Getting Away With It: The ELECTRONIC Poll

he has indeed

This album would have been perfect had it included "Disappointed."

wait, johnny marr lives in Portland now?

Curses, I voted for the wrong one - turns out it was 'Try All You Want' that rocked teenage me's world. I've got the album on just now and am pleased with it, though it's not really how I remembered it. I like the PSBesque eurodisco(?) beat everywhere and there's a slight demoish quality to it - if it was a bit lusher it would sound quite now, actually. Barney sounds good and there are just enough nice surprises, unexpected instruments and melody changes and so on, to keep it interesting (presumably a benefit of having Marr on board)

Really the only songs on here I wouldn't feel bad about not voting for are "Idiot Country" and "Soviet".

If you want to go/I just can't say no.

One of the few albums by anyone that I thoroughly enjoy all the way through.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprised by the third-place finish for "Gangster."

re-poll with the actual album tracklist

"Idiot Wind" is the opening track, isn't it?

Bucks the New Order trend...

"Idiot Country" even...

lol this album is pretty boring and the one thoroughly good track didn't win

re-poll with the actual album tracklist

Yes, that'd be nice. Mind, didn't fucking Blue Monday distort the PCL poll in a similar way, or something?

This was how it was released in the U.S., and we all know America rooles.

Hmph. I'd have no problem with that if it was an American album ... but really, I think Manchester rules should apply ;)

Mind, that's true of most things in life.

I'm Not the Kind That Needs to Tell You Just What I Want to Do: New Order, "Power, Corruption and Lies" Poll

Not greatly, no. (xpost)

Distortion is in the eye of the beholder ...

Didn't we do this before? I don't remember for sure, but I thought I remembered voting for "Soviet". If I'd have seen this one I'd have voted for "Soviet" again, ahead of "Idiot Country" (which also placed low here b/c of the "rap" I assume?), b/c "Soviet" remains a mix tape staple of mine. This album was such a gateway album for me to bands I ended up loving a ton, and for that alone I still rate it very highly.

I rate this album highly because it's fucking awesome.

prob. top 20 for me all time

i like Disappointed more than anything on this

It is one of the great "lost" tracks.

'Idiot Country' is by no means the runt on here, it's got terrific guitar.

Yep: this is just a fantastic album all the way through. And yeh, it sounds of its time ... but that was a time I loved musically, so hey.

"I don't know if we could get lost in a city this size if we wanted to."

This song is so great. What a title! And for a four minute song it's concise, with several different sections that don't repeat (note esp. the guitar part at just over two minutes in, & the closing part).

For such a simple chordal structure it's got so many unexpected production touches: chimes, choral synths, the flamenco guitar, and – the icing – that oboe part.

Album is ultramegaclassic.

It's been weird and reassuring to realize that I wasn't the only person who thought "Some Distant Memory" was classic.

It's a total classic! People who don't like that song don't really like this album IMO.

um, I don't really like this album.

I got it on day one, and went : "mmmmmmmm....."

(The singles, particularly the "Feel every beat" remixes, oh yes!)

It's so easy –
why won't you leave this?
Just because I've grown afraid of you
I wish we were at the beginning
It would be so good to be with you

If we were redoing the poll I'd vote for "Some Distant Memory". I could stand to hear a 20 minute remix of it, elongating each of the gorgeous sections. The guitar section alone is like a lost beach classic.

Search "Free Will" on the "Message" 12".

ahhh - this is why I feel so at home on ILM.
Shame I missed this poll, 'Some Distant Memory' and partic that oboe section is one of my favorite pieces of music in the world.

Oh man, glad I'm not the only one who loves that oboe part. Just perfect, isn't it.

I can never remember "Try All You Want" by name

Oh man, glad I'm not the only one who loves that oboe part. Just perfect, isn't it.

In my Roxy interview with Scott Woods, I cited that oboe part as my favorite ever.

Can I mention the B-sides, all of which are wonderful in their own way? "Second To None" and its huge orchestral synth chords, and "Free Will" and its acid house nonsense -- a distant cousin to the Pet Shop Boys' "Don Juan"?

Can anyone work out what the vocal sample in Free Will says? "Bring the light - something?"

I thought it said "Real life is empty," which explains why it's buried.

This is one of those days when "Idiot Country" is the greatest song in the world. Things to note today: the pause, whoosh & restart at 3:19, and the slightly higher key for the main key riff immediately thereafter. This song is loaded with little details like that.

man "Tighten Up" was robbed. classic Marr guitar on that one.

This song is loaded with little details like that.

Also: the whistling and that orchestral synth part

An expanded 2 disc edition of Sumner and Marr's 1991 debut as Electronic.

'Electronic' sounds a little more like New Order than the Smiths. The three singles from the album remain the highlights: "Get the Message," "Feel Every Beat" and "Getting Away with It" featuring Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys.

