"Close (to the Edit)" is a single by English avant-gardesynth-pop group Art of Noise, released on various formats in October 1984. It was closely related to their earlier single (and hip hop club hit) "Beat Box", though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage.
The first release of a version of "Close (to the Edit)" was as a nominal remix of "Beat Box" under the title "Beat Box (Diversion Two)". This was then re-edited and partly remixed with different effects applied, to become the version of "Close (to the Edit)" which appeared on the subsequent studio album Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? (1984). Paul Morley's sleevenotes for the single simplify the relationship between "Diversion Two" and "Close", noting only that 20 seconds were "snipped out".
The single was released in the UK on what had become ZTT's customary array of formats: standard and picture disc 7" versions, five 12" singles (one a picture disc) and a cassette single, each featuring a number of unique mixes. The many remixes were given their own titles derived from the overall title, including "Edited", "Closely Closely (Enough's Enough)" and "Close-Up".
The cassette single version, That Was Close, is a medley of a number of the mixes from the various formats, featuring "Diversion Eight", "Diversion Two", "Closest", "Close-Up", the album version of "Close (to the Edit)" and "Closed". This medley lasts in excess of 20 minutes in length, repeats on both sides of the cassette, and remained otherwise unavailable until it was included in its entirety on the 4 CD box set compilation And What Have You Done with My Body, God? (2006).
The single was Art of Noise's first major UK hit, reaching number eight in the UK singles chart in February 1985.
Three promotional videos were recorded for the single. The original version, featuring a little girl in punk garb leading three business suit-clad men in the destruction of various musical instruments, was directed by Zbigniew Rybczyński. According to an interview[3] with the band, "The male members of the band were slightly disturbed that they were made to come off as Huey Lewis and the News," Paul Morley said in an interview at the time, "so one of the reasons we tend to hide behind masks or not appear at all is because it opens up more possibilities how Art of Noise can be presented. Sometimes you had video art directors get excited about how they were going to present Art of Noise, and in that particular case, he interpreted it as a strange young girl with Huey Lewis & The News. Half of it was fun and half of it was slightly sad."
"I thought it was a fun video," Anne Dudley said, "but some people thought it was unnecessarily violent. It was banned in New Zealand as encouraging violence towards children. Nothing could have been further from our minds." The video later won the MTV Video Music Awards for Most Experimental Video and the Best Editing in 1985.
A second video version, composed almost entirely of surreal animation, aired in the UK, directed by Matt Forrest,[4] with some clips from the original version.
A third video version, mostly identical to the second video version, included various shots of the band in-studio. ZTT Records have made all of these videos viewable on YouTube.
Live performance
The track was performed live by Horn and Anne Dudley during Horn's 2004 all-star charity event Produced by Trevor Horn (later released on DVD as Slaves to the Rhythm), celebrating Horn's 25th anniversary as a record producer. The performance featured Yes's Alan White on drums and 10cc's Lol Creme on guitar. Almost all of the elements of it (except for a spoken phrase by Camilla Pilkington-Smyth, which was pre-recorded) were live, as opposed to programmed or sequenced: Horn played his elaborate bass part on a 5-string bass, Dudley played live synths and triggered all the samples from the original track (including the "dum-dum" chant) from a Roland keyboard, the "tra-la-la" vocals (originally an Andrew Sisters sample) were sung live by Linda Allen and Debi Doss of Buggles fame, all the other instruments were played by members of the onstage orchestra, and the whole piece was played faster than the original (about 135-136 BPM rather than 129). Indeed, Horn introduced the performance by emphasizing the live nature of it and stating that, since the original piece was "played by machines" (i.e. programmed), the band would introduce some deliberate mistakes to prove that everybody was live. In fact, the actual performance does not include any mistakes, but some of Dudley's melodic synth lines are slightly different from the studio version.[5]
Former Art of Noise members J. J. Jeczalik and Gary Langan do not feature in the performance, nor does music journalist and MC Paul Morley. In spite of this, the track is listed on the DVD cover and menu as being performed by Art of Noise.
^"Art Of Noise - Close (To The Edit)". 45cat.com. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
^Lai, Chi Ming (8 August 2010). "Interview with Gary Langan of The Art of Noise". electricityclub.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
^. PauseandPlay. 20 June 1999. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013.
