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The Names \ In Time [FBN 112 CD]

In Time is a new studio collection by acclaimed Belgian new wave group The Names, best known for their association with Factory Records and producer Martin 'Zero' Hannett.

The 60 minute album gathers together selected tracks from two studio sets released by the group independently in 1997 and 2009. Like Swimming it features cover art and typography by Benoît Hennebert, and is in some respects a sequel to their acclaimed 80s debut, with the tracks split into contrasting 'day' and 'night' sides, mixing dynamic modern rock songs with longer, more melancholic tracks.

Halloween In June is perhaps the best song Michel Sordinia has written since their sublime Factory single Nightshift in 1980, and features guest vocals from French pop polymath Isabelle Antena. In Time also features a heartfelt tribute to Hannett (Zeroes) as well as two songs by keys player Christophe Den Tandt, the lyrics of which reflect his time as a visiting doctorate student at Yale University.

Cover art by Benoît Hennebert. Photography by Peter Staessens.

Tracklist:

1. Flesh Wounds
2. Halloween In June
3. I Am the Rain
4. This Teflon Skin
5. The Tether Ends Here
6. Wild Wind
7. Swimming
8. Zeroes
9. Friendly Fire
10. The Fall
11. In Time

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In Time [FBN 112 CD]
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Reviews:

"The Names are one of Belgium's best kept secrets. Classic New Wave, in fact. Songs such as Flesh Wounds, I Am the Rain and The Fall are jewels of this particular style. Title track In Time even features a string arrangement - to excellent effect. Somewhat rebellious, yet also reserved, melancholy and tuneful. A great success" (Dark Entries, 03/2014)

"The Names eschew reinvention for refinement. Shorn of Hannett's sensurround sound they've restored their original Factory settings, evoking Magazine right down to Michel Sordinia's arch-Devoto delivery and disillusioned-but-still-kicking intellectual vigour. While the undulating (from languor to anger and back) eight-minute Friendly Fire and the title track's baroque/ballad orientation suggest The Names thrive most at their least reverential" (Mojo, 06/2014)

"In Time is full of ghostly music, passion troubled by both aggression and melancholia. Flesh Wounds radiates with scary strangeness, while Halloween In June has a luminous simplicity. Zeroes offers opaque reminiscences of Martin Hannett, and The Tether Ends Here could serve as a soundtrack for Wim Wenders next road movie" (Magic, 05/2014)

"Belgian cold-wavers The Names are most commonly associated with their sprightly 1980 single Nightshift, their only release on Factory Records, and the following wonderful album Swimming which appeared on Brussels ally Les Disques du Crépuscule. Both were produced by maverick Martin Hannett, a man whose occasionally difficult working methods were enjoyed by the band - unlike a few others who dealt with him - so much so they wrote a song about him, included here. In Time acts as a summary of what the band have been up to since Swimming in 1982. Split into a 'day' side and a 'night' segment, the eleven selections cover a handful of tracks from Night Vision (1997, released as Jazz) along with highlights from Monsters Next Door (2009). These include their brooding homage to Hannett (Zeroes) and the riff-tastic Flesh Wounds (Magazine on steroids, in a good way), plus a one-off joint recording with bossa-nova chanteuse Isabelle Antena, the strong, sprightly Halloween In June, which first appeared on the under-rated LTM compilation After Twilight. What might have been a disjointed exercise in lesser hands and given the date-range of the recordings, In Time hangs together remarkably well and, with the exception of a couple of the Jazz tracks, all sound fresh and of a heritage related to The Names of old. A cover image by long-time Crepuscule designer Benoit Hennebert adds to the occasion" (Flipside, 02/2014)