Major Malfunction

Last updated
Major Malfunction
Keith LeBlanc - Major Malfunction.jpg
Studio album by
Released1986 (1986)
RecordedFebruary 1986
Studio Southern Studios, London, England
Genre Funk, industrial, electro
Length32:57
Label World
Producer Keith LeBlanc
Keith LeBlanc chronology
Major Malfunction
(1986)
Stranger Than Fiction
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]

Major Malfunction is the debut album of American drummer Keith LeBlanc, produced by Fats Comet (one of several aliases of Tackhead), and released in 1986 by World Records. [2] The vinyl release plays continuously from beginning to end on sides A and B, while the World and Cleopatra CD releases index each side as a track. This production was ground breaking in 1986 and copied by many. [3]

Contents

Despite the almost universal reference to this album as Major Malfunction, the original cover showed Major Malfuction as the title. This was corrected on the Select Cuts reissue.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Keith LeBlanc

No.TitleLength
1."Get This/Major Malfunction/Heaven on Earth/Object - Subject (Breakdown's Not Enough)"17:16
2."I'll Come Up with Something/M.O.V.E./Technology Works Dub/You Drummers Listen Good"15:41
Cleopatra Records bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
3."Mad Years"9:28

The Cleopatra version was erroneously mastered, with Side 2 as track 1 and vice versa.

Select Cuts track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Get This"2:43
2."Major Malfunction"4:47
3."Heaven on Earth"4:31
4."Object-Subject (Breakdown's Not Enough)"5:13
5."I'll Come Up With Something"3:27
6."M.O.V.E."0:48
7."Technology Works Dub"5:42
8."You Drummers Listen Good"4:41
9."Ending"1:00
10."Einstein" (dub version)2:43
11."Mechanical Movements" (dub version)2:43
12."Old Beat" (Master mix)4:47
13."Tick of Time" (instrumental version)4:31

Personnel

Charts

Charts (1986)Peak
position
UK Indie Chart [4] 11

Release history

RegionDateLabelFormatCatalog
United Kingdom 1986World CD, LP WR 005
United States 2003 Cleopatra CDCLP 1274-2
Germany 2003Select CutsCDSELECT CUTS 2023

Related Research Articles

Tackhead is an industrial hip-hop group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, industrial music and electronica intersect. The core members were Doug Wimbish (bass), Keith LeBlanc (percussion) and Skip McDonald (guitar) and producer Adrian Sherwood. Despite being short-lived as a band proper, the legacy and output of these groups of musicians has been prodigious.

Adrian Maxwell Sherwood is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms of electronic dance music and popular music outside of the genre. He has worked extensively with a variety of reggae artists as well as the musicians Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish and Skip McDonald. Sherwood has remixed tracks by Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy. In his role as a record producer he has worked with a variety of record labels; however, his best-known label is On-U Sound Records which he founded in 1979. Sherwood has been a member of the band Tackhead. He considers himself tone deaf, and focuses on making sounds and noises rather than melody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith LeBlanc</span> American drummer (1954–2024)

Keith LeBlanc was an American drummer and record producer who was a member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead.

<i>Friendly as a Hand Grenade</i> 1989 studio album by Tackhead

Friendly as a Hand Grenade is an album by the American band Tackhead. It was released in 1989 through TVT Records.

<i>Tackhead Tape Time</i> 1987 studio album by Gary Clails Tackhead Sound System

Tackhead Tape Time is the debut album of Tackhead, released in 1987 through Nettwerk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">What's My Mission Now?</span> 1985 single by Tackhead

"What's My Mission Now?" is a single by the American industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in October 1985 on On-U Sound. Scott Becker of Option called it "Sherwood as his outrageous best: wild stereo effects, a crucial beat, a bit of dubbing-it-up, found vocals, odd sounds, the works."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mind at the End of the Tether</span> 1986 single by Tackhead

"Mind at the End of the Tether" is a single by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in 1986 on On-U Sound Records. Although the record states otherwise, the B-side is actually the Fats Comet song "King of the Beat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reality (Tackhead song)</span> 1988 single by Tackhead/Gary Clail

"Reality" is a single by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in January 1988 on On-U Sound Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ticking Time Bomb</span> 1989 single by Tackhead

"Ticking Time Bomb" is a single by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in March 1989 on World Records.

