Night Drive (album)

Night Drive
Studio album by Chromatics
Released	2007
Recorded	2007
Genre	Indie rock, Synthpop, Post-punk revival, Italo disco
Length	58:08 (Original) 79:33 (Deluxe Edition)
Label	Italians Do It Better
Producer	Johnny Jewel
Chromatics chronology
Plaster Hounds (2004) Night Drive (2007) In The City (2010) 2010 Deluxe Edition Cover

Overview

Night Drive (alternatively known as Original Motion Picture Soundtrack IV) is the third studio album by Chromatics, released in 2007 on the Italians Do It Better record label. The label reissued an analogue remaster of the album as a "Deluxe Edition" in 2010, on both CD and double LP formats. A limited print run of the double LP was pressed on colored vinyl: blue for Sides A and B, and red for Sides C and D.^[1] The "Deluxe Edition" restores five tracks that had originally constituted Side D of the album, but had been scrapped before the original 2007 release date due to technical problems and time constraints.^[2]

With this album, the Chromatics made a drastic departure ^[3] from their previously punk sound, as they pursued a new direction reminiscent of Italo Disco. It is the first full-length Chromatics album to feature singer Ruth Badelet and producer and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel. Only guitarist Adam Miller had been featured on the band's previous LPs.

Musical Content

The album's title may be a reference to a 1985 single ("Night Drive"/"Time Space Transmat") by Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins.^[4]

Opening track "The Telephone Call" contains samples from "Lady Operator" by Mirage and from the Chromatics' own tracks "The Killing Spree" and "Let's Make This A Moment To Remember." It sketches out a plot involving a female protagonist who, after spending an evening at a nightclub, is about to drive home to meet her boyfriend. It ends with a sample of a car driving off, and then segues into the title track. Accordingly, these opening two tracks, along with album closer "Accelerator," suggest that the album may be a concept album about a late night drive.^[5]

The words of "I Want Your Love" contain a reference to the song "96 Tears" by ? & The Mysterians

"Running Up that Hill" is a cover version of the first track from Kate Bush's 1985 album, Hounds of Love.

The guitar solo in "Healer" contains a musical quotation from Joy Division's "Shadowplay," from its 1979 album, Unknown Pleasures.^[6]

Album closer "Accelerator" contains an interpolation of chords from the album's title track.^[7]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Telephone Call"	1:51
2.	"Night Drive"	3:44
3.	"I Want Your Love"	6:41
4.	"Running Up that Hill"	6:07
5.	"The Killing Spree"	3:59
6.	"Healer"	3:54
7.	"Mask"	5:35
8.	"Tomorrow Is So Far Away"	7:06
9.	"Let's Make This A Moment To Remember"	3:33
10.	"Tick Of The Clock"	15:45

2010 Deluxe Edition Restored Tracks
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Shining Violence"	3:16
12.	"Circled Sun"	4:07
13.	"Bell"	2:37
14.	"The Gemini"	4:00
15.	"Accelerator"	7:22

Personnel

Johnny Jewel: Programs
Adam Miller: Guitar
Ruth Radelet: Vocals
Nat Walker: "Nitty"

Recorded at Suite 304 during Summer 2007 for Italians Do It Better.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Boston Phoenix	link
Pitchfork Media	(8.3/10) 2008
Resident Advisor	link
Spin Magazine	link
Stylus Magazine	(C+) link

Reception was generally positive. In a review for Allmusic, K. Ross Hoffman marveled at how "the album evokes widescreen opulence with a sonic palette that extends beyond the bedrock of synths, guitars, and drum machines to include touches of organ, strings, flutes, and so on, but it's always used sparingly, rarely outstepping the group's meticulously minimal, carefully controlled arrangements".^[8] Andrew Graham, writing for the Boston Phoenix, praised the 2010 remastered and expanded version of the album, calling "Circled Sun" a "newly unearthed gem" and stating that "In less capable hands, Night Drive's parts might blur together into a soporific whole, but Chromatics don't let the production dominate".^[9] A negative review by Nina Phillips in Stylus Magazine called the album "poorly produced," criticized "Tomorrow Is So Far Away" for its repetitive structure, and cited "Tick Of The Clock" as a "conceptual failure".^[10]

References

1. ^ http://www.discogs.com/Chromatics-Night-Drive/release/2619133
2. ^ http://www.troublemanunlimited.com/store/idib/
3. ^ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10763-night-drive/
4. ^ http://stylusmagazine.com/reviews/chromatics/night-drive.htm
5. ^ http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4019
6. ^ http://www.prefixmag.com/news/track-review-chromatics-healer/11532/
7. ^ http://www.troublemanunlimited.com/store/idib/
8. ^ "K. Ross Hoffman's Review Of "Night Drive" by Chromatics, for Allmusic". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/night-drive-r1348867/review. Retrieved 2011-06-22. 
9. ^ "Andrew Graham's Review Of "Night Drive" by Chromatics, for The Boston Phoenix". Boston Phoenix. http://thephoenix.com/boston/music/111488-chromatics-night-drive. Retrieved 2011-06-22. 
10. ^ "Nina Phillips' Review Of "Night Drive" by Chromatics, for Stylus Magazine". Stylus Magazine. http://stylusmagazine.com/reviews/chromatics/night-drive.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-22.