World of Echo

Last updated
World of Echo
ArthurRussellWordofEchoOriginalArt1886.jpg
Studio album by
Arthur Russell
Released1986 (1986)
Recorded1984–1986
Genre
Length51:14
Label
Producer
  • Arthur Russell
  • Phill Niblock
  • Steve Cellum
  • Peter Zummo
  • Ernie Brooks
Arthur Russell chronology
Instrumentals, 1974 – Vol. 2
(1984)		World of Echo
(1986)		Another Thought
(1994)
2005 re-issue cover
World of Echo.jpg

World of Echo is the second studio album by American musician Arthur Russell, released in 1986 on Upside Records in the US and in 1987 on Rough Trade Records in the UK. It is composed primarily of Russell's vocals, cello, and percussion, which are liberally treated with effects such as delay and reverb.

Contents

World of Echo was the final album released by Russell during his lifetime. It was widely reissued in 2005 by Audika and Rough Trade. The album was named the best of the 1980s by Fact in 2013, [8] and the 25th best album of the decade by Pitchfork in 2018. [9] It was included in NME 's 2013 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. [10]

Background and composition

World of Echo has been noted as prominently incorporating Russell's "folksy tenor, cello, and scant electronic microtones". [11] It features Russell's employment of production effects, including prominent use of echo, reverb, and distortion. [11] AllMusic referred to the album as a collection of "spare, dubby cello experiments." [12] Several songs included are alternate versions of dance tracks that Russell produced as 12-inch singles, including "Let's Go Swimming", "Wax the Van", and "Treehouse". [13] [14]

Writing for Pitchfork, Cameron Macdonald noted that Russell's style of cello playing, often improvised, makes use of sporadic, imaginary sounds like "hollow thuds, window-washing brushes, chipped strings, knuckled knacks, and the boom of a floor peg dropping on concrete". [11] He also commented that the cello "startlingly duets with his voice", leading to inharmonic sounds that makes it sound like the instrument "clears its throat during his awkward moments". [11] Dusted also commented on the album's "skeletal framework", with "bare melodies rising to the surface, vocal lines encompassing wordless singing" and "constantly shifting textures swirling throughout". [15]

Release

The album was released in the US in 1986 and subsequently in the UK in March 1987. [16] When it failed to perform well commercially, Russell reportedly requested that stickers be added to the packaging with the word "unintelligible." [9]

Audika Records issued a remastered limited edition CD in 2004 which included bonus tracks and a DVD with footage by Phill Niblock. They subsequently reissued it on CD and LP in 2005. Rough Trade also reissued the album that year.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [17]
Pitchfork 8.4/10 [11]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [18]
Stylus Magazine B+ [4]

Early reviews

In a 1987 review for Melody Maker , David Stubbs positively described the music as "a fuzz, a blur, a rich, throbbing pulse, a signal in space", and Russell's vocals as "clotted, opaque, word-shapes in the clouds", noting a kinship with John Martyn's 1973 album Solid Air . He called the result "a giant, subterranean repository of Dub", and said, "what's at work is the old dub trick of suggesting what's not there, what's been dispensed with". [19] Jonathan Romney of NME stated that "World of Echo contains some of Russell's golden greats, but the catch is that they're virtually unrecognisable", and also made a comparison to John Martyn "at his spaciest". Romney concluded that "it's fun watching the patterns change, but you sometimes get tired waiting for something to happen". [20] More negatively, a Q review by Andy Gill said, "On this LP, unfortunately, the imagination displayed on the three mixes of [previous dance single] 'Let's Go Swimming' is all but completely absent", and that the titles of the songs "betray Arthur as just another art bore caught on the less meaningful fringes of New Age muzak. A big disappointment." [18]

Later reception and accolades

Reviewing the album's 2004 reissue, Dusted called the album "easily the most significant, compelling, beautiful and monumental piece of work Russell ever committed to record." [21] Pitchfork stated that "this material still sounds timeless. It's also Russell's most personal and radical statement." [11] AllMusic described the album as an "incredible assemblage of ... subtle, transcendental" music. [22] Stylus Magazine opined that the album "still appears fantastic, implausible, and above all, fresh," claiming that "Russell's tapestries of electro-acoustic syncopation and free-associative song can still be heard" in styles such as IDM, minimal techno, modern psychedelia, and freeform acoustic music. [4] In a 2024 article for the London Review of Books , Ian Penman described the music as "sitting-room dub music, folk song with tape delay [...] a musical Impressionism where background and foreground merge in a dappled, smeary haze. These songs don’t feel ‘written’ in any conventional way; they are like pollen on the breeze." [3]

