Information Society

Amazon.com
The earliest incarnation of this Minnesota band of tech-geeks was essentially a rock band with a deep love for club music, and their first widely distributed record splits the difference. The hit "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)," featuring a Leonard Nimoy sample, is essentially the great lost Duran Duran single, but the rest of the album is pleasingly all over the place. "Walking Away" owes as much to Latin freestyle as it does to mainstream dance-rock, "Lay All Your Love on Me" lights a fire under Abba's tailbone, and the last few tracks slow the tempo way down to an electro crawl. The album is inconsistent and fillery, but it demonstrates a bunch of routes dance music might have gone in the late '80s and didn't quite. --Douglas Wolk

Information Society,Information Society,Warner Bros / Wea,Club/Dance,Dance-Pop,Pop,Popular Music,Rock,Rock/Pop

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Information Society

Average customer rating: One for your collection Great CD Dynamic dance pop album! Very good CD Great late-period New Wave

Information Society Information Society Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Dance General | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Dance General | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music 4-for-3 Dance & DJ | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Hack Peace & Love, Inc. When in Rome Peace The Best of OMD ASIN: B000002LDM Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

1. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)
2. Tomorrow
3. Lay All Your Love On Me
4. Repetition
5. Walking Away
6. Over The Sea
7. Attitude
8. Something In The Air
9. Running
10. Make It Funky

Amazon.com

The earliest incarnation of this Minnesota band of tech-geeks was essentially a rock band with a deep love for club music, and their first widely distributed record splits the difference. The hit "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)," featuring a Leonard Nimoy sample, is essentially the great lost Duran Duran single, but the rest of the album is pleasingly all over the place. "Walking Away" owes as much to Latin freestyle as it does to mainstream dance-rock, "Lay All Your Love on Me" lights a fire under Abba's tailbone, and the last few tracks slow the tempo way down to an electro crawl. The album is inconsistent and fillery, but it demonstrates a bunch of routes dance music might have gone in the late '80s and didn't quite. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews:

One for your collection.......2007-04-19

For those people who like classic albums instead of "greatest hits" kind of albums this is one of them. I specially preffer the original albums with the classics on it. If you want to have an album part of that age of alternative and electronic reborn this is an acurate purchase. Problably is not a great album with a great sound but have a couple of great songs apart from "What's on your mind" such "over the sea" and tomorrow. For me is part of my first years high school soundtrack. Enjoy!!!

Great CD.......2007-02-08

I had this as a cassette tape in the 80's and could not find it anywhere until Amazon.com. The CD has excellent sound quality with great bass response.

Dynamic dance pop album! .......2006-07-19

Information Society had a dynamic dance pop album in 1988. They scored two top 10 hits of What's On Your Mind and the rumbling bass heavy Walking Away. They had it together in a very creative chance taking album. The music is very catchy and danceable and the keyboardists play such very interesting sounds. They kind of gave Howard Jones, another successful '80s artist and keyboardist a run for his money with the New Wave themes that dominate this album. They were a little inspired by hip-hop and rap artists as the beats are felt on many tracks. On the second half is the very funky Something in the Air, which samples James Brown's The Payback, but they play their own music along with the sample. At the time I heard this album in early 1992, En Vogue had a hit in My Lovin' that sampled the same James Brown Song. How ironic! Their later albums never matched the success of the debut, but they are still performing in some way out there. Their industrial sounds may have been influential to later groups like Nine Inch Nails , Trent Reznor's band, Filter, and even Radiohead.

Very good CD.......2005-08-24

I purchased this cd to hear more of their songs since I was only familiar with What's on your mind. I enjoyed it very much. Lots of catchy tunes.

Great late-period New Wave.......2005-03-21

Information Society's self-titled debut album is a great example of the state of the New Wave genre circa 1988. InSoc's synth soundscapes and drum machine bursts were a prescient precursor to the house-music chart infection of the early 90s.

The first five tracks are all top-notch: the monster hit "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)", the superb "Tomorrow" (my favorite song on the CD), "Lay All Your Love On Me", an update on the Abba classic, the mellow, sad "Repetition", and the frenetic "Walking Away".

The rest of the material is middling, but the aformentioned tracks make the album worth its (modest) price. Anyone interested in late-80s New Wave should own this disc.