<i>Power Inc. Volume 1</i> 1994 compilation album by Tackhead

Power Inc. Volume 1 is a compilation album by the American industrial hip-hop group Tackhead. It was released in 1994 on Blanc Records.

<i>Tackhead Sound Crash</i> 2006 remix album by Tackhead

Tackhead Sound Crash is a remix album by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead. It was released on November 13, 2006 on Beat and On-U Sound Records.

Fats Comet was a British/American industrial hip hop group formed by Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, Skip McDonald and Doug Wimbish. The band was known for producing dance tracks that were densely layered in samples and ahead of their time. In a 1987 article in Spin, Scott Burlingham commented that "songs like "Bop Bop" and "Stormy Weather" are three years old and they still don't fit in." The members eventually shifted their focus to another project Tackhead, under which they continue to produce music.

Strange Parcels was an industrial hip-hop group, formed in 1991. The nucleus was guitarist Skip McDonald, drummer Keith LeBlanc and bassist Doug Wimbish. The group also enlisted the aid of numerous guest musicians, including Mark Stewart, Bim Sherman, Jesse Rae, Talvin Singh and Basil Clarke.

<i>Stranger than Fiction</i> (Keith LeBlanc album) 1989 studio album by Keith LeBlanc

Stranger Than Fiction is the second album by drummer Keith LeBlanc, released in 1989 by Nettwerk in Canada, Enigma Records in the U.S., and Yellow Ltd. in Europe. LeBlanc has also made it available for download on his Bandcamp page.

<i>Raw</i> (Keith LeBlanc album) 1990 studio album by Keith LeBlanc

Raw is the third album by drummer Keith LeBlanc, released in January 1990 by Blanc Records. It was released under the pseudonym Raw and comprises four remixes from LeBlanc's second album Stranger Than Fiction.

<i>Time Traveller</i> (Keith LeBlanc album) 1992 studio album by Keith LeBlanc

Time Traveller is the fourth album by drummer Keith LeBlanc, released in September 1992 by Blanc Records.

<i>Freakatorium</i> (album) 1999 studio album by Keith LeBlanc

Freakatorium is the fifth album by American drummer Keith LeBlanc, released on March 9, 1999 by Blanc Records.

<i>Stop the Confusion (Global Interference)</i> 2005 compilation album by Keith LeBlanc

Stop the Confusion (Global Interference) is a compilation album by drummer Keith LeBlanc, released on July 26, 2005, by Collision: Cause of Chapter 3.

<i>If You Want Loyalty Buy a Dog</i> 2011 studio album by Little Axe

If You Want Loyalty Buy a Dog is the seventh album by Little Axe, released on October 24, 2011 by On-U Sound. It was the first album Skip McDonald produced without the aid of fellow Tackhead members Keith LeBlanc and Doug Wimbish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Sell Out</span> 1983 single by Malcolm X

"No Sell Out" is a hip hop piece composed by American drummer Keith LeBlanc and credited to Malcolm X, released in November 1983 on Tommy Boy Records. It marked one of the earliest usages of sample-based composition in popular music as well as being the first hip hop song to use Malcolm X's voice for artistic and political reasons.

References

  1. Dougan, John. "Major Malfunction". Allmusic. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  2. Parker, David (2001). "Album: Keith LeBlanc - 'Major Malfunction'". skysaw.org. Archived from the original on 2003-05-06. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  3. "Keith LeBlanc: Biography". tackhead.com. 2004. Archived from the original on September 19, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  4. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2014.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)