-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Cranes
ALBUM...: Fuse
GENRE...: Indie
STYLE...: Industrial, Indie Rock, Gothic Rock, Experimental Rock, Post-Punk
YEAR....: 2024
LABEL...: Dadaphonic
COUNTRY.: UK
FORMED..: 1985, Portsmouth, Hampshire
ENCODER.: FLAC 1.3.1 -8 -V
BITRATE.: 792 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / 2 channels
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 8
SIZE....: 159.17 MB
URL..: http://www.facebook.com/cranes.music.official
http://ectoguide.org/artists/cranes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranes_(band)
https://cranes.bandcamp.com
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/additional/cranes/fuse
https://post-punk.com/hopes-are-high-a-conversation-with-alison-shaw-of-cranes (Interview)
https://dinkededition.co.uk/cranes-fuse
- TRACKLIST
1 Pillow Panther 4:16
2 Fuse (Original Version) 3:36
3 Valentine 1:53
4 Gas-Ring 3:57
5 Things That I Like 3:44
6 Wrench 3:35
7 Fracture 3:45
8 New Liberty (Previously Unheard Bonus 3:08
Track)
Total Playtime: 27:54
2024 re-reissue of Cranes' rare (cassette only) debut album Fuse (1986).
Remastered at Abbey Road in 2023. the album includes an extra unheard track
from the period called New Liberty.
Fuse showcases a sparser, darker and more industrial, post punk sound. From
the hypnotic allure and rhythmic intensity of the title track to the
ferocious and challenging beats of Wrench, the songs are just as mesmerising
as Cranes' later, critically acclaimed releases.
*
Re-reissue of Cranes ber rare debut album Fuse on Dadaphonic, for the first
time on vinyl and CD. The Fuse album was remastered at Abbey Road in 2023.
The album includes an extra unheard track from the period called "New
Liberty." Artwork is by Chris Bigg of V23. The second in a series of archive
releases by Cranes, Fuse was recorded in Portsmouth, their home town by
siblings Alison and Jim Shaw. It originally appeared as a cassette album in
1986 on the Bite Back! label. With an initial run of only 200 copies, over
the years this album, with its distinctive purple cover has been highly
sought after amongst fans, often exchanging hands for more than 100. Fuse
showcases a sparser, darker and more industrial, post punk sound. From the
hypnotic allure and rhythmic intensity of the title track to the ferocious
and challenging beats of "Wrench," the songs are just as mesmerizing as
Cranes' later, critically acclaimed releases. Recorded in a garage on a
four-track porta-studio, the band spent many months experimenting and became
obsessed with the recording process. Jim Shaw used a very early sampling
pedal to create the drum sounds, which were all individually triggered. The
only and first "industry" person to hear anything by Cranes at this time was
Martin Hannett (legendary producer of Joy Division and New Order). He was
looking for unsigned bands to appear on a new music TV show in Manchester and
so Ian Binnington from Biteback! sent him a compilation tape of many
Portsmouth bands. Hannett picked out "Fuse - Original Version" by Cranes and
told Ian that the track was "fucking great."
*
CD re-reissue of CRANES rare debut album Fuse on Dadaphonic. Includes
an extra unheard track from the period called New Liberty. Artwork is by
Chris Bigg of V23, and photography by guitarist Mark Francombe.
The second in a series of archive releases by Cranes, Fuse was recorded in
Portsmouth, their home town by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw. It originally
appeared as a cassette album in 1986 on the Bite Back! label. With an initial
run of only 200 copies, over the years this album, with its distinctive
purple cover has been highly sought after amongst fans, often exchanging
hands for more than 100.
FUSE showcases a sparser, darker and more industrial, post punk sound. From
the hypnotic allure and rhythmic intensity of the title track to the
ferocious and challenging beats of Wrench, the songs are just as mesmerising
as Cranes later, critically acclaimed releases.
Recorded in a garage on a 4 track porta-studio, the band spent many months
experimenting and became obsessed with the recording process. Jim Shaw used a
very early sampling pedal to create the drum sounds, which were all
individually triggered. The only and first 'industry' person to hear anything
by Cranes at this time was Martin Hannett (legendary producer of Joy Division
and New Order). He was looking for unsigned bands to appear on a new music TV
show in Manchester and so Ian Binnington from Biteback! sent him a
compilation tape of many Portsmouth bands. Hannett picked out 'Fuse -
original version" by Cranes and told Ian that the track was 'fucking great'.
