Raise The Pressure

Option - "...Sumner's voice, although limited, is considerably warmer than in his days with New Order....Johnny Marr (The Smiths) provides guitar riffs that are as surprising as they are welcome....Neither lad has forgotten his dance floor moves..." Musician - "...The contrast between Marr's cooly aggressive playing and Sumner's plain yet droll voice is engrossing....There's certainly nothing wrong with Sumner's pop sensibilities..." Q - 3 Stars - Good - "...shuffling, infectious dance beats, minimal, tasteful guitar work and deceptively addictive melodies....even RAISE THE PRESSURE's weaker, less imaginative moments will bore their way into the most unreceptive of skulls..." Melody Maker - "...the second essential album from Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, Manchester's poet laureates of everything electr(on)ic and existential....RAISE THE PRESSURE sounds like a different album on different days. Play it when the sun or the mood is up and it's a lesson in joy, stick it on on a rainy day...and the same tunes sound hopeless, desperate to the point of collapse..." Alternative Press - 3 (out of 5) - "...vivacious pop bounce that will roost in your skull forever..." Musician (9/96, pp.90-91) - "...The contrast between Marr's cooly aggressive playing and Sumner's plain yet droll voice is engrossing....There's certainly nothing wrong with Sumner's pop sensibilities..." Q (8/96, p.112) - 3 Stars - Good - "...shuffling, infectious dance beats, minimal, tasteful guitar work and deceptively addictive melodies....even RAISE THE PRESSURE's weaker, less imaginative moments will bore their way into the most unreceptive of skulls..." Melody Maker (7/6/96, p.44) - "...the second essential album from Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, Manchester's poet laureates of everything electr(on)ic and existential....RAISE THE PRESSURE sounds like a different album on different days. Play it when the sun or the mood is up and it's a lesson in joy, stick it on on a rainy day...and the same tunes sound hopeless, desperate to the point of collapse..." Option (11-12/96, p.102) - "...Sumner's voice, although limited, is considerably warmer than in his days with New Order....Johnny Marr (The Smiths) provides guitar riffs that are as surprising as they are welcome....Neither lad has forgotten his dance floor moves..." Alternative Press (10/96, p. 84-85) - 3 (out of 5) - "...vivacious pop bounce that will roost in your skull forever..."

The Victorian pastoral cover clashes nicely with the band name and album title, which is the whole point of Electronic. Originally a side-project duo from Manchester, pairing Johnny Marr (ex-Smiths) with Bernard Sumner (ex-New Order), Electronic had grown into nearly a complete band by the time of this sophomore release, with keyboardist Karl Bartos and Marr sharing writing credits on about half of the album.
For most of RAISE THE PRESSURE, acoustic guitars meld with sprightly keyboards on songs such as "Until the End of Time" and "Dark Angel", in a style reminiscent of the last couple of New Order albums. "If You've Got Love", with its Hi-NRG beat and gospel backing vocals, actually resembles mid-period Erasure more than it does either of the partners' old bands. RAISE THE PRESSURE is a smart, unfailingly pleasant electro-pop album.|