Crispy Ambulance - The Plateau Phase

Clear vinyl 2xLP with download limited to 500. 16 tracks.

Factory Benelux presents a remastered edition of The Plateau Phase, the debut by Manchester postpunk group Crispy Ambulance. Originally issued by Factory Benelux in March 1982, the album is now reissued in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in clear vinyl.

Recorded at Strawberry 2 with producer Chris Nagle, the album captured Crispy Ambulance at the peak of their creative powers.  “When we started discussing the track selection for this new vinyl edition,” says singer Alan Hempsall, “it struck me that the songs which made the cut were all written and recorded within a very short space of time. July 1980 to September 1981 marked an intensive period of creativity informed by the new music we were being exposed to, and films we’d seen around that time: Eraserhead, Scorpio Rising, Apocalypse Now, Warhol’s Dracula and Argento’s Suspiria all played a part. We became curious about what would result from a partial breaking away from traditional song structures and experimenting with the concept of soundtrack and incidental music. Film music looking for a film, so to speak.”

Bonus tracks on the second disc include lauded 12” single The Presence and Concorde Square, produced by the legendary Martin Hannett at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio, as well as the group’s powerful John Peel session from January 1981.

Sleeve art by Benoit Hennebert. Inner gatefold portrait by Harry Papadopoulos. New liner notes by Alan Hempsall.

Tracklist:

A1. Are You Ready?
A2. Travel Time
A3. The Force and the Wisdom
A4. The Wind Season
A5. Death From Above
B1. We Move Through the Plateau Phase
B2. Bardo Plane
B3. Chill
B4. Federation
B5. Simon’s Ghost
C1. The Presence
C2. Concorde Square
D1. Come On
D2. Drug User-Drug Pusher
D3. October 31st
D4. Egypt