In 2013, the album was ranked at number 301 on NME's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. [23] in the same year, it was also named the best album of the 1980s by Fact . [8] In 2018, it was ranked the 25th best album of the 1980s by Pitchfork . [9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Arthur Russell

No.TitleLength
1."Tone Bone Kone"1:05
2."Soon-to-Be Innocent Fun / Let's See"9:36
3."Answers Me"2:11
4."Being It"5:17
5."Place I Know / Kid Like You"3:28
6."She's the Star / I Take This Time"4:57
7."Tree House"2:15
8."See-Through"2:10
9."Hiding Your Present from You"4:17
10."Wax the Van"2:11
11."All-Boy All-Girl"3:44
12."Lucky Cloud"2:53
13."Tower of Meaning / Rabbit's Ear / Home Away from Home"4:38
14."Let's Go Swimming"2:42
Reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
15."The Name of the Next Song"8:00
16."Happy Ending"4:23
17."Canvas Home"2:34
18."Our Last Night Together"3:27

Personnel

People involved in the making of this album include: [24]

In 2016, American rapper and producer Kanye West sampled a section from Russell's "Answers Me" in his song "30 Hours". [25]

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References

  1. ↑ The following sources have labeled the album "dub":
    • Stubbs, David (April 11, 1987). "Arthur Russell - World of Echo". Melody Maker . p. 33.
    • Penman, Ian. "Nom de Boom: Arthur Russell's Benediction". London Review of Books . Retrieved 27 December 2024.
    • Lawrence, Tim (19 September 2013). "Liner Notes". Mixed With Love: The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "10 Ambient Pop Albums to Get You Through Quarantine". Natural Music. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  3. 1 2 Penman, Ian. "Nom de Boom: Arthur Russell's Benediction". London Review of Books . Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Powell, Mike (January 11, 2005). "Arthur Russell – World of Echo – Review". Stylus Magazine . Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  5. ↑ "The World of Arthur Russell LP (2004)". Soul Strut. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  6. ↑ Beks, Ash (17 February 2016). "Arthur Russell, Kanye West and the Restless Creative Genius". Noisey . Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  7. ↑ Pitchfork Staff (September 10, 2018). "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork . Retrieved April 25, 2023. Plenty of artists have made outsider music. None have ever come so close to the feeling of being unreachable.
  8. 1 2 FACT Magazine review
  9. 1 2 3 Pelly, Jenn. "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  10. ↑ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". NME. October 23, 2013.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Macdonald, Cameron (December 15, 2004). "Arthur Russell: World of Echo". Pitchfork . Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  12. ↑ Pierson, Richard. "Arthur Russell". Allmusic . Retrieved October 29, 2007.
  13. ↑ Richard Pierson. "Arthur Russell". Allmusic . Retrieved October 29, 2007.
  14. ↑ Leland, John (December 1986). "Singles - review". SPIN . 2 (9): 47 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ "Dusted Reviews: Arthur Russell - World of Echo". Dusted Magazine. November 14, 2004. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Record News". NME . March 28, 1987. p. 33.
  17. ↑ Tyranny, "Blue" Gene. "World of Echo – Arthur Russell". AllMusic . Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  18. 1 2 Gill, Andy (May 1987). "Arthur Russell – World of Echo". Q . No. 8. p. 78.
  19. ↑ Stubbs, David (April 11, 1987). "Arthur Russell - World of Echo". Melody Maker . p. 33.
  20. ↑ Romney, Jonathan (April 4, 1987). "Arthur Russell – World of Echo". NME . p. 32.
  21. ↑ Crumsho, Michael. "Dusted Reviews: Arthur Russell - World of Echo". Dusted. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  22. ↑ Tyranny, "Blue" Gene. "World of Echo – Arthur Russell". AllMusic . Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  23. ↑ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". NME. October 23, 2013.
  24. ↑ "World of Echo – Credits". Allmusic . Macrovision . Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  25. ↑ "Kanye West Shares New Song "30 Hours," Adds More Songs to New Album The Life of Pablo". Pitchfork. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
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