The Fuse album has been remastered at Abbey Road in 2023, and will be
released as a Dinked limited edition on pink vinyl as well as on black vinyl,
CD and digital download. The album includes an extra unheard track from the
period called New Liberty. Artwork is by Chris Bigg of V23, and photography
by guitarist Mark Francombe.
*
Whilst the release of 1989's 'Self-Non-Self' EP represented an introduction
to the band for many (John Peel among them) Cranes had quietly made their
debut with the release of the 'Fuse' cassette in 1986 on local Portsmouth
label Bite Back!
Infamous among hardcore fans, the recordings have been largely unavailable
since release ('Fuse' made an appearance as a bonus track in later years)
with the original tape changing hands on-line at a premium.
Remastered at Abbey Road and with the addition of the previously unreleased
'New Liberty' (a song originally slated for inclusion on 'Self-Non-Self')
this release will be the first time the music has been widely available since
its initial release.
'Fuse' is the 2nd release from the band's archive following the recent
release of their 'BBC Peel Sessions' and prefaces the promise of new music to
come.
STAFF COMMENTS
Darryl says: Before they expanded to a four-piece the duo of siblings Alison
and Jim Shaw recorded 'Fuse' in 1986 as a cassette only release via local
Portsmouth label Bit Back! 'Fuse' melded sparse dark industrial noises with
a brittle post-punk edge. Now fully remastered and available on both vinyl and CD.
*
We always got a little tired of Cranes being compared to their contemporaries
in the late 1980s alternative scene as the truth is they had very little in
common with anybody, certainly not the bloody Cocteau Twins. There may have
been echoes of early Swans in there, and a hint of the way that Neubauten or
Throbbing Gristle played with sound, but from the beginning Cranes created a
world all of their own. It may have been that they emerged from Portsmouth,
isolated from the main hubs of the alternative scene in Brighton, London and
Manchester, or it may have been a shout to break through the gloom of that
weathered post-industrial city, but Cranes announced their arrival with some
unique, spine-tingling, primary assaults that absolutely shook us cold. Fuse
was their first general release, some 200 cassettes being released by local
indie Biteback! and nothing was ever the same again. Sparse in the extreme,
these seven songs hammered at the senses and it is astonishing to realise
they were recorded in a garage on a 4-track porta-studio. The massive drum
sound was created by Jim Shaw using an early sampling pedal and the power of
his work was to remain a mainstay of the band's sound throughout their
career. Not that Cranes were a band at this time. Fuse was created by Jim and
his sister Alison, the latter not yet having found her voice, but using these
songs to try different approaches, experimenting with pitch and depth and
texture.
For those of us who heard the band in the early days and snapped up the 1986
cassette, it is almost bewildering to see these songs being remastered at
Abbey Road (no less) some thirty-eight years later and being reissued in such
a beautiful vinyl and CD package, with superb artwork from V23's Chris Bigg.
The seven original tracks have been complemented by the addition of 'New
Liberty', an outtake from the Self-Non-Self sessions, and they sound
enormous. Having originally bought two cassettes, we sold one a few years ago
and then stopped playing the other one when it came to be regarded as gold
dust. This means it is some years since we last heard these songs, all of
which have been virtually hidden for decades, bar the title track which
reappeared on Self-Non-Self three years later.
And they deserve to be heard. The music Cranes produce absolutely captures
your soul. For us it is life how it should be lived trapped in sound, full of
fury and light and anger and regret and darkness and passion and tears and
every bloody thing else. No other band affects us in the same way and no
other band ever will. From the ominous opening to 'Pillow Panther' it is
clear different forces are at work. Alison howls in the background as a
rattling rhythm and disturbing bass create the tension. A guitar scrapes
gently and a big drum punches out. It sets the scene marvellously well for a
record that damages more effectively as it runs out. 'Fuse' is punchy and
dark, Alison's vocal rising and falling, challenging itself, being built up
in layers until it becomes a whirlpool. 'Valentine' whispers through a world
of metal, the vocal almost buried. It fades in less than two minutes for
broken guitars to introduce 'Gas-Ring' which is distant and unfocussed, the
vocals little more than overlapping cries for help. Side two begins with the
splintered 'Things That I Like' which almost spits contempt as Alison's
brilliant vocal glides though the shards. The power of Cranes became their
ability to balance the brutal with touching frailty and the roots of that
future success are clearly heard here. 'Wrench' is even more broken, muffled
and crushed, while closing track (of the original album) 'Fracture' is almost
dismissive of shape and form. It is dragged to every corner, always hypnotic,
always hurting, and absolutely gripping. Additional track 'New Liberty' is
more identifiably the Cranes we came to know and love. Musically it has the
feel of early Birthday Party, with quite gorgeous splintered guitars stabbing
at the big rhythm track, Alison's voice capturing the tones that would
dominate on the next few albums.
