Night Time (album)

Last updated

Night Time
Killing Joke night time.jpg
Studio album by
Killing Joke
Released25 February 1985
RecordedAugust and September 1984
Studio Hansa Tonstudio (West Berlin, West Germany)
Genre
Length39:54
Label
Producer
Killing Joke chronology
Fire Dances
(1983)		Night Time
(1985)		 Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
(1986)
Singles from Night Time
  1. "Eighties"
    Released: April 1984
  2. "Love Like Blood"
    Released: January 1985
  3. "Kings and Queens"
    Released: March 1985

Night Time is the fifth studio album by the English post-punk band Killing Joke, released on 25 February 1985 by E.G. through Polydor Records and produced by Chris Kimsey. It entered the UK Albums chart on 9 March 1985 at number 11, their highest position to date and it stayed nine weeks in that chart. [1] "Love Like Blood" had been a top 20 hit-single in the UK Singles chart prior to the album's release.

Contents

Background and recording

Most of the songs of Night Time were written in Geneva, Switzerland. The band had felt they needed a change in 1983 and went living there for a while. Singer Jaz Coleman wrote the lyrics of "Eighties" and "Love like Blood" in that city. [2]

The album was recorded in Berlin, Germany; Killing Joke were there for five weeks. The atmosphere suited as it was a "cold place". Kimsey recorded the band as they were with a live sound and he didn't put much emphasis on the mix. The group described him as a "true engineer". Coleman declared back then that he was unstable and unbalanced during the sessions. [3]

Release

Night Time was released in late February 1985 by E.G. Records. It was an international hit, reaching number 11 in the United Kingdom in its first week on 9 March, [1] number 8 in New Zealand [4] and number 50 in Sweden. [5]

The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2008 with nine bonus tracks, including 1984 Kid Jensen BBC radio sessions, the non-album single "A New Day" and the previously-unreleased complete version of "Blue Feather" (previously only available as an instrumental remix on the B-side to "Love Like Blood").

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]
PopMatters 9/10 [8]
MusicHound RockStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Select Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Smash Hits 5/10 [11]

The album generally received favourable response. In retrospective reviews, PopMatters opined that the band "perfected" their "balance between antagonism and accessibility", commenting "the band are simply on fire on this record". [8] AllMusic commented that the album found the band "caught between their earlier aggression and a calmer, more immediately accessible approach". [6]

Legacy

Ned Raggett of AllMusic remarked that "Eighties" turned out to be the retrospectively most well-known song, due to a surprising and not always remembered example of Killing Joke's influence -- Nirvana, of all groups, thoroughly cloned the watery guitar line at the heart of the track for "Come as You Are"". [6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Killing Joke (Jaz Coleman, Paul Ferguson, Geordie Walker, Paul Raven), except as noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Night Time"4:58
2."Darkness Before Dawn"5:22
3."Love Like Blood"6:50
4."Kings and Queens"4:41
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Tabazan"4:36
2."Multitudes"4:59
3."Europe"4:38
4."Eighties"3:51
2008 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Eighties" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 2:53
10."New Culture" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 3:12
11."Blue Feather" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 4:33
12."All Play Rebel" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 3:23
13."A New Day"
4:23
14."The Madding Crowd" 5:10
15."Blue Feather" (Joke Mix) 3:59
16."Love Like Blood" (Gestalt Mix) 5:10
17."Kings and Queens" (Geordie's Dub Mix) 5:00

Personnel

Killing Joke

Production and artwork

Charts

Chart (1985)Peak
position
New Zealand Albums Chart [4] 8
Swedish Albums Chart [5] 50
UK Albums Chart [1] 11
Chart (2025)Peak
position
Greek Albums (IFPI) [12] 77

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Killing Joke | Artist | Official Charts". Official Charts . Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Jaz Coleman Discusses - interview in Geneva". Earth House. 7 March 2025.
  3. ↑ "Rock On Saturday afternoon -Jaz Coleman and Paul Raven of Killing Joke interviewed by Richard Skinner". BBC radio one. Aired: 23 February 1985.
  4. 1 2 "charts.nz – Discography Killing Joke". charts.nz. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  5. 1 2 "swedishcharts.com – Discography Killing Joke". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 Raggett, Ned. "Night Time – Killing Joke | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  7. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  8. 1 2 Begrand, Adrien (30 April 2008). "Fun & Games: Killing Joke in the Mid-'80s | PopMatters". PopMatters . Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Holtje, Steve (1999). "Killing Joke". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide . Detroit: Visible Ink Press. pp.  629–630. ISBN   978-1-57859-061-2 – via the Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ Perry, Neil (July 1991). "Killing Joke". Select . p. 86.
  11. ↑ Heath, Chris (28 February – 13 March 1985). "Albums: Killing Joke – Night Time (EG)". Smash Hits . Vol. 7, no. 5. Peterborough: EMAP National Publications, Ltd. p. 21. ISSN   0260-3004 . Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "Official IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Week: 01/2025)". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 8 January 2025. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
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