 Pete
Shelley's classic solo album Homosapien has
been released on CD for the first time in the USA by Razor
& Tie! It includes 5 tracks from the also-classic XL1
as a bonus! Overseas fans should note that it contains tracks
from the original US-Arista Records release not on the UK-Genetic/Island
release such as "Love in Vain" and "In Love
with Somebody Else."
***The
following is reprinted in its entirety from a review in the
Los Angeles
Times, March 14, 1997: by Robert Hilburn; Rating: 3 out
of 4 stars. Pete Shelley, HOMOSAPIEN, Razor &
Tie Records***"Though
this early '80s synth-pop by one of the co-founders of England's
Buzzcocks rock group stirred slight commercial interest at
the time, the critically admired recordings helped shatter
the image of synthesizer music as something sterile and cold.
In fact, Shelley injected his songs with such wonderfully
stimulating and evocative touches that you could picture such
diverse pop-rock figures as Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor
and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker both being influenced by these tracks
as youngsters. "For
Reznor, 'Homosapien'--the single and album--pointed to ways
electronic music could be used to frame extremes. At the same
time, Shelley's music may have underscored for Cocker the
wonders of the seductive pop melodies and sweeping arrangements.
"In
these 15 tracks, drawn from two solo albums, Shelley creates
an extraordinary musical tension at times by contrasting bright,
bubbly textures with themes of overpowering obsessions--romantic
and otherwise.
"It
is solidly crafted and disarmingly vulnerable pop, filled
with moments of unchecked desire and paralyzing insecurities--told
with a witty sophistication reminiscent of David Bowie and
Bryan Ferry."
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