The Future Sound of London – While Others Cry

Released on:
Accelerator
Accelerator (1994)
Accelerator (1996)
Accelerator / Papua New Guinea Mix Anthology
Accelerator (25th Anniversary Edition)
Accelerator (30th Anniversary Edition)

Runtime: 4:14 (1991, 2016), 5:27 (1992, 1996, 2001)

‘While Others Cry’ is a rare example of a Future Sound of London song with lyrics. Worldless vocal samples have long been a FSOL staple, but straight-forward, coherent words are generally kept to spoken word samples. Yargo’s ‘Carrying Mine‘ has long been publicly acknowledged as the source of the vocal, with three lines – one repeated – used throughout at a couple of points in the track. “That’s the only way I like vocals,” Garry told Melody Maker in 1992. “To take just one or two lines gives it an outer-worldly feel that doesn’t really date […] I find generally that people with a ‘message’ can only be appropriate to one time in your life and, as soon as that time is over, they lose their allure. Consequently, these days I’m into just a snatch of a vocal sample which doesn’t ever age.” Quite a contrast with the very lyrical approach to 21st century Amorphous tracks, but it’s certainly a perspective that makes most sense in the context of FSOL.

Musically, the piece carries on from ‘Stolen Documents‘ with more jazzy chords, albeit in a much more subdued way. Vibraphone melodies add to the jazzy feel, but the overall vibe is very minor key, melancholic, almost soulful. The energy is similarly lower than the first two tracks, gradually guiding the musical journey away from high-energy dance music into deeper territories, rhythmically relying on rimshots and ride cymbals that emphasise lower tempo groove and swing. The track is typically peppered with various samples and effects that add to the textured FSOL sound. It’s a gorgeous track, and one that I took to from my first listen of Accelerator.

Now, to the outro and the runtime discrepancies. On the 1991/1992 edition of Accelerator, ‘While Others Cry’ ends with a synth flourish at 4:14. The 1994 CD reissue added two tracks, and thus the entire disc had to be designed afresh, and for reasons that remain obscure, the index point changed so the track now included a 72 second environment, previously found at the start of ‘Calcium‘. The tracklist that was used on the cover, however, was not adjusted, meaning that the runtimes for both ‘While Others Cry’ and ‘Calcium’ were both out by over a minute. This baffled me when I first bought the album, as I couldn’t work out how they could get it quite so wrong. I was fascinated by little details on CD sleeves, and incorrect runtimes were a particular favourite element to get very pedantic about. Given that the 1994, 1996 and 2001 versions of the album are likely the most widespread, I’ll briefly discuss the environment here. In many ways, it makes more sense at the end of ‘While Others Cry’, as it’s quite melodic, and in the same key as the main track, making it feel like a direct musical outro rather than an appended atmospheric section. As the arpeggio begins to fade, obscured by synthetic bangs, we hear another first: the first field recording in a FSOL track, a thunder storm. Some reverb-drenched speech closes the environment. It joins the two tracks perfectly, and features some later FSOL hallmarks. All in all, a superb moment to end a fantastic track.

Credits
Written by Garry Cobain & Brian Dougans (1991 sleeve).
Written by Brian Dougans / Garry Cockbain (1991 labels).
Recorded and engineered at Earthbeat Studios – London 1991 (1991 / 1992 / 1996 / 2016).
Written by The Future Sound of London.
Produced by The Future Sound of London (2001).
Mixed by The Future Sound of London at Earthbeat Studios (2001).
Engineered by Yage (2001).