The Second Annual Report | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album / Live album by | ||||
Released | November 1977 | |||
Recorded | 18 October 1976 – 3 September 1977 | |||
Genre | Industrial | |||
Length | 39:32 | |||
Label | Industrial | |||
Throbbing Gristle chronology | ||||
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The Second Annual Report is the debut album by English industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in November 1977 through Industrial Records. It is a combination of live and studio recordings made from October 1976 to September 1977. The Second Annual Report is considered to be influential within electronic music, being one of the first industrial music albums. [1]
The original vinyl edition went through several pressings. Industrial Records' original pressing totalled 785 copies, while Fetish Records pressed 2,000 copies followed by additional runs. Fetish would press the album twice more after the original Industrial Records master plates were destroyed. The third edition was included in the five-album Throbbing Gristle box set; the album was recut to play backwards and included a chamber orchestra on the track "After Cease to Exist". The Fetish plates were reused to cut pressings made by Mute Records and Celluloid Records, the latter of which was supposedly released without the band's permission. (At the very least, the Celluloid issue is known to have poor sound quality.) [2] Towards the very end of track 8, "Recorded at Brighton" (incorrectly listed on many re-releases as "Maggot Death - Brighton"), "Down on the Street" by The Stooges can be heard during the fade-out.
The original side 1 of the album features mostly highlight 'documentations' of four of Throbbing Gristle's circa-one-hour live recordings to date - skilfully edited down to track-sized passages by group-members Chris Carter and Peter Christopherson - augmented by only two studio recordings, "Industrial Introduction" and "Maggot Death". Side 2 consists entirely of a film soundtrack, one which (anecdotally) was conceived before the film that accompanied it. The soundtrack presented here is also significantly longer than the visual content of the film.
Interestingly, despite the original release of the album by Industrial Records (unsurprisingly) listing each of those live excerpts correctly as "Recorded at...", many of the Fetish Records re-released copies and subsequent other re-releases have listed the live passages with the title of the preceding named track in the track-list. Both live tracks between "Slug Bait" and "Maggot Death" in the running order are incorrectly also listed as "Slug Bait", with all three following "Maggot Death" incorrectly listed also as "Maggot Death". The Fetish re-releases being international releases, similar misreporting of track titles has pervaded subsequent releases of the album: even track 8, "Recorded at Brighton", which features merely a near-1-minute edit of the Brighton Polytechnic DJ berating the unappreciative audience (and the start of the Stooges record played after the performance), is mis-titled as "Maggot Death - Brighton", despite having no similarity to the actual "Maggot Death" track or song ("Maggot Death" being the fairly up-tempo studio track earlier on side 1) or direct involvement of Throbbing Gristle. Thus, tracks listed on most re-releases of the album as additional interpretations of both "Slug Bait" and "Maggot Death", were actually live-performance highlights, at the time unrelated to the tracks of those names.
Full audio footage of each of Throbbing Gristle's live performances was released in 1979 (individually or as a '24-hour' encased set) on audio cassette (only) by Industrial Records, with the performances represented by the Second Annual Report album released as catalogue numbers IRC2 (ICA), IRC5 (Brighton Poly), IRC6 (Nuffield, Southampton) and IRC7 (Rat Club, London). Helpfully, the cassette inlay cards listed all titled pieces in the order performed. Neither "Slug Bait" nor "Maggot Death" are listed on IRC5, IRC6 or IRC7, nor any others in the period concerned except IRC4 (High Wycombe) and, of course, IRC2 (ICA) that each list "Slug Bait", with both including a recognisable version of the 'song'.
That this went largely-uncorrected for decades, may reflect an interpretation of misinformation as a result of zeal for classification and 'cataloguing' that would have surely amused the members of Throbbing Gristle, although the long-standing and repeated misnomer problem was corrected in the Remastered Edition released 28 October 2011 - possibly due to the personal involvement of group-members Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti in its creation and design. Despite the correction, those incorrect title references continued to pervade the WWW a decade later.
