Night Time (album)
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Night Time is the fifth studio album by the English post-punk band Killing Joke, released on 25 February 1985 by E.G. through Polydor Records and produced by Chris Kimsey. It entered the UK Albums chart on 9 March 1985 at number 11, their highest position to date and it stayed nine weeks in that chart.[1] "Love Like Blood" had been a top 20 hit-single in the UK Singles chart prior to the album's release.
Background and recording
Most of the songs of Night Time were written in Geneva, Switzerland. The band had felt they needed a change in 1983 and went living there for a while. Singer Jaz Coleman wrote the lyrics of "Eighties" and "Love like Blood" in that city.[2]
The album was recorded in Berlin, Germany; Killing Joke were there for five weeks. The atmosphere suited as it was a "cold place". Kimsey recorded the band as they were with a live sound and he didn't put much emphasis on the mix. The group described him as a "true engineer". Coleman declared back then that he was unstable and unbalanced during the sessions.[3]
Release and promotion
Ahead of the release of the album, the band performed three songs live on the UK TV show The Tube on 25 January 1985: first the title track of the album plus the then current hit-single and finally "Kings and Queens".
Night Time was released in late February 1985 by E.G. Records through Polydor. It was an international hit, reaching number 11 in the United Kingdom in its first week on 9 March,[1] number 8 in New Zealand[4] and number 50 in Sweden.[5]
The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2008 with nine bonus tracks, including 1984 Kid Jensen BBC radio sessions, the non-album single "A New Day" and the previously-unreleased complete version of "Blue Feather" (previously only available as an instrumental remix on the B-side to "Love Like Blood").
Critical reception
The album generally received favourable response. In retrospective reviews, PopMatters opined that the band "perfected" their "balance between antagonism and accessibility", commenting "the band are simply on fire on this record".[6] AllMusic commented that the album found the band "caught between their earlier aggression and a calmer, more immediately accessible approach".[7]
Legacy
Ned Raggett of AllMusic remarked that "Eighties" turned out to be the retrospectively most well-known song, due to a surprising and not always remembered example of Killing Joke's influence -- Nirvana, of all groups, thoroughly cloned the watery guitar line at the heart of the track for "Come as You Are"".[7]
Track listing
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Personnel
Killing Joke
- Jaz Coleman – vocals, keyboards
- Kevin "Geordie" Walker – guitar
- Paul Raven – bass guitar
- Paul Ferguson – drums, vocals
Production and artwork
- Chris Kimsey – production, mixing
- Brian McGhee – engineering
- Thomas Stiehler – engineering
- Jeff Veitch – photography
- Rob O'Connor – sleeve design
- Alex Zander – crew
- Brad Nelson – crew
- Fil. E. – crew
Charts
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Albums Chart[4] | 8 |
| Swedish Albums Chart[5] | 50 |
| UK Albums Chart[1] | 11 |
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Greek Albums (IFPI)[8] | 77 |
References
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- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "Jaz Coleman Discusses - interview in Geneva". Earth House. 7 March 2025.
- ↑ "Rock On Saturday afternoon -Jaz Coleman and Paul Raven of Killing Joke interviewed by Richard Skinner". BBC radio one. Aired: 23 February 1985.
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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External links
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