Night Time

Product Information

The opening title track is an excellent slab of club music for vampires with great programmed drums and guitar work, catchy and slick yet with a dash of nastiness that shows what the record should have been.

It was an international hit, reaching number 11 in the United Kingdom in its first week on 9 March, [1] number 8 in New Zealand [2] and number 50 in Sweden. Yet, contrarily to what can be said of their utterly forgettable next two albums, Night Time was no sell-out. The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2008 with nine bonus tracks, including 1984 Kid Jensen BBC radio sessions, the non-album single " A New Day" and the previously-unreleased complete version of "Blue Feather" (previously only available as an instrumental remix on the B-side to "Love Like Blood").

The album finds the band caught between their earlier aggression and a calmer, more immediately accessible approach. I must also consider on their level “Tabazan”, but even the coldwave-leaning “Europe” might be my favourite track by pre-metal KJ. Jaz Coleman’s vocals and synth are also another strong melodic front; very pleasing choruses especially. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

But fast-forward 22 years, and this album sits proudly in my collection beside other excellent outcomes such as Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, Pandemonium, and Wilful Days, with all songs barring the afore-mentioned (i love that term) "Eighties" ranking amongst my favorite tracks from the band. By adding a little polish to their violent industrial post-punk racket, Killing Joke briefly became very popular in 1985, with “Love Like Blood” competing with the likes of Duran Duran and Madonna on the airwaves. And I know Love Like Blood is KJ’s biggest hit but it does very little for me - it’s well produced but there’s not much of a song there and Coleman keeps singing the hook as “I love my butt”.

and it would be even more definitive if it weren’t on the same album as the deserving classic “Love Like Blood”.

When I first heard this album, the songs "Love Like Blood" and "Multitudes" were the initial ball-grabbers but after repeated listens, eventually I started diggin' the entire album.The tension between the two sides of Killing Joke struck a perfect balance on Night Time, and as a result, it is arguably the quartet's freshest album to date, with a warm, anthemic quality now supplementing the blasting, driving approach that made the band's name. The first track i heard from this album was actually "Eighties", a song that did nothing for me then and nothing for me now.

Yeah, songs like "Tabazan" get a little obscene, but dirty as they may seem, there's an arcane truth to all that's said on _Night Time_.

As always with these guys, the main interest here lies within the soundscapes - OMG they are insane on here. Those who aren't cool with synths coming up-front in the Killing Joke mix might not be into this album, as might those who aren't into Jaz's off-beat philosophies and perspectives. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. In general, the album wastes powerhouse drummer Paul Ferguson who isn’t given a lot to do, and everything feels neutered. Can't believe I never tried them being into that era of indie, and having heard of them, bit thinking they were a minor band.