Review Summary: Now is the perfect time to revisit this post-punk band's somber sonic soundscape.
For the most part only vaguely remembered as labelmates of Joy Division/New Order on the famed Factory Records, it seems that Section 25 has been left out of the official post-punk narrative. However, dusting off and having a listen to their sublime
From The Hip today, it still sounds amazingly fresh and their omission from the history books seems unfortunate. In earlier releases the band had played with the dour voice characteristic of the late '70s post-punk era and though it is disputed which band first arrived at that sound, Section 25 was nonetheless always bound to stand in the shadow of Joy Division. This was the record that saw them step out from the shadows and come into their own.
The interesting thing is that both bands evolved in similar directions, moving more towards experimentation with electronic instruments, but their choice of implementation took two different paths. Influenced by the '80s New York club scene, New Order chose the avenue of highly polished singles ready for the dance floor. Section 25 on the other hand created what could be seen as a true hybrid of their earlier gothic post-punk with the bleeping arpeggiation and whooshing pad fills of Kraftwerk or Brian Eno. The result was a dark electronic pop record in a raw and revealing style that is more at home with present day acts like Indian Jewelry or The Faint.
The introductory soundscape immediately sets the scene on the somber future world the album inhabits. The most immediately palatable tracks on the album are sung by Jenny Ross. The preeminent of which is the burbling and pulsing Looking From A Hilltop, clearly the standout single on the album. It is propelled along by thundering synth crashes and Ross' detached airy vocals. It's hard not to let this track dominate the record because you'll want to listen to it again and again. However, repeated listenings of the album in full reveal more hidden gems. The track immediately following Hilltop serves as a nice bit of electro-dream-pop but is unfortunately followed by a leaden voiced track, Prepare To Live, that is the only truly lackluster moment on the album.
Later on in the record are some brilliant driving instrumental tracks that could be described as raw early Techno, namely, Program For Light and Beneath The Blade, with the latter track prominently featuring a bit of Peter Hook style lead bass. What's amazing is despite the rudimentary nature of the electronic instrumentation and production (or maybe because of it), the record doesn't suffer the fate of others of the era in sounding dated. This is at least partly due to the fact that the record never really achieved a high level of popularity and so never had the chance to be associated in cultural memory with any particular time period.
It should be noted that the most recent 1998 reissue of the album includes other singles of theirs from the era. Including the essential head bobbing club remixes of From The Hilltop by Bernard Sumner (New Order). I really wish they hadn't included these on the same CD as the album, because although good in their own right, they have a completely different feel and tend to distract from the gentle nature of the album.