"SIDE ONE"' |
Track | Title/info' | Instrumental/vocal | Recorded at |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Industrial Introduction" | instrumental | (officially) studio |
2. | "Slug Bait" | vocal P-Orridge | live at ICA, London (18oct76) |
3. | untitled | instrumental | live at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton (07may77) |
4. | untitled | vocal tape of young Canadian child-killer interview | live at Brighton Polytechnic (26mar77) |
5. | "Maggot Death" | vocal P-Orridge | (officially) studio |
6. | a)untitled, b)"£1.30" [medley*] | a)instrumental, b)vocal P-Orridge, tapes | live at Rat Club, Pindar of Wakefield, London (22may77) |
7. | untitled | instrumental, taped voices | live at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton (07may77) |
8. | untitled | vocal audience, venue DJ berating audience (no TG content) | live at Brighton Polytechnic (26mar77) |
* Presented on the album as a single-track medley, the untitled instrumental was in fact performed towards the end of the Southampton appearance, whereas "£1.30" was performed much earlier in that same event. |
"SIDE TWO"' |
Track | Title/info' | Instrumental/vocal | Recorded at |
---|---|---|---|
- | 'The original soundtrack of the Coum Transmissions film of "After Cease to Exist"' | instrumental, taped voices | (officially) studio |
Despite carrying the catalogue number, "IR0002", the 12" vinyl Second Annual Report album was the first official release from Industrial Records. There was no IR0001. There was also no first annual report, although Throbbing Gristle's earlier, unofficial cassette-only 'release', "Best Of... Volume II", subsequently became nicknamed "(The) First Annual Report" by fans. Later released on cassette only (Industrial Records catalogue number IRC1), it was released many years later on other formats in the name, "The First Annual Report".
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
The Austin Chronicle | [4] |
Pitchfork | 8.6/10 [1] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 6/10 [6] |
Uncut | 8/10 [7] |
Michael Bonner of Uncut described the music as "a dystopian churn of smoke and asbestos dust" and "queerly hypnotic". [7] The Vinyl Factory's Anton Spice acknowledged the role of the album with its provocative subject matter in establishing Throbbing Gristle's reputation as a transgressive figure in underground electronic music. [8]
In 2008, a limited-edition album titled Thirty-Second Annual Report, or The Thirty-Second Annual Report of Throbbing Gristle, was released in commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of The Second Annual Report, as well as to mark the official re-activation of the Industrial Records label. [9] The 12" 180gm vinyl LP comprises a recording of Throbbing Gristle's live performance at La Villette in Paris on 6 June 2008, which was a reinterpretation of their original album, and is limited to 777 copies. This album is pre-framed in bespoke, high-quality white gloss acrylic with an easy access clear window for removal of the record/sleeve so that the buyer can play the album and then reseal it in the frame. Accompanying the packaged vinyl is a special "black" extended CD version, which includes extra tracks that would not fit on the LP format. There is a version of the recording available for download, but the track lengths are different from the vinyl edition.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Industrial Introduction" | 1:03 |
2. | "Slug Bait" (Live at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London) | 4:18 |
3. | "Recorded at Southampton" (listed as "Slug Bait - Southampton" on re-releases) | 2:43 |
4. | "Recorded at Brighton" (listed as "Slug Bait - Brighton" on re-releases) | 1:17 |
5. | "Maggot Death" (Studio Recording) | 2:47 |
6. | "Recorded at Rat Club" (listed as "Maggot Death - Rat Club" on re-releases) | 4:32 |
7. | "Recorded at Southampton" (listed as "Maggot Death - Southampton" on re-releases) | 1:34 |
8. | "Recorded at Brighton" (listed as "Maggot Death - Brighton" on re-releases) | 0:57 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "After Cease to Exist – The Original Soundtrack of the COUM Transmissions Film" | 20:16 |
Total length: | 39:32 |
Note
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
10. | "Zyklon B Zombie" | 3:52 |
11. | "United" | 4:04 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
10. | "No Two Ways" (Live at the Winchester Hat Fair 1976) | 4:03 |
11. | "Last Exit" (Live at Polytechnic, Brighton 1977) | 6:12 |
12. | "Forced Entry" (Live at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton 1977) | 5:01 |
13. | "Tesco Disco" (Live at Rat Club, London 1977) | 5:18 |
14. | "Feeling Critical" (Live at the Winchester School of Art 1977) | 6:29 |
15. | "National Affront" (Live at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton 1977) | 4:30 |
16. | "Urge to Kill" (Live at Rat Club, London 1977) | 7:25 |
17. | "Zyklon B Zombie" | 3:53 |
18. | "United" | 4:03 |
Total length: | 46:54 |
According to AllMusic:
Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a name to the industrial music genre.
Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evolving from the experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made their public debut in October 1976 on COUM exhibition Prostitution, and released their debut single "United/Zyklon B Zombie" and debut album The Second Annual Report the following year. Lyrical themes mainly revolved around mysticism, extremist political ideologies, sexuality, dark or underground aspects of society, and idiosyncratic manipulation of language.
Peter Martin Christopherson was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis.
Clock DVA are a musical group from Sheffield, England, whose style has touched on industrial, post-punk, and EBM. They formed in 1978 by Adolphus "Adi" Newton and Steven "Judd" Turner. Along with contemporaries Heaven 17, Clock DVA's name was inspired by the Russian-influenced Nadsat language of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. Dva is Russian for "two".
Desertshore is the third solo album and fourth studio album by German musician Nico. It was released in December 1970 on the Reprise label.
Cosey Fanni Tutti is an English performance artist, musician and writer, best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey.
Chris Carter is an English musician, best known for being a member of Throbbing Gristle and the duo Chris & Cosey, both with his longtime partner Cosey Fanni Tutti.
Portion Control are a British electronic and industrial band from South London, formed in 1979. The original incarnation of the group existed until 1987; they reformed in 2002.
Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti, both previously members of industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle. Since the release of their 1981 debut album Heartbeat, the group have expanded on the rhythmic ideas of Throbbing Gristle while adding synthesized pop elements to their sound.
20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third studio album by British industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1979 by the band's label Industrial Records. It is known for its tongue-in-cheek title and artwork, and has been hailed as the band's best work, with UK magazine Fact naming it the best album of the 1970s, and Pitchfork naming it the best industrial album of all time.
Heathen Earth is a live album by the English industrial band Throbbing Gristle, released in 1980 through Industrial Records.
TG24 is a box set by industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle.
"United/Zyklon B Zombie" is the debut single by industrial band Throbbing Gristle. It was released in 7" vinyl format in May 1978, through the band's own Industrial Records.
TG Now is an album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle. It was released in 2004 through the band's own record label Industrial Records and was their first album of original material since 1982's Journey Through a Body.
D.o.A: The Third and Final Report is the second studio album by industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1978 by record label Industrial.
The following is the discography of the industrial music group Throbbing Gristle.
The First Annual Report is a bootleg album of music recorded by industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle in 1975. The recording originally went unreleased, and the band instead decided to release The Second Annual Report in 1977. This recording was first released unofficially in 1987 as Very Friendly through Spurt Records, before being issued prominently as The First Annual Report in 2001.
The Taste of TG is a compilation album by Throbbing Gristle. The cover art is a manipulation by Peter Christopherson of a still from the Pier Paolo Pasolini film Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma.
Five Albums is a box set by Throbbing Gristle, released in 1981 through record label Fetish, containing the band's three studio albums and two live albums.
Fetish Records was a British independent record label. Its artist roster consisted of largely early industrial, experimental, and post-punk groups. It was also a home to the early works of graphic designer Neville Brody, who created artwork for releases as art director for the label.