay thing (which produced the faze action/carl craig thing). cobblestone jazz!

totally classic

no question

fucking pathetic. This 12" is going to be some serious bullshit.

i kind of want to hear these 2 mid-90s albums. they're terrible, right? just their very existence intrigues me.

I was just playing "Clear" the other night, and while it was spinning, I saw the words "Berkeley, California"--I thought I was hallucinating and then I realized, of course! Fantasy Records, Berkeley, that elusive Cybotron-Berkeley connection

Truly bizarre that Cybotron shared a label with Creedence Clearwater Revival, and (via the Reality imprint) Doug E. Fresh.

Sylvester too

(the plot thickens)

Wow it just hit me recently that the Dirtbombs' "Cosmic Cars" was actually a cover off of this album...I mean I should have known, but I didn't make the connection.

Yeah, the Dirtbombs definitely must be the only rock band ever to cover two Cybotron songs -- on the same album, no less.

Anyway, I have one of the '90s Cybotron albums on CD -- Empathy, from 1993 -- and while it's not on the level with the early stuff, it's sure never seemed terrible to me.

Is it sonically similar to the 80s stuff much?

Even their classic first album (Enter, from '83) had some filler--c'mon, "Industrial Lies"? The best thing I can say about "Industrial Lies" is that it was the b-side of "Clear"

nonsense - Industrial Lies is great - one of the best songs on Clear. Reminds me of Ultravox for some reason, in a good way of course

Is it sonically similar to the 80s stuff much?

If you mean in the electro/Kraut/space-rock/prog/noise/free-jazz sense, yes, absolutely...Or, at least, it sounds more Cybotron than non-Cybotron. Playing it now, and it sounds great.

Also, fwiw, there are pretentious skit and/or talked interludes about childbirth -- "Millenium Embryo (Child Of The Waters and Beyond)" and ethnic cleansing -- "Sarajevo Boogie." My favorite cut is probably "Spirit Of the Moon," which is 5:23 long and probably the most metal thing on the album. (Cybotron's most metal '80s track was "Eden," I think, from 1986. Or at least it's the one that I listed in the singles appendix in the back of my heavy metal book.)

"Eden" is pretty great. It sounds like Robert Smith over late 80s maximalist Depeche Mode.

It sounds like Robert Smith over late 80s maximalist Depeche Mode.

Ack! See, this is where I disagree. The fewer vocals the better, as far as I'm concerned. And if there are vocals, for goodness' sake, put them through a vocoder

the low whispery vocals on 'Night Drive' work imo (altho you can't really make them out half the time)

yeah, the less you can make out the vocals, the more 'mysterious' they seem, the better--neither of these guys can sing

eh it's a much different vibe than "cosmic cars" or what have you. Dystopian rage rather than soma-induced resignation

has anyone heard the ambient electronic tracks that rick "3070" composed in the late 1970s?

the only release i know is from 1978, and it's insanely rare--not on youtube either

CLEAR

TODAY

No mention of the strikingly similar 'Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)' on this thread, also released in '83 but was it recorded and/or released before 'Clear' or not?