Furious Angels
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| Furious Angels | |
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| Studio album by Rob Dougan | |
| Released | Disc 1: July 2002 Disc 2: June 2003 |
| Recorded | 1995, 1998–2002 |
| Genre | Trip-hop, Ambient, Classical, Breakbeat |
| Length | Disc 1: 71:10 Disc 2: 53:43 |
| Label | UK: BMG, Cheeky US: Warner Bros., Reprise |
| Producer | Rob Dougan |
| Professional reviews | |
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Furious Angels is the debut album by Rob Dougan, released in June 2002 in the United Kingdom and in July 2003 in the United States and Europe. It was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.
Contents |
[edit] Release
Furious Angels was originally released as a single-disc album (14 tracks for its world edition, 15 for its home UK edition) dominated by vocal tracks. It was then rereleased as a two-disc album, disc one featuring all 15 songs and disc two featuring 10 instrumental versions of the vocal songs from the first disc, as well as two music videos; there's also been a special-edition set adding a booklet of lyrics and photographs.[1] The album was written, produced and mainly financed by Rob Dougan himself, rather than a studio, with funds generally raised through the licensing of tracks from the album to film and television.
A 2003 article in The Guardian noted:
Rob Dougan is a rather odd musician. He says he's not particularly interested in music, for a start. His most famous track, Clubbed to Death, is dance music that you could never dance to. He has written for both Matrix films, but doesn't seem to think much of what he did for those either. He spent six years working on his orchestral solo album, Furious Angels, which could either be an epic work of panoramic genius or a gargantuan monument to his ego, with strings—it's hard to tell. And he has just been asked to remix some Frank Sinatra tracks, even though he thinks remixes are a waste of time.[2]
[edit] Clubbed to Death
Dougan frequently attempts different variations of the same track, which usually find their way onto single releases. However the "Kurayamino variation" of "Clubbed to Death" is significantly better known than the first version due to its appearance in the film The Matrix. As a result, the "Kurayamino variation" is generally known simply as "Clubbed to Death", and the first one as "The First Mix".
The subtitle Kurayamino variation is Japanese for darkness's variation (暗闇（くらやみ） kurayami means darkness, and の no is the genitive suffix). It denotes Dougan's own mix in a tragic style, as well as his stated inspirations from dark Japanese writers such as Yukio Mishima or Yasunari Kawabata.[3]
The short strings intro is an excerpt from the first movement of Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, and the piano solo is improvised around enigma variations as well. [4] The opening string figure from Gustav Holst's "Jupiter" movement of The Planets is sampled by Dougan throughout this song. The pitch of this figure is modulated down a tone, to fit with the existing harmony.
The classical part of "Clubbed to Death 2" (only on the UK version of the album) is built around Chopin's "Prelude No. 4 in E-minor" (from Preludes, opus 28). The piece was played in the classic film The Amazing Mr. X (1948).
The drum'n'bass producer Peshay's mix of "Clubbed to Death" was included on The Big Brother soundtrack, following the first season of Big Brother in the UK. This version features only minimal string, piano and synthesizer parts and light percussion with a breakbeat section in the middle of the song. A sample of Clubbed to Death is used in commercials for the NCAAW basketball tournament. The track is famous in the UK for being featured on numerous reality TV show montages.
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Disc one
| # | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prelude" | 0:42 |
| 2. | "Furious Angels" | 5:56 |
| 3. | "Will You Follow Me?" | 3:50 |
| 4. | "Left Me for Dead" | 4:39 |
| 5. | "I'm Not Driving Anymore" | 4:34 |
| 6. | "Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Variation)" | 7:28 |
| 7. | "There's Only Me" | 5:37 |
| 8. | "Instrumental" | 4:28 |
| 9. | "Nothing at All" | 6:32 |
| 10. | "Born Yesterday" | 5:20 |
| 11. | "Speed Me Towards Death" | 4:32 |
| 12. | "Drinking Song" | 3:58 |
| 13. | "Pause" | 0:33 |
| 14. | "One and the Same (Coda)" | 5:45 |
| 15. | "Clubbed to Death 2" (UK Bonus Track. Opens with 1:00 of silence. Song is 6:10.) | 7:10 |
[edit] Disc two (instrumental)
| # | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Will You Follow Me?" | 4:34 |
| 2. | "Furious Angels" | 6:04 |
| 3. | "Left Me for Dead" | 4:40 |
| 4. | "I'm Not Driving Anymore" | 4:34 |
| 5. | "There's Only Me" | 5:36 |
| 6. | "Instrumental" | 4:30 |
| 7. | "Nothing at All" | 5:54 |
| 8. | "Born Yesterday" | 7:33 |
| 9. | "Speed Me Towards Death" | 4:30 |
| 10. | "One and the Same (Coda)" | 5:45 |
| 11. | "Clubbed to Death (Video)" | 3:28 |
| 12. | "Furious Angels (Video)" | 3:58 |
[edit] Song usage
Many of the tracks from the album have been licensed for use in feature films, advertising, or on television.[5] It is most memorable for its songs being in the Matrix series and on Top Gear.
[edit] References
- ^ Discography from Faithless/Rollo/Sister Bliss & related artists - Unofficial Discography
- ^ Sick of dance music, Will Hodgkinson, The Guardian, August 29, 2003
- ^ Japanese inspirations for Furious Angels (Archive.org copy, original dead or under reconstruction)
- ^ Piano adaptation of Enigma Variations in MIDI file
- ^ "Furious Angels repackaged album". RobDougan.com. 27 June 2003. Archived from the original on 2004-05-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20040502173457/http://www.robdougan.com/news.php?pageNum_rsOtherNews=1&totalRows_rsOtherNews=26&id=45®ion=1.
[edit] External links
- Japanese inspirations for Furious Angels (Archive.org copy, original dead or under reconstruction)
- MP3 Clubbed To Death (unofficial piano solo remix by Hobbes) (1.7 MiB) comprising only the piano parts.
- Piano adaptation of Elgar's Enigma Variations in MIDI file format (104 kiB) Close to Clubbed to Death are parts 0:00–2:00 and 16:00–16:30.
