Subsonic Sarnie

AKA Meat Beat Manifesto's 1996 two-hour magnum opus Subliminal Sandwich, re-sequenced and re-edited for a C60-friendly cassette experience.

The compilation which I recorded on 23rd February 1997 was pretty crude: I loosely drafted two 30-minute 'sides' and. apart from the opening and closing tracks of side two, I'm pretty sure I then hit the 'shuffle' button on my CD player and 'record' on my tape deck. The result was an interesting sequence of music, albeit with jarring jumps from one track to the next.

I wanted to try something different with today's recreation, particularly as the original compilation pretty much only covered the first of the two CD "limited edition double album". I've kept the 18-track and (more or less) hour-long running time; the beginning and ending is also identical. 

This time, however, there's a more balanced mix, with a third of the choices coming from the second, more experimental CD. I've also used Audacity this time - I didn't even have a PC at home in 1997 - to sequence the selection and provide a slightly smoother segue between tracks. You can still spot the joins at times but I'm happy that it's a more complete, immersive experience.

It's also allowed me to listen to the album again with fresh ears. Not one of Jack Dangers' most loved MBM albums, it appears, but I was impressed by it then and am probably more so now, not least because I recognise more of the samples and studio wizardry than I did over a quarter of a century ago. 

Oh, and that's supposed to be a brain on the cassette cover, by the way, a crude rework of the album artwork. I was working in a call centre in 1997 and this reminded me that I designed and drew several C90 sleeves 'on the job'. Sometimes the work was so mind-numbingly awful that this I guess was a mindfulness task before it was labelled as such. I don't miss the job itself at all but I met and worked with some great people and we managed to have a great time, in and out of work. Happy days.

 

1) Future Worlds (Album Version)

2) Sound Innovation

3) Tweekland (ft. Mark Pistel)

4) What's Your Name? (ft. Hell Louise)

5) 1979

6) Asbestos Lead Asbestos (Album Version) (Cover of World Domination Enterprises)

7) Long Periods Of Time (ft. Mike Powell)

8) United Nations (E.T.C.)

9) Set Your Receivers

10) Nuclear Bomb (ft. Daddy Sandy, Papa Levi & Tippa Irie)

11) Teargas

12) Mass Producing Hate

13) The Utterer (ft. Mark Pistel)

14) Assasinator (ft. Daddy Sandy, Papa Levi & Tippa Irie)

15) Plexus

16) Radio Mellotron

17) Cancer

18) We Done

Subsonic Sarnie (1:09:58) (KF) (Mega)