The Sabres Of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall (Remastered) (2 x Vinyl LP) (Warp)

Format:  2 x Vinyl LP
Cat No:  WARPLP26R

1994 second album by the trio of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, unavailable on vinyl and CD since original release.

A concept album with accompanying text for each track by James Woodbourne, ‘Haunted Dancehall’ also includes additional production by Portishead and Mr Scruff. Remastered from the original tapes by Matt Colton, contains ‘Theme’ for the first time on the 2LP edition.

By the time this record came out towards the end of 1994, The Sabres Of Paradise had evolved from a production trio into a fully-fledged band, embarking on live tours and augmented for the stage by additional members such as Rich Thair, from Warp label-mates Red Snapper, and Phil Mossman, later to join LCD Soundsystem.

Tapped by Noel Gallagher to support Oasis at enormo-domes, the group opted instead to play clubs, student unions and, infamously, a car park in Central London. Their tour adverts
contained small print specifying a policy of “no jugglers, no fire eaters, no flutes and no hippies with lawyers.”

The studio sound had shifted radically as well, utilising samples (notably on the 1930s voodoo jazz inflected ‘Wilmot’), live instrumentation (the heavy twang guitar riff of ‘Tow Truck’) and a deep love of film scores audible throughout, from the block party funk of ‘Theme’ to the noir-ish soundscapes of the title track.

The sense of the album being a soundtrack itself is underpinned by the accompanying text for each track, rumoured to have been penned by Weatherall himself under a pseudonym, each text fragment joining up to form a suitably grimy, low-lit short story. The Guardian later summed up ‘Haunted Dancehall’ as “techno’s first concept album.”

2LP in printed inner sleeves with wide spine outer sleeve. Spot gloss print on front cover.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Bubble And Slide
2. Bubble And Slide II
3. Duke Of Earlsfield
4. Flight Path Estate
5. Planet D
6. Wilmot
7. Tow Truck
8. Theme
9. Theme 4
10. Return To Planet D
11. Ballad Of Nicky McGuire
12. Jacob Street 7am
13. Chapel Street Market 9am
14. Haunted Dancehall