Average customer rating: Leonard Nimoy A great greatest hits album Underrated pioneers Way ahead of the curve, but give us more remixes, Tommy Boy! Good

Information Society - Greatest Hits: Strange Haircuts/Cardboard Guitars/Computer Samples Information Society Manufacturer: Rhino / Ada ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rhino Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Information Society Another Minute Peace & Love, Inc. Peace Best of Real Life: Send Me An Angel ASIN: B00005BI7E Release Date: 2001-04-24

Tracks:

1. Running
2. Walking Away
3. Repetition
4. Lay All Your Love On Me (Metal Mix)
5. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)
6. Think
7. How Long
8. Crybaby
9. Peace + Love, Inc.
10. Going, Going Gone
11. Strength
12. A Knife And A Fork/Think Tank (The Massively Parallel Mix)
13. Running (Victor Calderone Remix)
14. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy 2001) (Junior Vasquez Remix)

Customer Reviews:

Leonard Nimoy.......2007-06-07

Da..Da..Da.Da..PURE ENERGY!! Leonard Nimoy is great in this song! I didn't know Spock was into 80's Rock Bands hahaha.

A great greatest hits album.......2006-01-27

Although I don't know much about this band and their music, I know few of their songs from listening to the radio. This album is exactly what I wanted. I highly recommend it to anyone who's a hardcore 80s and early 90s fan. Like many 80s and early 90s bands (too many to mention), their music was way beyond that period. Not only can I listen to this music at home, I can also listen to it in the car during a LONG AND BORING drive. This album definitely is a great way to wake you up and spin you onto the dance floor or just tapping your fingers with its rhythms.

Underrated pioneers.......2003-11-12

I've enjoyed Information Society's music for more ten years, mainly because of songs like What's on your mind and Peace and love inc. But I had a lot of catching up to do with their other work, and this is the reason I bought this greatest hits album. To me, they were nothing less than pioneers for the dance music genre, as their use of keyboards and samples was unique and masterful, and it's a shame they weren't more successful. Their earlier sound can seem dated and weird now, but InSoc remains enjoyable, with beats that'll make you want to get up and dance, and a voice so smooth and beautiful it'll hypnotize you. I am absolutely not a fan of Kurt Harland's solo work (sorry but I'm not into freaky, gothic stuff), but this eccentric singer is at his best on InSoc's biggest hits, which are What's on your mind (probably the only song in the world I can't ever get enough of, thanx to all those remixes) Peace and love inc. and Think. A great buy...if you don't already own their other albums.

Way ahead of the curve, but give us more remixes, Tommy Boy!.......2003-05-27

The original INSOC was away ahead of anyone in thier use of Geek "3leet" computer culture imagery. While a lot of people (then into hair bands) thought they were a silly gimmick band, they were doing things 10 years ago many techno/dance DJ's like Fatboy Slim and Moby (and so many others) are doing now. Real Pioneers!

That said, this hits CD leaves a lot to be desired. Most of it is culled from thier first and most successuful CD with a few remixed tacked on for the collectors. To really get the best of INSOC I suggest buy their first 3 CD's on Tommy Boy first. Another gripe is it's selling as much as a new CD and needs to be discount priced! I would love to see an all-remix CD of thier Tommy Boy era. I guess I will have to make one myself from all the vinyl, cassette singles and EP's I have collected...

Good.......2002-07-05

This is a good greates hits package, if they had enough hit to make one. They only had 3 top 40 songs. They are "What's On Your Mind(Pure Energy)" hit 3, "Walking Away" hit 9, and the horrible "Think" hit 28. This album is really not worth it. You should really just buy the original Information Society album.

Average customer rating: Great CD, and it still sounds fresh think about it Satellite Their masterpiece... Still wonderfully enjoyable after all these years

Hack Information Society Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music CDs Under $7 | Dance General | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Dance General | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs Under $7 | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music Similar Items: Peace & Love, Inc. Information Society Another Minute Insoc Recombinant Peace ASIN: B000002LLW Release Date: 1990-10-05

Tracks:

1. Seek 200
2. How Long
3. Think/Wenn Wellen Schwingen
4. A Knife & A Fork/R.I.P.
5. Now That I Have You
6. Fire Tonight
7. Can't Slow Down/T.V. Addicts
8. Hard Currency
9. Move Out/CP Drill KKL
10. Mirrorshades/We Don't Take
11. Hack 1/Charlie X
12. If Only
13. Come With Me
14. Slipping Away/Here Is Kazmeyer
15. Chemistry

Customer Reviews:

Great CD, and it still sounds fresh.......2006-05-01

If you start listening to Hack expecting it to be a continuation of the made-for-radio pop like the self-titled "Information Society" album, you'll probably be disappointed. "A Knife and a Fork" will leave you scratching your head, and you'll hit the stop button. But to do so will cause you to miss out on some excellent music.