^Booth-Clibborn, Edward (1986). "Matt Forrest". European Illustration 1986-87. Switzerland: Polygon Editions S.a.r.l. ISBN0-904866-49-1.
^"Art of Noise Close to the edit Live Prince's Trust 2004 Produced by Trevor Horn". YouTube. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
External links
Close (To the Edit) at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
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Close to the Edit is a single by English avant garde synth pop group Art of Noise released on various formats in October 1984 It was closely related to their earlier single and hip hop club hit Beat Box though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage Close to the Edit Single by Art of Noisefrom the album Who s Afraid of the Art of Noise ReleasedOctober 1984 1 RecordedMarch 1984GenreSynth pop avant gardeLength5 34 Album version 4 10 edit LabelZTTSongwriter s Anne Dudley Gary Langan J J Jeczalik Paul Morley Trevor HornProducer s Art of NoiseArt of Noise singles chronology Beat Box 1983 Close to the Edit 1984 Moments in Love 1985 Music video Close to the Edit on YouTubeThe first release of a version of Close to the Edit was as a nominal remix of Beat Box under the title Beat Box Diversion Two This was then re edited and partly remixed with different effects applied to become the version of Close to the Edit which appeared on the subsequent studio album Who s Afraid of the Art of Noise 1984 Paul Morley s sleevenotes for the single simplify the relationship between Diversion Two and Close noting only that 20 seconds were snipped out The song takes its title from the studio album Close to the Edge 1972 by Yes and also samples Leave It and Owner of a Lonely Heart by the same band the latter two of which Trevor Horn produced The single heavily features the recorded sample of a car a Volkswagen Golf owned by a neighbour of band member J J Jeczalik stalling and restarting It also contains a re sung citation needed vocal sample from the song Beer Barrel Polka as performed by the Andrews Sisters The short spoken word vocal and the Hey sample used in a number of songs most notably in Firestarter by the Prodigy and Back in the Day by Christina Aguilera uncredited was the voice of Camilla Pilkington Smyth 2 The single was released in the UK on what had become ZTT s customary array of formats standard and picture disc 7 versions five 12 singles one a picture disc and a cassette single each featuring a number of unique mixes The many remixes were given their own titles derived from the overall title including Edited Closely Closely Enough s Enough and Close Up The cassette single version That Was Close is a medley of a number of the mixes from the various formats featuring Diversion Eight Diversion Two Closest Close Up the album version of Close to the Edit and Closed This medley lasts in excess of 20 minutes in length repeats on both sides of the cassette and remained otherwise unavailable until it was included in its entirety on the 4 CD box set compilation And What Have You Done with My Body God 2006 The single was Art of Noise s first major UK hit reaching number eight in the UK singles chart in February 1985 Contents 1 Music videos 2 Live performance 3 Formats and track listing 3 1 7 ZTT ZTPS 01 United Kingdom 3 2 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom 3 3 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom 3 4 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom 3 5 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom 3 6 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom 3 7 7 ISL 7 99754 United States 3 8 12 ISL DMD 744 United States 3 9 Cassette single ZTT CTIS 106 United Kingdom 4 References 5 External linksMusic videos EditThree promotional videos were recorded for the single The original version featuring a little girl in punk garb leading three business suit clad men in the destruction of various musical instruments was directed by Zbigniew Rybczynski According to an interview 3 with the band The male members of the band were slightly disturbed that they were made to come off as Huey Lewis and the News Paul Morley said in an interview at the time so one of the reasons we tend to hide behind masks or not appear at all is because it opens up more possibilities how Art of Noise can be presented Sometimes you had video art directors get excited about how they were going to present Art of Noise and in that particular case he interpreted it as a strange young girl with Huey Lewis amp The News Half of it was fun and half of it was slightly sad I thought it was a fun video Anne Dudley said but some people thought it was unnecessarily violent It was banned in New Zealand as encouraging violence towards children Nothing could have been further from our minds The video later won the MTV Video Music Awards for Most Experimental Video and the Best Editing in 1985 A second video version composed almost