Beyond the Pale (song)

Last updated

"Beyond the Pale"
Beyond the Pale (song).jpg
Single by the Mission
from the album Children
B-side "Tadeusz"
Released1988
Recorded1987
Studio Manor Studios
Genre Gothic rock [1]
Label Mercury Records
Songwriters Craig Adams, Mick Brown, Simon Hinkler, Wayne Hussey
The Mission singles chronology
"Tower of Strength"
(1988)		"Beyond the Pale"
(1988)		"Butterfly on a Wheel"
(1990)

"Beyond the Pale" is a song by English gothic rock band the Mission, released in 1988. It was the second of three singles planned to be released from their second studio album, Children (1988). It peaked at No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining in the charts for four weeks.

Contents

Background

The song was recorded at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England, between August and December 1987, becoming the opening song on the 1988-released album, Children . [2] [3] It was the second single released from Children. The highest point it reached on the singles chart was 32: [4] the poor charting of the single unsettled the band and record company, leading to the proposed follow-up single, "Kingdom Come", being cancelled, except in America where a promotional video for the single had been filmed. [5] [6]

Critical reception

One reviewer described the song as "perhaps their best track from the album Children", [7] while another said "more swirling guitars and Jim Kerr soundalike vocals from the increasingly-unexciting Mission. Dull but inoffensive." [8] Mark Barden for the Dorset Evening Echo liked the song but expressed a preference for the b-side, "Tadeusz", which the band played through loudspeakers whilst they walked onto the stage at live gigs. [9] while the Cambridge Evening News , which described the song as having "tired rock riffs", quoted one of the lines from the song: "Send[sic] me down the river, and it sounds like a good idea." [i] [10] [11]

In a Melody Maker review of the album, the track was described as having the "usual flourishing arpeggios on the melodramatic Beyond the Pale." [12]

Track listings

A. "Beyond the Pale"
B. "Tadeusz" [13]
A. "Beyond the Pale"
B1. "Tadeusz (1912–1988)"
B2. "Love Me to Death (reprise)"
B3. "Forevermore" [13]
A. "Beyond the Pale"
B1. "Tadeusz (1912–1988)"
B2. "Forevermore" [13]
A. "Beyond the Pale"
B1. "Tadeusz (1912–1988)"
B2. "Love Me to Death (reprise)"
B3. "Forevermore" [13]
A. "Beyond the Pale (Armageddon Mix)"
B1. "Tower of Strength (Bombay Edit)"
B2. "Tadeusz (1912–1988)" [13]

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1990)Peak
position
UK Singles Chart32 [4]

Notes

  1. ↑ The line is actually "Sell me down the river..."

References

  1. ↑ "It's World Goth Day! Classic moments in pictures from the BBC archive". BBC Music . 22 May 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  2. ↑ Hussey, Wayne (2006). The Mission Anthology; the Phonogram Years (Booklet). The Mission. Mercury Records. p. 7. ASIN   B000EGD1MY.
  3. ↑ Roach & Perry 1993, p. 120.
  4. 1 2 Betts, Graham (2006). Complete UK hit singles 1952-2006. London: Collins. p. 558. ISBN   0-0072-0077-3.
  5. ↑ Roach & Perry 1993, p. 138.
  6. ↑ Hussey 2007, p. 4.
  7. ↑ Maguire, Chris (16 April 1988). "New discs". Telegraph & Argus . p. 29. ISSN   0307-3610.
  8. ↑ Rickaby, Keith (22 April 1988). "Singles". The Northern Echo . No. 36, 578. p. 23. ISSN   2043-0442.
  9. ↑ Barden, Mark (23 April 1988). "Latest single reviews". Dorset Evening Echo. No. 21, 470. p. 30. ISSN   0962-7839.
  10. ↑ Hussey 2007, p. 1.
  11. ↑ Hodge, Marcus (25 April 1988). "Weary old sounds from The Mission". Cambridge Evening News. No. 30, 564. p. 10. ISSN   0963-4029.
  12. ↑ Mico, Ted (October 2004). "Albums 1988". NME Originals: Goth. Vol. 1, no. 17. London: IPC Media. p. 119. ISSN   1476-4903.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Roach & Perry 1993, p. 271.
  14. ↑ Roach & Perry 1993, p. 126.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.