From A to B

UK LP: GTO, GTLP 041
UK CASSETTE: GTO, GTMC 041
Released 1 May 1980

A1. Straight Lines 5.12
A2. Sanctuary 4.16
A3. A Map of You 3.51
A4. Science 3.21
A5. On Islands 4.25
B6. This World of Water 3.40
B7. Living by Numbers 3.30
B8. Dead Fish (Don't Swim Home) 5.27
B9. Adventures 3.54
B10. The Safe Side 3.11

Several CD releases exist with the standard album tracks plus bonus tracks as follows:

EUROPEAN CD: GTO 474616 2
EUROPEAN "REWIND" CD: GTO 477353 2
Released April 1994

11. Missing Persons (inc Tell Me Something New) 5.45
12. She's a Magazine 4.21
13. Sad Films 2.42

JAPANESE CD: Sony/Epic ESCA 7850
Released 11 Jan 2001

11. Missing Persons (inc Tell Me Something New) 5.45
12. She's a Magazine 4.16
13. Chik Musik 2.12
14. Magazine Musik 1.03
15. Sad Films 2.44
16. Under Attack 4.10
17. And 4.39

"The Hunt for 'And' and 'Under Attack'"

UK CD: Edsel EDCD 678 (titled 'From A to B... plus")
Released 29 Jan 2001

11. Sad Films 2.41
12. Missing Persons 3.29
13. Tell Me Something New 2.10
14. She's a Magazine 4.16
15. Chik Musik 2.10
16. Magazine Musik 0.54

Reviews

Tony once described this album in an interview as "rudimentary", and "a collection of separate sessions, it wasn't recorded as an album", and said the follow up album, Anywhere, was his favourite album.

Personally though, I will always consider this to be the classic NM album. It contains four strong singles (hits, though not huge sellers) which all hold their own still today. Amazingly though, there is no filler. As we have seen, one or two of the non-singles on the album are actually as good if not even better than the single releases.

The quality is very high throughout, with solid musicianship and fresh ideas. It would turn out to be the most 'band' sounding material they would record too, as opposed to a studio creation (though I'm not necessarily suggesting that's better).

It's very advanced indeed for late 1979/ early 1980, and Tony manages to combine lovely acoustic sounds and a mastery of new electronics and recording effects. His synths are more 'natural' sounding and better developed than what other artists were doing back then, and there is a warmth and that beautiful sad atmosphere here which no one else can do, and a refreshing lack of gimmickry.

The musik is melodious and grown up. Tony never went in for copying other bands or artists (Chik Music the obvious exception), or allowed his musik to be overtly influenced by others. But this is certainly an influential album, and one which would showcase Tony's skills as a producer as well as electronic music pioneer.

The lyrics are intelligent and generally centre around alienation and mankind's inability to cope in the modern world. Subjects too deep for most of his contemporaries - no sci-fi here! Tony gives an excellent vocal performance too - perfect for the songs. He's English and doesn't sing in an American accent, which is to be applauded; nor does he go for ridiculous 'vocal gymnastic' styles (like almost everyone these days).

The image conscious pop buying audience never really got their heads around this album though, and it remained very much underrated and ignored, which is a big shame. Tony and the lads ignored fashion, image and egos, and concentrated solely on the music. Maybe if they had got into dressing up, exploring their feminine side a bit (make up, hairdos etc), and taken lessons in how to look good on TV, things just might have turned out differently? And we might still have them on the circuit today, performing versions of these classics alongside new material...

A classic example of how music really hasn't evolved much since back in the creative days of 1979-81; not when you consider that the same period of time previous to then would have been the early 1950s(!) Well, certainly it's changed, but not for the better.

99/100

Brilliant.

(Richard M)