Track Listing

1. Tone Burst
2. Our Trinitone Blast
3. Pack Yr Romantic Mind
4. I'm Going Out of My Way
5. Golden Ball
6. Pause
7. Jenny Ondioline
8. Analogue Rock
9. Crest
10. Lock-Groove Lullaby

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42035 in Music
• Published on: 1993
• Released on: 1993-08-24
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
On Stereolab's first proper American full-length, the group skillfully dissects past musical genres and recombines them in their own Dr. Moreau-like sonic laboratory-garage. The recording is among Stereolab's least labored, most groove-oriented efforts. There are experiments like the French-pop-flavored "Pack Yr Romantic Mind," but it's mostly a lovely, loud, decadent '90s rock record. The song titles reference obscure equipment, the sounds are made with arcane instruments, the repetitive guitar work is directly lifted from Michael Rother, and the cover image pledges devotion to vinyl (the musical obscurantist's medium of choice), but somehow the band never comes off as snobbish. Stereolab's music would not only spawn dozens of imitators, but the very stuff they drew inspiration from (Esquivel, Can, Moondog, Os Mutantes) was suddenly the starting point for any self-respecting hipster's record collection. More important, it totally rocks ("Our Trinitone Blast") while beaming sunny vibes ("Jenny Ondioline"). --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

One of the decade's finest albums
Someday rock fans will look back on 1993 and shake their heads in wonder. Over the course of just a few months during that spring, what I and many others feel are Stereolab's two finest albums were released: "The Groop Played 'Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music'" and this one. Astonishingly, Stereolab rush-recorded "Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements" in a matter of weeks, under pressure from their label, Elektra, who wanted to put out their U.S. debut ASAP. No amount of superlatives will prepare you for this masterpiece: a true ALBUM, one that demands the listener follow it all the way through, like a great novel you can't put down. It's an album of many moods, of soaring chants and harmonies, with inscrutable lyrics, beeps, scratches and pops layered on top of one another, and synthesizers brimming with soul. It's trite and perhaps useless to summarize it as the "Pet Sounds" for the 1990s, but I just did.

My favourite Stereolab album
I bought this after reading an article in "Record Collector" (UK) in which it was described as a classic. As the group (groop!) sounded fascinating I took a chance on it. Well, now I've got all their albums, haven't I! This, however, is the one I'd keep if I could have only one. It's their most challenging and daring CD.

Since this album, slowly but surely, Tim Gane has become infatuated with Brazilian music (if I hear another song full of 'ba de daps' I'll probably throw up). Here, the drone aspects (Velvets and, apparently, Neu) were more dominant. 'Jenny Ondioline' is fantastic and my favourite Stereolab track.

The band has gone past this phase and will not return. That's fair enough. I've still got this CD, though, and they're not getting it back!

Oh, by the way, I saw them live recently and I think I'm in love with Laetitia Sadier!

The best Stereolab release
Though the groop has had a remarkably consistent recording career, this is definately their best. See, most Stereolab albums have 2 or 3 songs (if not more) that range from merely ok to unworthy, but only "Pause" from this album could be in that category, and even then it works on one occasion very well. It closes the first half of the album off as a kind of breather for the 18-minute extravaganza of "Jenny Ondioline," one of Stereolab's greatest achievements. All the other tracks on the album are great, though, and a few ("Tone Burst", "Pack Yr Romantic Mind", "I'm Going Out of My Way") are classics.

Stereolab wouldn't make another album like this, probably because it simply was the culmination of their early phase. They couldn't have added anything to this in future releases, so smartly the band moved closer to pop on "Mars Audiac Quintet". Still, "Transient Random Noise bursts With Announcements" remains Stereolab's finest album statement, and one of the most important albums of the '90s.