entirely of surreal animation aired in the UK directed by Matt Forrest 4 with some clips from the original version A third video version mostly identical to the second video version included various shots of the band in studio ZTT Records have made all of these videos viewable on YouTube Live performance EditThe track was performed live by Horn and Anne Dudley during Horn s 2004 all star charity event Produced by Trevor Horn later released on DVD as Slaves to the Rhythm celebrating Horn s 25th anniversary as a record producer The performance featured Yes s Alan White on drums and 10cc s Lol Creme on guitar Almost all of the elements of it except for a spoken phrase by Camilla Pilkington Smyth which was pre recorded were live as opposed to programmed or sequenced Horn played his elaborate bass part on a 5 string bass Dudley played live synths and triggered all the samples from the original track including the dum dum chant from a Roland keyboard the tra la la vocals originally an Andrew Sisters sample were sung live by Linda Allen and Debi Doss of Buggles fame all the other instruments were played by members of the onstage orchestra and the whole piece was played faster than the original about 135 136 BPM rather than 129 Indeed Horn introduced the performance by emphasizing the live nature of it and stating that since the original piece was played by machines i e programmed the band would introduce some deliberate mistakes to prove that everybody was live In fact the actual performance does not include any mistakes but some of Dudley s melodic synth lines are slightly different from the studio version 5 Former Art of Noise members J J Jeczalik and Gary Langan do not feature in the performance nor does music journalist and MC Paul Morley In spite of this the track is listed on the DVD cover and menu as being performed by Art of Noise Formats and track listing Edit7 ZTT ZTPS 01 United Kingdom Edit Close to the Edit 3 51 A Time to Hear Who s Listening 3 32 Based on an edit of the LP version on Who s Afraid of the Art of Noise 1984 A montage of extracts and out takes from the LP 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom Edit Close Up 7 37 Close Up Hop 5 10 Significantly different to the LP version This is the first 12 inch release 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom Edit Close Up 7 37 Close Up Hop 5 10 Close to the Edit 3 51 Seven inch version This is the second 12 inch release 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom Edit Closely Closely Enough s Enough 7 15 Moments in Love 10 17 A Time to Hear You re Listening 3 29 Resembles the LP version much more than Close Up LP version Same as 7 B side with different title This is the third 12 inch release 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom Edit Closely Closely Enough s Enough 7 15 Close Up Hop 5 10 A Time to Hear Who s Listening 3 32This is the fourth 12 inch release 12 ZTT 12 ZTPS 01 United Kingdom Edit Edited 5 32 Close Up Hop 5 10 A Time to Hear Who s Listening 3 27 Similar to the LP version with additional overdubs and effects Close Up Hop is not listed on this release Picture disc 7 ISL 7 99754 United States Edit Close to the Edit 4 10 Do Donna Do 3 10 Early fade of LP version Extended mix of Into Battle track Donna 12 ISL DMD 744 United States Edit Close to the Edit LP Version 5 35 Close to the Edit Edit 4 10 Beat Box Diversion 1 8 33 Early fade of LP version US promo Cassette single ZTT CTIS 106 United Kingdom Edit That Was Close continuous medley comprising Diversion Eight 2 05 Close to the Edit album version 5 34 listed as Diversion Two Closest 0 43 Close Up 7 18 Close to the Edit 7 version 3 26 Closed 1 30Total length 20 36 Note Several earlier demo versions and rejected mixes appeared on the box set And What Have You Done with My Body God 2006 Close Up source source An excerpt from the 12 inch version Close Up Problems playing this file See media help References Edit Art Of Noise Close To The Edit 45cat com Retrieved 19 October 2019 Lai Chi Ming 8 August 2010 Interview with Gary Langan of The Art of Noise electricityclub co uk Retrieved 24 September 2021 The Art of Noise Paints Futuristic Picture of the Past PauseandPlay 20 June 1999 Archived from the original on 23 January 2013 Booth Clibborn Edward 1986 Matt Forrest European Illustration 1986 87 Switzerland Polygon Editions S a r l ISBN 0 904866 49 1 Art of Noise Close to the edit Live Prince s Trust 2004 Produced by Trevor Horn YouTube Archived from the original on 22 December 2021 Retrieved 19 October 2019 External links EditClose To the Edit at MusicBrainz list of releases Close to the Edit version 1 on YouTube Close to the Edit version 2 on YouTube Close to the Edit version 3 on YouTube Close to the Edit at Discogs list of releases Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Close to the Edit amp oldid 1127107464, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