"Hack" has several catchy, mainstream-safe tracks, notably "Think", "How Long", "Move Out" and "Slipping Away". But those tracks aren't front-loaded into the first four tracks on the CD... they're scattered between a variety of "experimental" tracks, some of which you'll like, and others you may find dull or annoying.

As an example, the track "Fire Tonight", has a light and happy tune. The lyrics, on the other hand, paint an eerie and dark picture of a city in chaos ("you said that if you couldn't take the car, you'd walk instead; it was the last thing you said before the line went dead; now I'm waiting by the window holding all the things of yours I've found"). The combination is rather unusual, technically interesting, and in my opinion, one of the best tracks on the CD.

The thing about these "experimental" tracks is that as a listener, you might not like them the first time you hear them, especially if you're looking for radio pop. However, they are also much less formulaic, so over the long haul, they still sound new compared to the radio.

If you liked "Think", give this CD a shot. There are enough solid pop tracks to be worthwhile, and if you give the rest of the CD a chance, you may grow to love the entire thing.

think about it.......2005-10-29

One of the funnest cd's ever, I like every song. Good 80's dance music.

Satellite.......2005-02-24

Base 2: 0011000011010111000110110101010011
###I bought this CD way back when for "Think.">/font<
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###I used to think the lyrics to this album were corny until I realized I could write no better. The art design of the album is simple but really neat!! I've always liked junk circuit boards and LED lights myself. Plus I think I resemble a bit of Kurt, so I vicariously enjoyed that wild hair he has.
*****img src=www.}:-)>
###What most people don't like is all the "filler." I, on the other hand, have a contrary position. The "filler" tracks (or sub-tracks) are the best parts! A little bit of piéce-concrête submerged in real sampling, mixing, super-catchy riffs and beats (far better than the music), and I've even sampled straight off this CD for my own non-profit purposes
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###The music on this album is actually very original, upbeat, and cleverly infused with sound effects. As a listener of Jean Michel Jarre, I immediately found this album an attractive choice for my "headphone" sessions. I'll admit that it took me awhile to get used to some of the songs. The best of the album is "Think," followed by the similarly themed "Now That I Have You," "Mirrorshades" (awesome chamber orchestra sample), and even "Chemistry," which is somewhat of a sadder tune coming from a bunch of computer geeks.
/td>
###The HACK car is the coolest thing. I would've done it a little differently myself, but I will design my own car someday, perhaps putting it on an album cover...an homage to the binary forces known as InSoc. You can check out more of it here:

http://www.insoc.org/Car.HTML

Their masterpiece..........2005-01-21

I love the first Information Society album. One could call it a great debut. But in this other album, HACK, Information Society's musical evolution is very notable. This album is more mature, the songs are tied in with each other and you can say it is like a live show. You got an intro song, and instrumental song and a song singed by X singer, then the same sequence and a song singed by another singer (two singers, both with great styles and voices)
To summarize: you can find an album filled with very easy listening and radio oriented tunes, in time you will get tired of it, on the other side, you can have a experimental album, so proggressive, so evolutioned you will get tired of not hearing any true single or radio friendly album, it is very HARD to find an album with experimental, more deep, different than your average radio single song but nevertheless excellent songs that also contains instant hits and radio oriented songs. HACK is an album that does both extraordinary well. Just when you think that you have had enough of radio friendly songs and want something more deep, more artistic there comes a songs that does it, and viceversa.
Another great fact of this album is the intros songs (or subsongs) I told you before. Buy this album, close your eyes and prepare to have an extraordinary fine synth pop experience, but experimental and radio friendly. This is INSOC masterpiece, an almost perfect album.

Still wonderfully enjoyable after all these years.......2004-01-25

After knowing a considerable amount of success in the late 1980's with their first eponymous release (which contained such hits as What's on your mind, a classic of the synth-pop era, and Walking Away) techno-pop band Information Society was a lot less lucky with their sophomore effort, Hack. It didn't do as well as the previous one, despite some really good radio-friendly tracks and potential hits. The single "Think", for example, is one of those songs that are so catchy and infectious you can't help but sing along with them; same goes for "How long", "Now that I have you" (which, I'll admit, sounds uncannily like Think)and "Can't slow down" as well as "Mirrorshades". Surprisingly enough, these two are some of the highlights of the album, despite not being sung by frontman Kurt Harland. You can tell by listening to the numerous interludes that Harland and his bandmates had a blast playing with their computers and throwing in all those samples; one may say that it's too much, but I think that it's what made InSoc so original and fun. This being said, however, I can't say that Hack is InSoc's best album. It's a little too messy and it contains too much fillers (Fire tonight is excruciatingly boring, just like If only is)for my taste. But overall, it's still a great album from a band that, unlike so many others from that period, passed the test of time pretty well.