It is fantastic that these songs have become available again so they can be
enjoyed by those who discovered the band in their later days, or those
youngsters who have yet to hear them. No doubt many who investigate will be
just as overwhelmed and trapped as we were all those years ago. Dadaphonic
have only released the vinyl and CD versions in limited numbers so be sure to
grab a copy before they disappear. It is pretty certain these will become the
gold dust of the future.
*
Cranes - Fuse (Dadaphonic) - This sounds fresh, this sounds new, now, this
sounds like it (still) matters. Cranes did always matter though, they always
had something a little deeper, a little more left field. This is a
re-reissue of Cranes " ber rare debut album" Fuse.
"The second in a series of archive releases by Cranes, Fuse was recorded in
Portsmouth, their home town, by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw. It originally
appeared as a cassette album in 1986 on the Bite Back! label. With an initial
run of only 200 copies, over the years this album, with its distinctive
purple cover has been highly sought after amongst fans, often exchanging
hands for more than 100" (Pretty sure there's a copy of that tape over in
the boxes of Organ history over there, yep, we've been around a long as those
always beautiful Cranes have)
Fuse is a sparser Cranes, a darker more (almost) industrial post punk sound,
primitive, deliciously so. These early recordings have all the hypnotic
allure and rhythmic intensity of later more familiar Cranes work, the songs
are just as mesmerising as Cranes later critically acclaimed releases. Fuse
very much sounds like Cranes, the evidence of things to come is all here
however, if you don't know their earlier material and you're only familiar
with their more floaty feel then this might almost be (slightly) shocking -
"really? This is Cranes? Are you sure?" said one passing voice, although it
so obviously is . Fuse is a powerful album, , an experimental art rock album,
an album as relevant now as it ever was and if you don't know the Portsmouth
band, it might be just as good a starting point as any? Well no maybe not,
you probably need to go start with their less adrenaline pumping moments,
later pieces of beauty like 1991's Wings of Joy or 1993's Forever to really
get why Cranes were so highly regarded back there, this, as excellent as it
is, probably isn't typical enough to be a first taste.
"Recorded in a garage on a 4 track porta-studio, the band spent many months
experimenting and became obsessed with the recording process. Jim Shaw used a
very early sampling pedal to create the drum sounds, which were all
individually triggered. The only and first 'industry' person to hear anything
by Cranes at this time was Martin Hannett (legendary producer of Joy Division
and New Order). He was looking for unsigned bands to appear on a new music
TV show in Manchester and so Ian Binnington from Biteback! sent him a
compilation tape of many Portsmouth bands. Hannett picked out 'Fuse -
original version" by Cranes and told Ian that the track was 'fucking great'."
This new version of Fuse has been remastered at Abbey Road in 2023, and will
be released as a Dinked limited edition on pink vinyl as well as on black
vinyl, CD and digital download. The album includes an extra unheard track
from the period called New Liberty. Artwork is by Chris Bigg of V23, and
photography by guitarist Mark Francombe.
This is a fine fine album, it sound like now, indeed if this was something
new, something from a just emerging band we'd be shouting about it way way
more that we are here, don't treat it as some re-issue, treat it as a right
here right now thing, go explore Cranes or go revisit cranes if you already
know, go be slightly surprised by how they sounded in their very early days.
Excellent album.
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Shoegaze
is a genre of alternative rock that
originated in the late 80s. The genre is very
difficult to define, and it is even more difficult to evaluate music
within it. Generally, the genre is characterized by its
shimmering vocals, reverberating guitars, and
textural distortion that create
a tranquil, opaque
feeling.
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