Haunted Dancehall (Remastered)

Description

Second album in 1994 from the trio. It is a conceptual album, each track accompanied by a text by James Woodbourne. It also includes additional production by Portishead and Mr Scruff. By the time of this album's release, The Sabres Of Paradise had evolved from a production trio into a full-fledged group, embarking on tours and adding extra members such as Rich Thair of Red Snapper and Phil Mossman, who would later join LCD Soundsystem. The studio sound also changed radically, using samples (notably on "Wilmot," with its 1930s voodoo jazz accents), live instruments (the heavy twang guitar riff of "Tow Truck"), and a deep love for film music, audible throughout the album, from the funk of "Theme" to the noirish soundscapes of the title track. The impression that the album is itself a soundtrack is reinforced by the text accompanying each track, said to have been written by Weatherall himself under a pseudonym, each fragment of text coming together to form a dark and dimly lit story. The Guardian summed up Haunted Dancehall as "the first conceptual techno album."