Average customer rating: Information Society is BACK!! Great collection of remixes plus a rarity and a new song An excellent C.D. You will not be disappointed.

Who Are the Skulls Red Flag Manufacturer: Plan B ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Bitter End Crypt The Eagle and Child Codebreaker T133 Fear of a Red Planet ASIN: B000066SFB Release Date: 2002-05-14

Customer Reviews:

Information Society is BACK!!.......2004-11-02

has to be givin 5 stars only because Kurt Harland, of InSoc, does a remix of cause & consequence! last i heard of InSoc doing anything "new" was the cover of 'express yourself' in 1999! WE'VE MISSED YOU Kurt!!! i just recently discovered Red Flag by searching for Information Society, and have grown quite fond of the music :)! any musician familiar with InSoc is worth a listen! Don't Be Afraid...

Great collection of remixes plus a rarity and a new song.......2002-12-05

This is a great collection of remixes done by other bands and hand-picked by Red Flag.
There are a couple of "bonuses" on this album - one of the songs is a rare b-side from their first single (the remix is actually better in my opinion than the original) and another is a song that will appear on a yet to be released album with different words.

An excellent C.D. You will not be disappointed........2002-11-02

--I purchased this C.D. a few months ago, and I love it. Tracks 5 (Russian Radio, remixed by Scribe Machine) and 14 (If I Ever, remixed by B.C.) really stand out. There is a lot of talent on this disc. All of the remixes were excellent. Long live Synthpop!

Average customer rating: Great Disc... But... Track 12 is an EASTER EGG..... Welcome to Peace & Love Inc. Underrated masterpiece Information Society's 3rd CD

Peace & Love, Inc. Information Society Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Hack Information Society When in Rome Think Insoc Recombinant ASIN: B000002MGY Release Date: 1992-10-26

Tracks:

1. Peace & Love, Inc.
2. Going, Going, Gone
3. To The City
4. Made To Be Broken
5. Still Here
6. 1,000,000 Watts Of Love
7. Where Would I Be Without IBM
8. To Be Free
9. If It's Real
10. Crybaby
11. Where The I Divides
12. 300bps N, 8, 1 (Terminal Mode Or Ascii Download)

Customer Reviews:

Great Disc... But..........2007-02-26

My PEACE & LOVE, INC. cd suddenly stopped playing in my computer's cd drive. So I bought a new one from Amazon. Guess what? That one also refused to be recognized by my computer's cd drive. But my computer's cd drive will play any other music cd. What gives? I even tried reading the two bad discs with my external cd/dvd drive and that also failed. Is it possible that the PEACE & LOVE, INC. discs degrade quickly due to some manufacturing defect? This is lame because I want to transfer this album to my iPod, but can't seem to get a clean disc.

Jerry in Boise, Idaho

Track 12 is an EASTER EGG............2007-01-19

I was all about IS back in the late 80's early 90's. I loved them and had their debut album (still my fav), HACK and Peace & Love, INC. I couldn't wait for them to release P&LI. When I got it home and played through all the tracks, track 12 pierced my ears. But looking at the name of the song, 300bps N, 8, 1 (Terminal Mode Or Ascii Download), I knew that was modem settings. I called my uncle, whom at the time worked for IBM, and told him the track sounded like modem tones. I met him at his house and played track 12 for him and he agreed and proceeded to connect it to his IBM AT PC and played it while connected to his printer. What happened next was totally ahead of it's time and 'til this day still unique. Pages flowed from the printer and I couldn't wait to read it. When it stopped, my uncle and I sat there and read through a story of how the band was in south america and the tour bus got stuck in the mud on a dirt road. It has been 15 or so years so that's all I can remember but it was a fun read. I printed it out tried to lug it with me over the years but no longer can find it. If anyone reading this has a soft copy, I'd love to see it again. Might have to dig up my CD and see if I am savy enough to do it on my own this time.

