Facts of Life Pt.2 [CD-single]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Dark pop music with quirky female vocals. Featuring Auteurs henchman Luke Haines. Tracks 'The Facts Of Life' (Album Version', 'Brutality' & 'Watch The Angel, Not The Wire'. 2000 release. Slimline jewel case.

Tracks:

The Art Of Driving
Weekend
The English Motorway System
May Queen
Sex Life
French Rock 'N' Roll
The Facts Of Life
Straight Life
Gift Horse
The Deverell Twins
Goodnight Kiss
Start As You Mean To Go On
Brutality

Amazon.com

The first Black Box Recorder album, 1998's England Made Me, was originally conceived by Auteurs and Baader Meinhof frontman Luke Haines as a typically baleful response to the cultural and political hysteria--respectively, Britpop and Tony Blair--then gripping Britain. Recorded with the help of former Jesus & Mary Chain drummer John Moore and singer Sarah Nixey, it did for Britpop roughly what the film Carrie did for the senior prom. The Facts of Life, the follow-up, maintains the withering glare but fixes it this time on the personal. The songs here obsess with unnerving clarity and mordant wit on the banal, cruel details of human relationships and are narrated perfectly by Nixey. Where her perfectly English-accented whisper infused England Made Me with the air of a bored aristocrat finding contemptuous amusement in the misery of others, on The Facts of Life she has located an edge of taunting viciousness all the more diabolical for being so understated. The tunes, as ever, are sweet and insidious, perhaps best thought of as Saint Etienne turned feral. Highlights on an album full of them are "English Motorway" and "The Art of Driving"--BBR triumphantly reclaiming the American rock & roll prerogative of the road song for their damp, claustrophobic homeland. The Facts of Life is a masterpiece. --Andrew Mueller

Album Description

Black Box Recorder are an enigma. A three piece comprised of the haunting and fragile-voiced Sarah Nixey, Auteurs henchman Luke Haines and absinthe importer (& former Jesus & Mary Chain) John Moore. Stylistally, the band have catapulted themselves into some netherworld halfway between Air and Velvet Underground. Instruments include, Guitar arpeggios, synthesizers, glockenspiels, chiming xylophones, strings and drum machines. This release features the bonus tracks, 'Start As You Mean To Go Up' and 'Brutality'. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews:

Even Sweeter Pills.......2005-04-30

The ironic and cleverly cynical second album by Black Box Recorder captures longing, innocence and evil...beautifully. Maturing from the distinctive "England Made Me" slightly, "The Facts of Life" is a swirling group of songs that were so unashamed to be beautiful...it's terrifying. This is especially true when you consider the subject matter that rides shotgun with the melodies. Black Box Recorder's cynicism is a better actor on "The Facts of Life" than any of their other albums. Where it stood out (and remarkably so) on "England Made Me", it is sewn into the "The Facts of Life's" songs, weaving it's way into every song on the album. Whether it's about teenage kid's sex drive and awkwardness, or people's curious fear of alternative culture to satisfy their shortcomings, it sounds like they're giving lessons to people after shockingly realizing that people don't know or don't care about these things. This is the best way to do it....the formula they use as their song's vehicle is nearly flawless, and the discipline employed here is distinctive because it doesn't sound minimalist, it just makes the entire record consistent. Powered by light drum programming and soft guitars, the music is only complimented by lyrics that are sung effortlessly by switching back and forth from a whisper. Sarah Nixey's voice isn't a powerful thing, but it is soft and pretty, which is why she can make things like "picking up human remains in Notting Hill" sound beautiful enough to soften the blunt and unflinching nature a scene like that would conjure up. Nixey's voice is a perfect translator for Haines and Moore's lyrics because it enters the ear easily enough to get pass the guard that filters out things we would rather do without. This makes Black Box Recorder's songs very accessible. The abundance of the best things about Black Box Recorder found on "The Facts of Life" makes this their definitive record, and also because this kind of disturbing anxiety hadn't been captured this well since Pulp's "A Different Class"

rather awesome mellow-pop-techno blend.......2004-10-21

i like this album quite a bit. songs like the art of driving, sex life, and the facts of life are incredibly quirky and catchy. the lyrics are intriguingly absurd, and also dead on. its different than both ENGLAND MADE ME, and PASSIONA, their other two, also wonderful, cd's. all 3 cd's are worth investing in if you ask me.

Heroic acts in Teenage Sex.......2003-09-12

"The Facts of Life", Black Box Recorder's second album, follows suite in their amazing debut of twisted nursery rhymns, "England Made Me". This is certainly an album to be cherished in one's cd collection - the lyrics are clever and provocative, the music is soothing and intelligent and the mixture can leave the listener awe struck.

In this album, the band has matured a bit. Their storytelling can deliver a much appreciated sense of nostalgia for one's own teenage years - after all, who doesn't remember their boyfriend/girlfriend pushing the relationship one step further than you were ready to go, that almost too-cozy encounter with your highschool best friend or the introspective of a child trying to live as an adult.

Lead singer, Nixey's voice sounds almost like a submissive siren, as she faintly sings anthemns about teenage sexuality and desire. Haines and Moore push their music writing even further, keeping the low tones of instruments and mixing in small beats and rythmns that add a certain liveliness to their melodies. Some of the radio-worthy songs, "Art of Driving" and "Facts of Life", have a good combonation of indie rock/folk with a touch of pop, at the same time expelling the requirements of any particular genre. For those who appreciate rock/pop and alternative music, this will fit in easy to your music collection, though there is enough to interest electronica and folk fans alike.

Out of all the one hit wonders I'm subjected to each morning of my commute - its really nice to have a cd that one can appreciate all the way through.