What's the story behind this line? Is it a Nation 12 original, or did Simenon et al. sample it? I've heard this particular snippet on a variety of contemporary recordings (sadly, none of which come to mind at the moment), but I've never been able to isolate the source.

I'm not a huge fan of the accompanying song (just not my cup o' tea), but I relish the thought of John being involved in yet another quietly influential project.

"Hear the Drummer (Get Wicked)" is the title of one of the defining breakbeat songs of the Acid House movement, reaching - I think - No.3 in the UK charts in July 1990, recorded by DJ Chad Jackson.
Jackson, from Manchester, won the title "Technics/DMC World Mixing Champion" in 1987 and was at the time a pioneer in the genre.
The sample used by Nation 12 acknowledges the influence of Jackson, and "Listen to the Drummer" became very influential in its own time.
But as far as I know, the track has little (if anything) to do with John Foxx - Shem McCaulley was asked by Tim Simenon to put together a track for the B-side of "Remember" because Simenon and Foxx had no other material finished.

I think that's right...
(Someone will no doubt correct me if not)
Hope it helps

The above post appeared twice?

Hmm, that's odd. I thought all the Nation 12 material was recorded between 1988 and 1989. If Jackson released his song in 1990, then surely he swiped it from either Nation 12 or some other source.

Thanks for the info. This is all news to me!

Sorry for coming to this a bit late. Yes, you're absolutely right JF, it's from a different source (by the way, thanks for the phone call [at last] EG - yes, Merry Chrimbo to you also. But enough of the 'peace to all men' bananas you spouted last night, you still didn't answer the question of 'where's that £100 you owe me?!...'). The sample used by Chad Jackson is taken from Marva Whitney's 1969 funk/soul influenced 'Unwind Yourself'. It's a great tune as I seem to recall (if your club of choice manages to track down the recording - it was a few years back now).

Anyway, onwards. All the best.


LG
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Well, there you go.

Thanks guys, seems ~ :rolleyes: I got the basics rigfht

This explains why I always skip this track everytime I play the nation 12 CD. For me the song just gets on my nerves.
Peter

Same here. I love the rest of the CD, but this track has grated on me since day one.

From my experience, the last thing you should do with drummers is listen to them.....

That track is just awful! It sounds SO 1990!

That atrocity aside, the Electrofear album is brilliant. A lot of it might be a bit rough, but it's such an interesting collection of songs and starting points.

I'm really glad it got released, and it was nice to hear a proper version of "Into the Wonderful".

Back in 1991 I used to play the "Gods" gane on my Amiga. The music on the title screen, by "Nation 12" seemed like a milestone in computer game music. Back then I didn't even know who John was, so it's funny how a track in a game I liked when I was 13 would turn out to be by an artist I would subsequently like and be hugely inspired by.

Ouch!



I won't stop your opinion Alex, as I'll concede that taste is individual to everyone, but I think to use the word 'atrocity' in describing the track is a little over the top - certainly when you think of John and some of the other artists that were around at that time that were doing similar groundbreaking work in the use of sampling and looping in the world of dance music. As experimentations go (and Nation 12 was an experimental project remember), I think the 'HTDGW' track adds itself into the mix to make the album the perfect sum of all it's parts - warts and all!



LG, the cheque went yesterday. Sorry for the delay, but please try to keep hold of it a little longer this time.



EG
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"Atrocity" might have been a little over the top, but not without humour. Though I guess it doesn't come over in writing! Don't take it personally though

I think from that track it's obvious there no or little involvement from John, as it really stands out like a sore thumb.

One of the most interesting things for me, about this CD, is hearing the various early versions of songs that ended up on SHifting City, The Pleasures of Electricity and From Trash.

Hi Alex

No worries - I won't. I just think that it's very easy to write things non-objectively and in a throwaway, disposable way on the web and then hide behind explanations to explain why words shouldn't be taken the wrong way. If it's your best opinion of the track...well, that's fine. But consider this - would you use those words on your own review of the album on your own website or if you were in a position to discuss the album with John? Maybe not...

Is it? I guess that as we weren't there at the time it was recorded we may never know. But as John was a central character in Nation 12, I think he was likely to be more involved in the track than you give him credit for. I appreciate the track is no 'Ocean We Can Breath' or 'Shifting City' or whatever your personal choice is, but we do know that Nation 12 was an experimental project for all involved. Maybe that fact woke John up to recording again after being away for so long and as cathartic an experience as his leaving Ultravox was in the late 70s. Whatever your view, it was part of his development in his working life and the link to his full return to music in the 1990s.

Yes, I guess so, although I personally think it's much more interesting to view the work on it's own merits rather than what some of it became in later incarnations.



EG
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Certainly agree with this point.
It's also difficult to judge a track that's nearly 20 years old when we are all more used to hearing the artists more recent work.
Like everything else, context is the important thing.

Either way, of the Nation 12 material, this is the track that keeps turning up on compilations and the like.
It's probably commercially the most significant track they recorded, and certainly had some influence at the time.

The same applies to remixes. As many people know I'm a fan of the idea of people remixing John's work and think that most of them are excellent. In fact, I can't think of a bad one.
BUT they need to be judged on their own merits as pieces of music, not compared with what the original source.

You're perfectly right EG. I used an overly strong word without thinking. I do apologise, though let's not get too hung up on it.

This thread has actually inspired me to listen to Electrofear. There's so much potential on many of the tracks – makes you think it would probably have been a huge, possibly innovative success, had the album seen completion and release at the time.

And as you said, I do think we can hear the start of John's musical revival in the songs here.

It's also the track that I skip. IMHO it should have remained as a B-side and if included in the album as a bonus track.

The song is also very different to the other tracks on Electrofear, very hip hop. This one in particular is more of a Bomb The Bass track than John's!

I've listened to John's songs a million times and this one is not John. It's in the same category "unlike Foxx" as The Boy From Ipanema(although this one was only produced by John).

I do believe that John has a fantastic music collection spanning all areas of Music and these 2 tracks are merely adventures into other areas of music not of his domain.

The track in itself is OK but not the Foxx I know as if it was written and performed by someonelse.

Chris C

Sorry to be difficult - but I actually quite like this track...

In fact - I'm playing it even as I type...

Rob

....and tha administrator gets wicked!

Chris C

I'm with you on this one Rob... "stick 'em ha ha stick 'em" etc etc

I was so happy when the Nation 12 album got a release. I loved the singles, especially 'Remember' and 'Listen to The Drummer'.

My fave album track is 'She Was'

I can still remember being at an all-nighter held by Bomb The Bass and hearing 'Remember' and thinking - 'Hang On..I KNOW that voice! Naaaah! Can't be!'

Took me ages to find the singles though - even a few weeks after they were released.

Me too!

BTW : Do anyone know what the Nation 12 members doing today?