Also, their debut CD was a CD+G. The G stood for graphics and I always wanted to see what was on the CD. A couple of years go I found a CD-G player on the web (google it) and it allowed you to use your PC CD-Rom as a CD+G player. It was an evaluation copy so I only got to see a few seconds of each track. It was basically home made animated videos for each song, telling how each track was made, what equipment was used in making the songs. Again, very cool for 1988. I still don't think anyone else has done that.

Information Society was a very unique band, be it music, videos, dress or technology used.

I miss them.

Welcome to Peace & Love Inc........2005-02-14

Overall a great album from the group. I prefer Hack myself but that is not meant to take away from this album. The album rolls through the songs and is over before it even seems to get started, but that is a good thing. The songs all have the same basic tempo and it keeps you moving. I think this album is best used in the deck on a road trip. The last 'song' is a throwback to the modems. Info Society always made extra material hidden for hackers to find so this track was designed to talk to your computer which back on release day was cutting edge. I think (if I remember correctly) it gave you a story about ninjas and roller skates and remote controlled tour buses in Brazil... Enjoy the samples from The Outer Limits, Star Trek, Salt & Pepa and so on. This is a signature album for the time even though it sat somewhat underground.

Underrated masterpiece.......2004-03-11

It seems that after the hit "What's on your mind", one of their only singles to make it to the top ten, in 1988, everyone forgot about Information Society. Which is really sad, because Kurt Harland, Jim Cassidy and Paul Robb, far from sitting on their laurels, produced many other great songs, such as How long and Think, from the album Hack. And then, along came their third effort, Peace & Love inc. It did very poorly on the charts when released in 1992, and the video to the title song was never even shown on MTV. But saying that the album's lack of commercial success was due to its poor quality would be a great mistake. In fact, I believe that P&L inc. is by far InSoc's best effort. "Information Society" had nice, poppy, catchy, Top-40-friendly songs (as Kurt Harland said later), "Hack" contained good songs but it had too many different genres and was very uneven. On Peace & Love inc, it's as though InSoc finally knew where they were going. They could finally allow themselves to write electronic music and be their computer, keyboard-loving selves without being criticized for not using any "real" instruments. Peace & Love still has a strong pop feel (Crybaby is a beautiful midtempo ballad; Kurt had just broken up with his girlfriend when they recorded this song and you can really hear the sorrow in his voice) but the sound is generally more aggressive and electonic (the title song and Still Here are the best examples of that), and extremely fun to listen to (100 000 Watts of Love). And of course, InSoc wouldn't be InSoc without all those samples, right? Well, they can be found almost everywhere on the album, but if you pay enough attention, on Made to be Broken, you will hear two samples that originally were on Think (the radio-tuning sound and the voice saying "Oh Yeah", or something like that). All in all, P&L inc. is a great album and it's a shame that InSoc was forgotten so easily, when they deserved much more than that.

Information Society's 3rd CD.......2003-11-25

"Peace and Love, Inc.", Information Society's third CD, opens with the same-named single, an upbeat, pop/dance tune. The majority of songs on here are like this: airy and synth-heavy, except for filler tracks like #3: "To the City" (which I liked) and #12: "300bps N, 8, 1 (Terminal Mode or ASCII Download)" (which just gave me a headache; it's three minutes of high-pitched computer screaming). I wasn't too terribly impressed with this CD, but Information Society and/or '90s techno fans should like it. Lyrics are included.

Average customer rating: Information Society are back Great. Great. Great. Well-Worth the Wait! I don't care who is singing, this is awesome! A must-have for your InSoc collection!

Oscillator Information Society Manufacturer: Hakatak International ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music ASIN: B000S6BMVC Release Date: 2007-06-19

Tracks:

1. Back In The Day
2. I Like The Way You Werk It
3. Great Big Disco World
4. Back In The Day (Electro Roots Mix)
5. I Like The Way You Werk It (Jr. Kain and Arvy Mix)
6. Back In The Day (Kasino Mix)
7. Back In The Day (Jr. Kain and Arvy Mix)

Product Description

OSCILLATOR is the first new commercial release from INFORMATION SOCIETY in six years. The legendary electropop group returns with a taste of their forthcoming SYNTHESIZER full-length release. This EP features newcomer Christopher Anton on vocal duties, as well as a range of intriguing guests and remixers. The CD release also features a bonus CD-Rom video track.

