Code
Studio album by
Cabaret Voltaire
ReleasedOctober 1987
StudioWestern Works (Sheffield)
Genre
Length40:16
48:24 (UK CD issue)
LabelEMI
Producer
Cabaret Voltaire chronology
The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord
(1985)		 Code
(1987)		 Groovy, Laidback and Nasty
(1990)

Code (stylized as C O D E) is the eighth studio album by the English electronic band Cabaret Voltaire, released in October 1987 by EMI Records.

While the album itself failed to chart, it featured two songs that charted on the UK Singles Chart, with "Don't Argue" peaking at No. 69, and "Here to Go" peaking at No. 88.

Content

The lyrics and title of "Don't Argue" incorporate verbatim a number of sentences from the narration of the short film Your Job in Germany (1945), directed by Frank Capra. The film was aimed at American soldiers occupying Germany and strongly warned against trusting or fraternizing with German citizens.[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Rolling Stone[4]

AllMusic wrote that Code "finds Cabaret Voltaire at their loosest and most accessible", calling it "the closest thing CV ever made to a party record" and adding that it "[achieves] a genuine mechanistic funkiness reminiscent of late-'70s Kraftwerk".[3] J. D. Considine, writing in Musician, contrasted Code with Kraftwerk's "elegant electronics," claiming that "Cabaret Voltaire processes sound the way a mainframe crunches numbers" before backing up to say: "cybernetic as the Cabs' sound may be, their sensibility is surprisingly pop."[5]

Rolling Stone wrote that Code "finds the ideal balance between accessibility and menace", calling it "perhaps the duo's most exhilirating work".[4]

Track listing

  1. "Don't Argue" – 4:26
  2. "Sex, Money, Freaks" – 4:57
  3. "Thank You America" – 5:22
  4. "Here to Go" – 5:09
  5. "Trouble (Won't Stop)" – 5:07
  6. "White Car" – 2:44
  7. "No One Here" – 5:00
  8. "Life Slips By" – 3:26
  9. "Code" – 4:07

Bonus tracks on UK CD issue

  1. "Hey Hey" – 3:58
  2. "Here to Go (Little Dub)" – 4:10

Personnel

Cabaret Voltaire

with:

  • Bill Nelson – guitars on "Don't Argue", "Here to Go", "Trouble (Won't Stop)", "White Car" and "No One Here"
  • Mark Brydon – bass guitar on "Sex, Money, Freaks" and "No One Here"
  • Simeon Lister – saxophone on "Sex, Money, Freaks" and "No One Here"
  • Adrian Sherwood – production, also remixed a separately-released version of "Here to Go"

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mitchell, Matt (21 July 2023). "The 50 Greatest Synth-Pop Albums of All Time". Paste. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  2. ↑ Hollings, Ken (January 2002). "Cabaret Voltaire". The Wire (215). Archived from the original on 24 April 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2011. The haunted urban soul of Cabaret Voltaire's "Don't Argue", the opening track on the 1987 Code album (EMI), suddenly seemed out of place. Using stentorian words of advice lifted from a 1945 US army training film, Your Job in Germany, designed to teach GIs how to behave in occupied territory, "Don't Argue" ran counter to the prevailing mood of loved-up euphoria. "You will not be friendly," commanded this new voice of negative authority. "You will be aloof... watchful... suspicious." Blissed out and ready to hug anything in sight, the Stepford Ravers would have a hard time getting their heads around a message like that.
  3. 1 2 Cassel, Bill. "Code – Cabaret Voltaire | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. 1 2 Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 128. Retrieved 21 November 2018. cabaret voltaire code.
  5. ↑ Considine, J.D. (1 January 1988). "Rock Short Takes: Cabaret Voltaire". Musician. Gloucester, UK: Emerald Expositions LLC (111): 92. ISSN 0733-5253.
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