This is the version of Accelerator that I first bought. It’s the one that was in my local indie alongside the group’s Virgin albums. It was the only version in print for a long time. So for me, it remains the ‘proper’ version of the album.
Coinciding with the release of the ‘Expander‘ single in 1994, Jumpin’ & Pumpin’ decided to reissue Accelerator. After the huge success of Lifeforms and the ISDN tour, the label were no doubt keen to make the most of their own Dougans/Cobain property, and decided to release a new single and put out an expanded version of their one FSOL album. Expanded in both music and visuals, the 1994 reissue did a reasonable job of aligning the album with the group’s Virgin catalogue. Principally, other than the front cover, only given a subtle change in the title bars, all the artwork in this release is new, including general use of Microgramma, the by-then standard FSOL font. Used on the back cover and spine of the CD, as well as an alternate cover on the back of the booklet, the font adds a sense of uniformity with the bulk of the Virgin catalogue.
Thankfully, there’s no revisionism here, with the extra booklet pages containing period graphics, largely variations on the explosive style of the cover image, as well as an amusing shot of Brian and Garry in sunglasses. In fact, the art is so utterly in keeping with the era – and totally different to the later designs – that I never guessed that the package wasn’t put together in ’92. It’s only the appearance of the EBV logo that really gives things away. There’s an advert for the Earthbeat compilation, labelled “Also Available From The EarthBeat Studios,” and, cheekily, no P.O. Box address for the band, but one for Jumpin’ & Pumpin’ instead. Buggy is amusingly credited as Mr B.G. Riphead.
The band supplied two bonus tracks for the reissue: remixes of ‘Expander’ and ‘Moscow’. It’s hard to know exactly how sales were affected by the doubling up, but both tracks were also released on the ‘Expander’ single at the same time, making purchases of both CDs somewhat pointless.
With an already length 52 minute runtime, no bonus tracks were added to the vinyl re-press, but the reissue artwork is exclusive, a blend of the original and updated CD versions. The back cover is identical to the original release.
Release date: July 1994
Other issues:
Accelerator
Accelerator (1996)
Accelerator / Papua New Guinea Mix Anthology
Accelerator (25th Anniversary Edition)
Accelerator (30th Anniversary Edition)
Tracklists
CD (CD TOT 2R)
1. Expander
2. Stolen Documents
3. While Others Cry
4. Calcium
5. It’s Not My Problem
6. Papua New Guinea
7. Moscow
8. 1 in 8
9. Pulse State
10. Central Industrial
11. Expander (Remix)
12. Moscow (Remix)
Credits
Written & produced by The Future Sound of London.
‘Expander’ produced by Mental Cube.
‘Stolen Documents’ produced by Luco.
‘Calcium’ written by Yage – produced by Luco.
All tracks recorded and engineered at EarthBeat Studios London 1991.
Written by Brian Dougans/Garry Cobain.
Executive producer – Tim Jones.
Artwork – Mr B.G. Riphead.
Published by Skratch Music Publishing.
They entered the vortex and the dreams became reality.
Fractional Difference 