Customer Reviews:

Information Society are back.......2007-07-10

WOW !!!! I just bought this EP and have all of INSOC past albums but had thought that this would probably be a worthless attempt at a comeback. I was sooooooo wrong. This EP has the energy of all the previous albums and them some. Very catchy tunes and highly recommended. I can't wait for the full album to be released. I think the best part was that I did not even know they were working on an album until I stumbled across their new web site at http://informationsociety.us/ Oh by the way, the new vocalist Christopher is awesome. He has the same type of voice that Kurt had so it makes their new material really feel like genuine INSOC. It really is WORTHLESS for us to resist INSOC.

Great. Great. Great........2007-07-09

I've been a fan of this groundbreaking synth outfit for years, and it's a thrill that they're back with new material. It's great stuff, and highly recommended.

Well-Worth the Wait!.......2007-07-05

This very solid EP proves that Information Society has still "got it" when it comes to catchy, perfectly crafted, danceable tunes. Easily earning 5-stars, this EP is delicious no matter how you slice it.

I don't care who is singing, this is awesome!.......2007-07-04

When I first heard InSoc was back but with a new singer, I was a bit bummed.
However upon first listen to the new music, all my fears were laid to rest. This *IS* Insoc, no matter who is singing and it is awesome music. Somehow they managed to recapture the magic of yesteryear all the while keeping it new and fresh.

All of the remixes here are good and the other new songs are definitely worthy of multiple plays.

I just wish Synthesizer would hurry up and come out because I cannot wait to hear the whole album!!!

If you're an old fan or just someone that loves great synthpop this is a must buy.

A must-have for your InSoc collection!.......2007-07-03

If I were getting married, I'd add this to my Wedding Registry. If I were having a baby, I'd add two copies to my Baby Registry. One for me and one for the baby. If I didn't already own it, I'd add it to my Wish List and pester all of my friends and family to buy it for me. If my friends and family could care less about my Wish List, I'd just buy it myself because I really need Oscillator to tide me over until Synthesizer is released!

Also, same thing Gavin S. Richmond and M. Kotila said about Oscillator. Those two took the words out of my mouth. :)

Average customer rating: A complete waste I'll pass on this one Don't Be Afraid?? this is "NOT" Information Society Paul Robb's Review

Pure Energy: The Very Best of Information Society Information Society Manufacturer: Cleopatra ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Alternative Dance | Alternative Styles | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Information Society Peace & Love, Inc. The Best of OMD ASIN: B0001MMGHC Release Date: 2004-03-30

Tracks:

1. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)
2. Peace And Love, Ince. (Biokraft Mix)
3. Empty
4. Closing In 2.0
5. On The Outside 2.1
6. Walking Away (Leather Strip Mix)
7. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) Effcee Mix
8. Are 'Friends' Electric?
9. Going, Going, Gone (Razed In Black Mix)
10. Express Yourself
11. Ozar Midrashim 1.1
12. Sleek 300 2.11
13. The Ridge 1.1

Product Description

1. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)
2. Peace & Love, Inc. (Biokraft)
3. Empty 3.0
4. Closing In 2.0
5. On The Outside 2.1
6. Walking Away (Leather Strip Mix)
7. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)(Effcee Mix)
8. Are "Friends" Electric? (Feat. Gary Numan)
9. Going, Going, Gone (Razed In Black Mix)
10. Express Yourself
11. Ozar Midrashim 1.1
12. SEEK300 2.11
13. The Ridge 1.1

Format: CD

Customer Reviews:

A complete waste.......2006-02-04

This CD is simply terrible. For pretty much all of the classic InSoc that got radio play, check out the Tommy Boy released Greatest Hits album, which includes a decent newer remix of Running on it as well. If you're interested in more of Kurt's InSoc after Don't Be Afraid, there's pretty much nothing. If you're desperate, there's two good tracks on InSoc: Recombinant (the Rosetta Stone mix of Closing In and the Astralasia mix of Empty), but the rest is just bad mixes of DBA and of kurt's sub-par re-recordings of early InSoc.

I'll pass on this one.......2005-06-06

Hearing the short clips and reading what others,including Insoc member,Paul had to say,I will definitely NOT buy this CD. It's a shame that these tracks were not better presented.

Don't Be Afraid??.......2005-03-30

Im not sure what this album is yet.Ive had to listen to it twice to understand and here is my diagnosis...The album title should be Dont Be Afraid 2 basically NOT..(PURE ENERGY)considering most of the songs on here are remixes of Dont Be Afraid and this does not even pay tribute to all there hard work and where insoc came from.Why not put remixes from all albums and put them on a 2 disc set and give the fans a tribute album instead of this.The only track on here i liked was the remix of walking away that's where my 2 stars come in everything else im sorry but i was disappointed i hope cleopatra can put together another compilation that doesn't focus on just 1 album.

this is "NOT" Information Society.......2005-02-13

If I could rate a "0" star...I would. Stay away from this CD. Listen to Paul Robb's review. He was one of the members of INSOC. and the true sound of the band.

