ISDN (album)

ISDN
Second edition cover
Live album by
The Future Sound of London
Released5 December 1994 (limited)
5 June 1995 (second)[1]
RecordedEarthbeat Studios
GenreAmbient, techno, ambient dub, experimental
Length74:57 (limited)
75:27 (second)
LabelVirgin
The Future Sound of London chronology
Lifeforms
(1994) 		ISDN
(1994) 		Dead Cities
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Almost Cool(8.5/10)[3]
Music Week[4]
Muzik[5]
NME[6]
Fluffhouse[7]

ISDN is an album by the electronic music duo the Future Sound of London (FSOL). It was released in two different versions in 1994 and 1995 through Virgin Records. The music is edited together from various live broadcasts that the band had transmitted to radio stations all over the world using an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a new technology at the time. Its first release in December 1994 entered the Chart Information Network's (CIN) Dance Albums Chart at no. 1.[8] The band repeated the format in 1997 with the limited edition ISDN Show, another live album of ISDN broadcasts.

The album

Stylistically, the record features some of the ambience of their previous work, but brings in elements of trip hop, acid jazz and Middle Eastern music.[9]

The two released versions have different track listings and cover art. The limited edition, a 10,000-copy pressing released in December 1994, has a black cover. It entered the CIN's UK Dance Albums Chart at no. 1 on 17 December 1994.[8]

The later release, which first appeared in June 1995, has a white cover with black writing, and a different track listing.

Samples

The album contains references to several films; Repo Man in "Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead" is a line spoken by the character J. Frank Parnell. "It's My Mind That Works" samples Miller saying "you know the way everybody's into weirdness right now?" and "it's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness." [a] There are also samples from the sci-fi epic movie Aliens in the track "Far Out Son Of Lung And The Ramblings Of A Madman",[3] [b] along with robotic sounds and laser-fire from the film The Black Hole in the track "Just a Fuckin Idiot", and samples from films Escape from New York, Predator and Exorcist II: The Heretic [c] scattered throughout the record.

Track listing

Limited edition

  1. "Just a Fuckin Idiot" – 5:39
  2. "The Far out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman" – 4:29
  3. "Appendage" – 2:26
  4. "Slider" – 7:22
  5. "Smokin Japanese Babe" – 4:59
  6. "You're Creeping Me Out" – 6:32
  7. "Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead" – 3:45
  8. "It's My Mind That Works" – 3:25
  9. "Dirty Shadows" – 6:15
  10. "Tired" – 6:32
  11. "Egypt" – 4:11
  12. "Are They Fightin Us" – 6:23
  13. "Hot Knives" – 3:20
  14. "A Study of Six Guitars" – 4:13
  15. "An End of Sorts" – 5:26

Second edition

  1. "Just a Fuckin Idiot" – 5:39
  2. "The Far out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman" – 4:29
  3. "Appendage" – 2:26
  4. "Slider" – 7:22
  5. "Smokin Japanese Babe" – 4:59
  6. "You're Creeping Me Out" – 6:32
  7. "Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead" – 3:45
  8. "It's My Mind That Works" – 3:25
  9. "Dirty Shadows" – 6:15
  10. "Tired" – 6:32
  11. "Egypt" – 4:11
  12. "Kai" – 4:24
  13. "Amoeba" – 5:21
  14. "A Study of Six Guitars" – 4:13
  15. "Snake Hips" – 5:52

Vinyl edition

  1. "Just a Fuckin Idiot" – 5:39
  2. "The Far out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman" – 4:29
  3. "Appendage" – 2:26
  4. "Slider" – 7:22
  5. "Smokin Japanese Babe" – 4:59
  6. "You're Creeping Me Out" – 6:32
  7. "Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead" – 3:45
  8. "It's My Mind That Works" – 3:25
  9. "Dirty Shadows" – 6:15
  10. "Tired" – 6:32
  11. "Egypt" – 4:11
  12. "Are They Fightin Us" – 6:23
  13. "Kai" – 4:24
  14. "Amoeba" – 5:21
  15. "A Study of Six Guitars" – 4:13
  16. "Snake Hips" – 5:52

Personnel

  • Written and produced by The Future Sound of London
  • Engineered by Yage for EBV
  • Recorded live at Earthbeat Studios, London 1995, during various ISDN transmissions
  • Guitar on "Dirty Shadows" was sourced from Robert Fripp live with FSOL, Radio 1 FM, on 14 May 1994.
  • John Williams - acoustic bass loops was sourced from the album Cavatina - put through the machines on "Smokin' Japanese Babe" & "Are They Fightin Us".
  • "Snake Hips" contains a horn sample from "Vegas El Bandito" and additional percussion loop from "Kundalini" by 23 Skidoo.
  • "Slider" and "Kai" contain samples from "The Waiting Room" by Genesis (from the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway).

Charts

Chart (1994) Peak
position
CIN Dance Albums Chart (CIN)[8] 1

Notes

  1. ^ [10]
    Miller: A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents and things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate of shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in looking for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness.
    Otto: You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days?
    Miller: I'll give you another instance: you know how everybody's into weirdness right now?...
    written by: Alexander B. H. Cox
  2. ^ [11]
    "Alright let's see what we can see
    everyone online looking good"
    screenplay by: James Cameron
    film was based on characters by: Dan O'Bannon & Ronald Shusett
  3. ^ Dirty Shadows: [12]
    Regan MacNeil: You want me to take you to him?
    Father Lamont: Yes.
    Regan MacNeil: Come. Fly the teeth of the wind. Share my wings.
    written by William Malcolm Goodhart (1925, New Haven, Connecticut -1999, Shelter Island, New York) [13]

References

  1. ^ "New albums". Music Week. 3 June 1995. p. 52.
  2. ^ ISDN at AllMusic
  3. ^ a b "Future Sound Of London – ISDN – almost cool music review". Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  4. ^ "Reviews: Albums" (PDF). Music Week. 26 November 1994. p. 21. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  5. ^ Bush, Calvin (July 1995). "Future Sound of London: ISDN" (PDF). Muzik. No. 2. p. 85. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2022.
  6. ^ NME (12/10/94, p.44) - 8 (out of 10) - "...has more bite and more energy [than Lifeforms], possibly as a result of being performed live...the ideal soundtrack for going surfing around the rings of Saturn or hang-gliding through the methane clouds of Jupiter..."
  7. ^ "Fluffhouse review - The Future Sound Of London - ISDN". Archived from the original on 13 July 2004.
  8. ^ a b c Redmond, Steve, ed. (17 December 1994). "Dance Albums" (PDF). Music Week. London: Spotlight Publications. p. 26.
  9. ^ The Future Sound of London: Welcome to the Galaxial Pharmaceutical Archived 13 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "The Most Memorable Quotes From 'Repo Man'". Ranker.
  11. ^ "Movie-Sounds.org › Sci-Fi Movie Quotes › Aliens (1986)". movie-sounds.org.
  12. ^ "Exorcist II: The Heretic Quotes". imdb.com.
  13. ^ "William Goodhart(1925-1999)". imdb.com.
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