Raise the Pressure

Recording

Seven of the thirteen tracks were composed by full-time members Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, and the other six co-written with former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos. He was recommended to Electronic via a friend of Sumner's, and commuted to Manchester throughout 1995 during the recording sessions, which stretched from late 1994 to late 1995.

The protracted sessions resulted in a dense, thick production that was later acknowledged by both Sumner and Marr and criticised in professional reviews; they consequently spent much less time on their next album Twisted Tenderness.

Raise the Pressure was also remarked upon for Bernard Sumner's impressionistic lyrics, which some saw as the result of his use of Prozac during this period, following an appearance on the BBC 2 programme The Late Show, which explored the effects of the antidepressant on creativity. According to Sumner, however, he only wrote one lyric whilst under the influence of Prozac. Musically the album comprises guitar pop/rock songs ("One Day", "Out of My League") and more dance oriented tracks ("Until the End of Time", "If You've Got Love").

In a May 1995 interview with Melody Maker, Bernard spoke about the recording process and his experience with Prozac. Bernard revealed the 14 songs written by him and Johnny at this point, a few of which retained their titles: Forbidden City, For You, Visit Me, Second Nature, and Time Can Tell, remained as is, whilst the other tracks mentioned were "Intaferon", "As the World Turns", "Cold Anger", "Breathless", "Positive", "Too Much Trouble" and "Raise the Pressure".

The title 'Raise the Pressure' was taken from Jon Savage's 1991 book "England's Dreaming" on the Sex Pistols and Punk scene, according to Johnny Marr.

Artwork

The album cover is a painting of a cherub by Johannes Handschin, which echoes the sleeve of New Order's 1989 album Technique. The title of the album appears on the inner inlay sleeve of most CD releases; the Australian CD and cassette editions are two which have Raise the Pressure placed on the cover. This was the last Electronic album to be released on vinyl.

Reception

Unlike its predecessor Electronic, Raise the Pressure received mixed reviews and did not perform as well commercially, with the first two singles "Forbidden City" and "For You" charting modestly in the UK Top 20, and the third, "Second Nature", barely making the Top 40. In the US no commercial singles were released, with "Forbidden City" and "Second Nature" issued only as promotional radio-play discs. Four mixes of "Until the End of Time" were released through the Electronic mailing list in October 1997; this item and a maxi single of "Second Nature" remixes are among the most sought-after recordings by the band.

In 2007 a download-only edition of Raise the Pressure was released on the iTunes Store, adding all five B-sides from the single releases. The remixes of "Until the End of Time" were also released on iTunes at this time.

Personnel

Bernard Sumner – vocals, keyboards, production

Johnny Marr – guitars, bass, keyboards, production

Karl Bartos – keyboards

Denise Johnson – additional vocals

Ged Lynch – drums, percussion

Donald Johnson – drums on "One Day"

Danny Saber – organ on "Out of My League"

Guy Pratt – bass on "Time Can Tell"

Alan Meyerson – mixing (1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13)

James Spencer – mixing (2, 3, 8, 10, 11), engineering

Johannes Handschin – artwork

Paul Barnes – band logo

Howard Wakefield and Peter Saville – design