This is Kurt Hurlands solo project and some horrible remixes of the older sutff put into one CD just to sell by the label to make a few bucks.

Kurt should have never ruined the name of INSOC by using it is such vein to put out his solo project and to allow this awful label (Cleapatra) to market and tarnish it.

its a shame.

BTW.....to the person whom reviewd this album that said this is "for die hard fans only" obviously has no clue whom INSOC is or works for the label.

Paul Robb's Review.......2004-09-22

Anyone who has any affection for Information Society will avoid this abomination at all costs. This is not Information Society; this is a sleazy record company (Cleopatra) using Kurt's ill-advised and poorly executed re-recordings of the vocal parts of our old songs, and then getting local DJ's and a few small-time industrial luminaries to recreate the music tracks.

Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against Kurt's post-Insoc work, even though it's not really my thing. But this wretched mess is nothing but a cheap attempt to sell a few thousand records, and dupe the remaining fans into buying something that is NOT AN INFORMATION SOCIETY RECORD, and as such, it's an insult to both the band and the fans.

Post-breakup Kurt fans take note: Kurt Harland Larson had nothing to do with this record. If I had known something like this was possible, I never would have agreed to let Kurt have the group name.

Anyway, please don't reward the scoundrels at Cleopatra by buying this record.

And, oh my God! Check out that dreadful cover art.

-Paul Robb

Average customer rating:

Think Information Society Manufacturer: Tommy Boy ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Similar Items: How Long Peace & Love, Inc. ASIN: B00000DE2F Release Date: 1990-09-19

Average customer rating: One of the top 5 dance tracks of the 80s. Wasn't What I Expected

What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy) Information Society Manufacturer: Tommy Boy ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music ASIN: B00005B9TA Release Date: 2001-04-10

Tracks:

1. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (Pure Energy 2001 Edit)
2. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (Boris & Beck Exit Edit)
3. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (Junior's Blue Zone Club Mix)
4. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (Boris & Beck Exit Mix)
5. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (Sugarpussy Psychic Funk Mix)

Customer Reviews:

One of the top 5 dance tracks of the 80s........2004-11-20

Information Society's high water mark. What's on your Mind is a timeless dance classic. The remixes on this disc are all pretty similar to each other, but each serves to add a punchy dance energy to this song.

Wasn't What I Expected.......2001-07-23

I was very upset when I started to listen to this CD. I had no idea it was a remix version. I thought this was the original version of the song.

Average customer rating: Only get it if you liked Don't Be Afraid Great remix album, but it could be better indeed, weak Weak Great

Insoc Recombinant Information Society Manufacturer: Cleopatra ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Hack Peace & Love, Inc. Information Society ASIN: B00000IK8S Release Date: 1999-04-06

Tracks:

1. What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) (CKB Remix)
2. Closing In (Rosetta Stone Mix)
3. Peace And Love Inc (Biokraft Mix)
4. Think (Spahn Ranch Mix)
5. What's On Your Mind? (Pure Energy) (Girl Eats Boys Mix)
6. Walking Away (Leaether Strip Mix)
7. Going Going Gone (Razed In Black Mix)
8. What's On Your Mind? (Pure Energy)
9. Empty (Astralasia Mix)
10. Ending World (Electric Hellfire Club Mix)
11. On The Outside (THC Mix)
12. What's On Your Mind?

Album Description

12 of the hit '80s dance/ pop group best tunes remixed by the likes of David J, Girl Eats Boy, Razed In Black, Rosetta Stone, Spahn Ranch and Leather Strip. Includes no less than four versions of their huge hit 'What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)'. 1999 release.

Customer Reviews:

Only get it if you liked Don't Be Afraid.......2006-02-04

There's only two good tracks on "InSoc: Recombinant", the Rosetta Stone mix of Closing In and the Astralasia mix of Empty, but those two tracks by themselves are really good. If you didn't like Don't Be Afraid, you probably won't like any of this CD (so get DBA first if you haven't already). The rest of this is just bad mixes using "Don't Be Afraid" and Kurt's sub-par re-recordings of early InSoc. The distressed vocals he's done for his later incarnation of InSoc works well for the material on "Don't Be Afraid"... but the vocals on this CD for the popular classic InSoc material simply sounds wrong.

