High Octane Cult

Last updated

High Octane Cult
Highoctanecult.jpg
Compilation album by
Released5 November 1996
Recorded1984–1995
Genre Hard rock
Label Beggars Banquet
Producer Various
The Cult chronology
The Cult
(1994)
High Octane Cult
(1996)
Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995
(2000)

High Octane Cult is a United States and Japan greatest hits compilation featuring every single The Cult had released at the time, with the additional "Beauty's on the Street" and "In the Clouds". It was released by The Cult's then record company Beggars Banquet Records without The Cult's participation. In the years since its release, singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy have occasionally been vocal about their dislike of this release, with Astbury calling it "sad" on their official website in 2006. Beggars Banquet had planned on using handmade drawings by Ian Astbury for the album's artwork, but when the drawings were lost, the record company subsequently replaced it with less than stellar car photos, and the band photo from The Cult's Sonic Temple record was used in the jacket sleeve, along with a short bio about the band, which guitarist Billy Duffy publicly expressed his disapproval about.

Contents

Reception

A negative review in the Sun-Sentinel declared the compilation to be "more fumes than fuel". [1]

Track listing

All songs written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy except "In the Clouds", which was written by Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy, Craig Adams.

  1. "In the Clouds" (previously unreleased) - 4:00
  2. "She Sells Sanctuary" - 4:13
  3. "Fire Woman" - 5:12
  4. "Lil' Devil" - 2:46
  5. "Spiritwalker" - 3:50
  6. "The Witch" (single version) - 4:19
  7. "Revolution" (single version) - 4:16
  8. "Coming Down" (single version) - 4:01
  9. "Love Removal Machine" - 4:18
  10. "Rain" - 3:56
  11. "Edie (Ciao Baby)" (single version) - 4:02
  12. "Heart of Soul" (single version) - 4:31
  13. "Star" (single version) - 4:00
  14. "Wild Flower" - 3:36
  15. "Resurrection Joe" (single version) - 4:16
  16. "Wild Hearted Son" (single version) - 4:25
  17. "Sweet Soul Sister" (single version) - 3:29
  18. "Beauty's on the Street" (previously unreleased) - 4:42

Related Research Articles

The Cult

The Cult are a British rock band formed in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's previous band Southern Death Cult. They gained a dedicated following in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s as a post-punk/gothic rock band, with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking into the mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s establishing themselves as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love Removal Machine" and "Fire Woman". Since the initial formation of Southern Death Cult in Bradford in 1981, the band have had various line-ups; the longest-serving members are Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, who are the band's two songwriters.

Southern Death Cult were a British post-punk/gothic rock band in the early 1980s. They are now primarily known for having given their lead singer and parts of the name to the multi-platinum hard rock band the Cult. Despite the similarities in the names, "Southern Death Cult" were distinct from "Death Cult"/"the Cult".

Ian Astbury

Ian Robert Astbury is a British singer and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member and lead vocalist for the rock band the Cult.

<i>Dreamtime</i> (The Cult album) 1984 studio album by The Cult

Dreamtime is the debut album by The Cult. Released on 10 September 1984, it reached #21 in the UK and was later certified silver by the BPI after having sold 60,000 copies. The first single, "Spiritwalker", reached #1 on the UK Indie Chart. Dreamtime has subsequently been reissued in roughly 30 countries worldwide.

<i>Ceremony</i> (The Cult album) 1991 studio album by The Cult

Ceremony is the fifth studio album by rock band The Cult, first released on 23 September 1991.

<i>Sonic Temple</i> 1989 studio album by The Cult

Sonic Temple is the fourth studio album by The Cult, released in 1989. Continuing in the hard rock direction introduced on their previous album, Sonic Temple features some of the band's most popular songs, including "Fire Woman", "Sun King", "Edie " and "Sweet Soul Sister". Sonic Temple was the last album recorded with longtime bassist Jamie Stewart, who left in 1990, and the first to feature former Hall & Oates and then-current Bryan Adams drummer, Mickey Curry.

