Cabaret Voltaire: Red Mecca

The release last week of Shadow of Fear, the first Cabaret Voltaire album since 1994's The Conversation, has led to much discussion about whether Richard H. Kirk's decision to reassume the moniker on his own without original bassist and vocalist Stephen Mallinder is fair or reasonable.  Given that Mallinder moved to Australia in the early 90s, it seems perfectly understandable that Kirk, who has also carefully curated a number of CV archival recordings, re-releases and re-imaginings, the remarkable 2011 Johnny YesNo set being most notable with the latter, and who built a staggering portfolio of diverse released under many monikers over that roughly quarter-century, decided about a decade ago to carry the mantle once again.  The new album, pre-ordered back in August, arrived just after the release date and has been listened to many times, so it'll be featured here at some point.

Meantime, this post concerns 1981's amazing Red Mecca, released by Rough Trade and the last full recording made with Christopher Watson, before he departed for a television sound engineering job and other projects, including field recordings covered here previously, though he did appear on half of the transitional and amazing 2x45, released in spring 1982.  This third full-length, after 1979's Mix-Up and 1980's Voice of America, along with other releases, such as the very interesting Three Mantras (also from 1980), reflected a crystallizing of what the early Cabaret Voltaire did so well.  The fantastic melange of electronic and acoustic sounds, with Watson handling the Vox Continental keyboard and tapes, Mallinder on vocals and bass, along with a bit of bongos, and Kirk on synths, guitar, clarinet and other horns and strings, is a better conceived, more ordered, better performed and more richly developed package of material than the previous albums.  Everything is strong here, with favorites being the too-short "Landslide," "Red Mask," and "Black Mask."  With Watson's subsequent departure, Kirk and Mallinder wisely decided to refocus and retool the CV sound, so Red Mecca stands as the high-water mark for the first phase of this remarkable group.