The Associates – Sulk
(Note: This article was written in 2008 for an old Blogspot music blog that I managed (flyingairplane.blogspot.com); meaning, I was 18 years old when I wrote this. The blog's format was such that each article contained a short “review” of an album and a download link to the full album (usually through Mediafire). Blogspot was a go-to source for obscure music back in 2008, with many blogs like this popping up with download links, and I wanted to be part of the illegal-music-download literati myself. Unfortunately, this blatant violation of copyright eventually caught up with the blog (and most others of its ilk) and got it removed from the Blogspot service entirely; however, the first page of the blog remains archived through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.)
Sulk is by far The Associates best album. It shows the band molding itself from a post-punk band into a band that fuses post-punk influences and synth-pop influences into something beautiful. The album features some extremely upbeat songs, and also some extremely gloomy songs. Compositionally the album is extremely mature, we can thank Alan Rankine for that, who plays the guitars, keyboards, and various other instruments. On top of the complexity, Billy Mackenzie's voice makes the album quite the spectacle, turning otherwise typical synth-pop sounding music into something powerful and operatic. This album is full of poppy hits, including “Party Fears Two”, which is arguably The Associates most renowned song. “18 Carat Love Affair” is another highlight from the album, the keyboards are beautiful and Billy's voice really shines, working it's way perfectly within the blasting synth, funky bassline, and pounding drums. Sulk really shows The Associates at their best, no doubt in my mind about that. [Side note: I think the version of “Sulk” that I uploaded has a sort of strange track-listing, below is the list of tracks on the album... I think it might be a combination of the original UK release and the 2000 reissue of the album. Either way, every song from the album is on it, plus extras.]