Great remix album, but it could be better.......2003-11-13

Being a huge fan of InSoc, I just had to have this album. Of course, as other reviewers have pointed out, some of the remixes are excellent (I don't agree with the person who said that there are too much remixes of What's on your mind; personnally, I love every version of that song I can get my hands on) while others are just OK. Except for the Peace and love inc. remix, which is plain excruciating due to the horrible alteration of Kurt's voice. And they could have thought of more interesting songs to remix. Overall, it surely isn't the best album InSoc has put out, but I think die-hard fans will want to have it in their collection. Besides, the sole fact that 5 videos are available on it makes this CD well worth its price.

indeed, weak.......2000-05-17

what a shame. kurt is capable of giving fans so much more to listen to, i wish he would come out with new music. i enjoyed all the other info society cds, however this one was a waste of time.

Weak.......1999-09-15

I am a huge fan of Info Society's earlier work. I especially liked Hack and Peace & Love Inc. This CD features poorly remixed versions of their better songs. Most of the remixes are so poorly done that they aren't even danceable. The only positive to this CD is the 2nd CD that comes with it. It contains .AVI formatted full videos of Info Society's songs What's On Your Mind, Waling Away, Repetition, Think, and Peace & Love, Inc. If these are of interest to you, go ahead and get the CD. I wasted my money hoping for good remixes. None were found on this CD. Stay away from it. Info Society needs to reunite the team that made it what it was and get back the pop/dance beats and catchy tunes.

Great.......1999-06-20

Ok, being the big huge InSoc fan I am I felt inclined to write a review for the new remix album I picked up the disc finally last night & I love it!!!!!!!! The only downfall is the # of times What's on your mind(pe) is remixed...I am disapointed someone didnt remix "How Long" or various others..In reality how many remixes of Pure Energy does one really need? The good point is Kurt's voice isn't replaced..so one is not subject to bad vocal stylings of certain bands...except artly on one Did I mention the comp comes with 2 discs? One disc contains 5 videos all for 13 bucks... Kurt also recorded some new vocals for some of the songs... For the most part, the songs that are great are really good and its great to get the disc for those songs.... I give it an 8 out of 10(being highest)

1. What's on your mind(pure energy)-CKB remix techno in a good way...its pretty cool remix

2. Closing In-Rosetta Stone mix i love this remix, Rosetta Stone did a great/fantastic job at remixing this song, very club freindly, very dancey...yummy.

3. Peace & Love INC-Biokraft mix great song to begin with, this remix is all right..the vocal distortion got on my nerves after a little bit....its not the best remix i've ever heard , gets kinda boring after a minute

4. Think-Spahn Ranch mix it could be a ton better...the vocals are too slow for the music, and the little bubble sounds are kinda lame...not a very good remix

5. Whats on your mind(pure energy)-Girl Eats Boy mix kinda slow, could have been made faster, but if youre a dj...i can see this getting pitchshifted to a faster tempo...its pretty good dispite the slowness 6. Walking Away-Leatherstrip Mix Leatherstrip remixes are always sooooooooo darn great...this one is no exception besides the Rosetta Stone remix, this one is one of my faves....very industrial sounding very dance floor friendly 7. Going going gone-Razed in black mix Razed in Black are sometimes hit or miss, this mix utilizes some industrial sounding guitar ala kmfdm-ish, but it fits great with the song and they actually did a great job handling the goods...another winner to the list of faves

8. What's on your mind(pure energy)-remixed by Judson Leach & The Exhibition this one grows on you, it works quite well...and makes up for the sorta lame girl eats boy remix...this one kicks ass...

9. Empty-Astralasia Mix techno in a bad way. this remix totally slaughters the song...

10. Ending World-Electric Hellfire Club opens with some little guitar riff that reminds me of the Prince song "When doves Cry" and well its EHC...next.....(psssst...it sucks), oh the singer of EHC adds some vocals to the song and they are toooooooo spooky for InSoc, they should have stopped while they were ahead. 11. On The Outside-THC mix This one focuses on Kurts vocals more and the music takes a background approach, and darn it Kurt sounds sexy....its a great remix of the song.... a stamp of approval 12. Whats on your mind(pure energy)-remixed by David J of Love & Rockets it kinda just bites. techno, along the lines of the new love & rockets stuff, but more techno(this would be techno in a bad way)

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