The project has been described as a joyous venn diagram of Sumner and Marr’s influences. Although ostensibly coming from different disciplines, the experimental dance pop of New Order and the full-bodied jangle of The Smiths, their common interests were many: dance music, a good tune and pushing musical boundaries.

The release includes 8 previously unreleased tracks including alternate versions, edits & instrumentals.

Tracklisting

CD 1
1. Idiot Country (2012 - Remaster)
2. Reality (2012 - Remaster)
3. Tighten Up (2012 - Remaster)
4. The Patience Of A Saint (2012 - Remaster)
5. Getting Away With It (2012 - Remaster)
6. Gangster (2012 - Remaster)
7. Soviet (2012 - Remaster)
8. Get The Message (2012 - Remaster)
9. Try All You Want (2012 - Remaster)
10. Some Distant Memory (2012 - Remaster)
11. Feel Every Beat (2012 - Remaster)

CD 2
1. Disappointed (Stephen Hague 7” Inch Version) (2012 remaster)
2. Second To None (Edit) Previously unreleased
3. Lean To The Inside (Edit) Previously unreleased
4. Twisted Tenderness (Guitar / Vocal Mix) Previously unreleased
5. Idiot Country Two (12” Version)
6. Free Will (Edit) Previously unreleased
7. Until The End Of Time (Edit) Previously unreleased
8. Feel Every Beat (Edit) Previously unreleased
9. Getting Away With It (Instrumental) (2012 remaster)
10. Turning Point (Edit) (2012 remaster)
11. Visit Me (Edit) Previously unreleased
12. Twisted Tenderness (Instrumental) Previously unreleased

Release date: 11/03/13

Hmmm tempting - although I would have hoped to have a super extended version of Some Distant memory amongst the bonus tracks.

their B-sides are fantastic. "Second to None" is this quiet melancholic thing. "Lean to the Inside" is the ultimate TV theme.

Yeah, agree with Second to None. It seems like it could have easily fit on the album.

Oh wow didn't know there was anything beyond the album from that era

They excelled at instrumentals. This one has had a long life as bumper music:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lean+to+the+inside+electronic&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WLpxZ_fGwY

Turning Point and Lucky Bag are my b-sides of choice right now.

"Getting Away With It" was one of the last songs to be released during the 80's and made for a perfect closure to the decade. Also because of that timing it came out around Christmas so I forever associate it with the holidays.

Is there another comparable song that closes out a particular era of time so well? Maybe "Good Times" by Chic?

the end of “gangster” >>>>>

You found this!!!

'Tighten Up' fucking rules.

this is the only album i listen to now

my drunk album

Happy 30th to "Getting Away With It" itself.

See that girl
She's over there
I don't need her
she don't care

Happy thirtieth anniversary.

stings cousin can not sing so i like the songs he does not sing on or is not alone on!

Disappointed and Getting Away With It on the original LP release would have made this a bonafide all-time classic. I vividly recall the sound and activity of holding down the rewind button and hearing Tighten Up quickly get back to the beginning so I could hear it again. I was afraid I would break the tape I rewound it so many times. Now the opening stabs are painful to my ears, but I still love the song. I still love this album and have very fond memories of hearing GAWI on the radio for the first time and the excruciatingly long wait to get the album.

They are fortunately on the rerelease.

It's so easy
why won't you leave this?

Thirty-one years young today.

technique - getting away with it - this LP - a streak of imperious form so impressive that one is even able to forgive world in motion

World in Motion needs no forgiving.

That’s a truly baffling number of votes for ‘Gangster’!

it's an open act of defiance!

Gangster rules, as does the rest of this album

bloody hell, i hate this bands name.
makes ilm, google etc impossible to dig around for more info.
anyways, have had the orig cd for years, and never really got into it as it sounds so weak and limp.
then the other day i spotted a version in a local charity shop with a different cover.
got home and did the usual discogs check up.
had no idea re the 1993 remaster, and decided to spend the wallet busting 50p.
yeah, not to get all SHF, but this is a lot better than the original cd version.
it's not just louder, but better definition, seperation and cleaner/crisper.
enjoying it so so much more.
i guess someone realised quite soon after the original release that the cd edition just didn't sound that good, hence the very quick 'remaster'.

Look at me, I always get the blame
But I can't even learn to spell my name

I’d like to read
I’d like to write
But where I live
I learned to fight
So don’t you ever say that we’re the same

otm

https://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2023/08/13/electronic-get-the-message-best-of-reissue/

Neil: "Bernard and Johnny Marr were almost outraged by the way we work. The way we work is we have a programmer who does all the typewriter tapping and he does everything himself and we hardly do anything ourselves. We kind of sit there reading piles of magazines telling people what to do or, indeed, sleeping while they're doing it. And Bernard thinks this is terribly funny and shocking. He can't get over the fact that Chris goes to sleep in the studio. When we did 'Patience Of A Saint', it was quite embarrassing trying to write with them. Chris had this chord change and then Johnny Marr put a bass line on it and I wrote a tune. It took about 10 or 15 minutes. And then it was time to go to The Hacienda..."