<i>Love</i> (The Cult album) 1985 studio album by The Cult

Love is the second album by British rock band The Cult, released in 18 October 1985 on Beggars Banquet Records. The album was the band's commercial breakthrough, reaching number four in the UK and staying on the chart for 22 weeks. It produced three Top 40 singles in the UK, "She Sells Sanctuary", "Rain" and "Revolution". It has been released in nearly 30 countries and sold an estimated 2.5 million copies. Love was recorded at Jacob's Studios in Farnham, Surrey, in July and August 1985.

Billy Duffy

William Henry Duffy is a British rock musician, best known as the guitarist of the band The Cult.

<i>Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners</i> 1993 greatest hits album by The Cult

Pure Cult is the first of several greatest hits compilations by the British rock band The Cult, released in 1993. The title of the original release was Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners while the 2000 reissue was titled Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995.

<i>Death Cult</i> (EP) 1983 EP by Death Cult

Death Cult is the debut four-track EP by the post punk/gothic rock band Death Cult. Released in July 1983 on the Situation Two label, the EP reached No. 2 on the UK Independent Chart. The EP is often erroneously referred to as Brothers Grimm.

Live Cult was recorded live at the Marquee Club, London on 27 November 1991. This compilation was originally released in 1993 with the purchase of the Pure Cult: For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers and Sinners video which included all of their singles and several of the strongest album tracks from 1984 to 1993. However, only disc one of this two-disc set was included, as well as an order form to purchase disc two. In 2000, this compilation was re-released with both CDs. According to the liner notes this recording was "completely live" with no overdubs or edits in the final version on CD.

James Alec Stewart is a retired British musician who was the bassist of the post-punk/hard rock band The Cult. He recorded on The Cult's first four albums, Dreamtime, Love, Electric and Sonic Temple.

<i>The Cult</i> (album) 1994 studio album by The Cult

The Cult is the sixth studio album from English rock band, The Cult. It was released in October 1994 on Beggars Banquet Records and it is also the band's last album on Sire Records in the USA. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black sheep on the front cover. The record also features one of the very rare times when Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have shared songwriting credit with anyone: bassist Craig Adams is credited as co-author of "Universal You".

She Sells Sanctuary 1985 single by the Cult

"She Sells Sanctuary" is a song by the British rock band the Cult. It is from their 1985 album Love and was released as a single in May of that year, peaking at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. In July 2020, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) awarded the song a Gold certification for sales and streams of over 400,000.

<i>Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995</i> 2000 compilation album by The Cult

Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995 is a singles compilation by The Cult, authorized by the band to replace the previous unauthorized High Octane Cult. It is also a reissue of the 1993 compilation Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners, with minor changes.

<i>Born into This</i> 2007 studio album by The Cult

Born into This is The Cult's eighth studio album, and was released on October 2, 2007 in the US and Canada, also South Africa and Sweden. It was released in Hungary, Denmark, Spain and France on 1 October, and in Finland on the 3rd.

Spiritwalker

"Spiritwalker" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released on 4 April 1984. "Spiritwalker" is the lead single from the Dreamtime album, although it was released nearly five months before the album was released.

Gods Zoo

"Gods Zoo" is a single by the English post-punk/gothic rock band Death Cult, released on 23 October 1983 by Situation Two. The song is often, erroneously, spelled "God's Zoo".

Ressurection Joe

"Ressurection Joe" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released on 14 December 1984. The single is "stand-alone" and was not featured on any studio album by the group.

<i>Rare Cult</i>

Rare Cult is a limited edition, six-CD box set from British rock band the Cult, released in November 2000. The chronologically-organized set contains 90 tracks of studio B-sides, radio sessions, 12-inch mixes, alternate mixes, demos and the complete then-unreleased Peace album. The set is packaged in a matte black box with gold lettering, containing three 2-disc gatefold digipaks and an extensive 80-page booklet of liner notes and photos.

References

  1. Piccoli, Sean (28 December 1996). "Out of new stuff? Sing some old stuff". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 3 January 2020.