Various – EarthBeat

“We don’t ever want to be able to be pinned down.” Garry Cobain, Melody Maker, 25/7/92.

If a single quote could sum up the Passion Music era of Brian and Garry’s career, it might well be that. Between July 1990 and November 1992, the pair put out over 100 tracks (including remixes), covering everything from vocal house to breakbeat funk, hardcore rave to Detroit techno, ambient to electro, experimental electronics to Balearic house, acid to atmospheric breaks, using 13 aliases in the process (14 if you count Deep Field).

With the pair signing to major label Virgin Records in late ’92, they approved a final release for Passion: a 16 track compilation called EarthBeat, covering most of the styles and aliases they had released for its two sub-labels, Debut and Jumpin’ & Pumpin’. By this point, Debut’s output had slowed down, and with most of the successful releases on J&P, the latter was chosen as the Passion sub-label to release the compilation.

FSOL being FSOL, they made the compilation worthwhile for fans, offering several alternate mixes and one exclusive track. Never ones to do things the simple way, they only included one Future Sound of London track, ‘Papua New Guinea’, only in its ‘Dumb Child of Q’ ambient version rather than the more well known ’12” Original’ version. Perhaps it was a hint that FSOL was a name to associate with ambient music in the future, perhaps it was perverseness for its own sake. Either way, it all adds to the weirdness of the FSOL story.

Of the exclusive mixes, two are very subtle – ‘Stakker Humanoid (Coby ’94 Mix)’ features a slightly extended outro and ‘Owl’ cuts the rap sample from the 12″ version – while the versions of ‘Q’ and ‘Tingler’ are new takes in their own right. The final two tracks feature hasty fade-outs on the CD edition – to keep it within red book standards of the time – although these edits aren’t referenced on the sleeve. The one exclusive track, Yage’s ‘Theme from Hot Burst’, is quite unlike anything else they released at the time. Other than where a specific remix was included and, bizarrely, ‘Original’ added to what was very much not the original version of ‘Q’, no prior mix names were included as part of the tracklist. Oddly, ‘People Livin’ Today’ features in its ‘Med Mix’ form without reference on the sleeve.

Eight of the group’s 13 aliases are represented on the compilation. Of the five missing names, two omissions are straight-forward (Luco with no original tracks, Aircut on Beat Farm Records), a further two are fairly unsurprising due to their early, slightly primitive sound (Art Science Technology and Yunie), while the wonderful Intelligent Communication were likely left off due to the cool reception the label had to the EP. Stylistically, most of the bases are covered on the album, which was almost certainly an intentional decision. As Garry said in 1992, “that’s the problem of the last couple of years, people have just picked upon one style. It’s been rather like being a football supporter and hating everyone apart from who you support. We listen to anything that’s good; we’d be spiking our faces if we didn’t, really.” (As an aside, that unidentified interview continues with this wonderful moment: Brian looks at Garry incredulously. “Spiking our faces?”). Cobain would later sum it up on the EBV website in his usual sardonic style as “a convenient synopsis of this formative period before the fat lazy concept years took hold”.

After a couple of years of working primitive computer graphics, Buggy provided one final cover, a full-colour explosion behind the Earthbeat logo. By this point, Bugs had become the de-facto in-house designer at Jumpin’ & Pumpin’, with every release from TOT 14 to TOT 30 sporting a Buggy cover and the label reverting to generic sleeves after the band signed to Virgin. Buggy gave himself an expanded credit as “Silikon optic”, a one-off alternative to his 1991 role as “profile control”. As with the initial release of Accelerator, no inner sleeve was included. Surprisingly, the FSOL pyramid is not on the sleeve; the Earthbeat logo appears alongside the “Earth Beat” text for the second-to-last time. The LP labels were, also, one of the last times Garry would be credited with his birth name of Cockbain. The sleeve also features Tim Jones’s final credit as executive producer. The cover also features a hype sticker, proclaiming the album “features Semi Real – “People Livin’ Today” on a double album of phenomenal music written & produced by The Future Sound of London”, giving an idea of just how popular ‘People Livin’ Today‘ was in clubs at the time.

For many, EarthBeat was their first introduction to the complex world of Brian and Garry’s early alias-led days. As a simple introduction, it works very well, with fairly equal coverage of their various styles, with house tracks sat alongside rave and breakbeats. This also makes it a very uneven record, and although it includes a lot of strong tracks, it feels like a compilation and in no way an album. But then such a record was always going to be that way. For those who prefer their early FSOL rave-oriented, The Pulse EPs is a safer bet; those who are after something deeper and more complex should stick to Accelerator for their pre-Virgin listening. In 2007, something of a companion album was released under the name By Any Other Name as part of the group’s archives series, featuring unreleased material from this time with a similar range of styles and aliases.

With the release of EarthBeat, Brian and Garry’s relationship with Passion Music and Jumpin’ & Pumpin’ came to an apparent end. In years to come, of course, they would team up together on numerous occasions, but while it would later turn out to be an ellipsis, at the time, the album felt very much like a full stop at the end of this stage of the band’s career.

A 30th anniversary CD edition was released, bizarrely, in 2021, with a 2LP to follow in 2022. The music is identical, but the CD does contain a booklet of period press clippings and artwork.

Released: November 1992.

Tracklist:
CD (CD TOT 7 / CD TOT 7R)
1. Mental Cube – Q (Original)
2. Yage – Quazi
3. Candese – You Took My Love
4. The Future Sound of London – Papua New Guinea (Dumb Child of Q)
5. Indo Tribe – Owl
6. Semi Real – People Livin’ Today
7. Yage – Theme from Hot Burst
8. Indo Tribe – Shrink
9. Mental Cube – So This is Love
10. Mental Cube – Chile of the Bass Generation
11. Smart Systems – Tingler (Remix)
12. Yage – Coda Coma
13. Indo Tribe – In the Mind of a Child
14. Humanoid – Stakker Humanoid (Coby ’94 Mix)
15. Smart Systems – Creator
16. Indo Tribe – Bite the Bullet Baby

2LP (LP TOT 7)
A1. Mental Cube – Q (Original)
A2. Yage – Quazi
A3. Candese – You Took My Love
A4. The Future Sound of London – Papua New Guinea (Dumb Child of Q)
B1. Indo Tribe – Owl
B2. Semi Real – People Livin’ Today
B3. Yage – Theme from Hot Burst
B4. Indo Tribe – Shrink
C1. Mental Cube – So This is Love
C2. Mental Cube – Chile of the Bass Generation
C3. Smart Systems – Tingler (Remix)
C4. Yage – Coda Coma
D1. Indo Tribe – In the Mind of a Child
D2. Humanoid – Stakker Humanoid (Coby ’94 Mix)
D3. Smart Systems – Creator
D4. Indo Tribe – Bite the Bullet Baby

Cassette (MC TOT 7)
A1. Mental Cube – Q (Original)
A2. Yage – Quazi
A3. Candese – You Took My Love
A4. The Future Sound of London – Papua New Guinea (Dumb Child of Q)
A5. Indo Tribe – Owl
A6. Semi Real – People Livin’ Today
A7. Yage – Theme from Hot Burst
A8. Indo Tribe – Shrink
B1. Mental Cube – So This is Love
B2. Mental Cube – Chile of the Bass Generation
B3. Smart Systems – Tingler (Remix)
B4. Yage – Coda Coma
B5. Indo Tribe – In the Mind of a Child
B6. Humanoid – Stakker Humanoid (Coby ’94 Mix)
B7. Smart Systems – Creator
B8. Indo Tribe – Bite the Bullet Baby

Credits
All tracks written by Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain (sleeve).
Written by Brian Dougans / Garry Cockbain (record labels).
‘Coda Coma’ written by Dougans / Cobain / Pajnutticeverio.
All tracks produced by The Future Sound of London.
‘You Took My Love’ and ‘Owl’ produced by Mental Cube.
‘Q (Original)’, ‘Quazi’ and ‘Theme from Hot Burst’ produced by Yage.
Silikon optik design & artwork – Buggy G. Riphead.
Executive Producer / EarthBeat Studios – Tim Jones.
Published by Skratch Music Publishing.
‘Stakker Humanoid (Coby ’94 Mix)’ published by Westbury Music Ltd.