Night Time
Studio album by
Killing Joke
ReleasedFebruary 11, 1985
RecordedAugust and September 1984
StudioHansa Tonstudio (West Berlin, West Germany)
Genre
Length39:54
Label
Producer
Killing Joke chronology
Fire Dances
(1983) 		Night Time
(1985) 		Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
(1986)
Singles from Night Time
  1. "Eighties"
    Released: April 1984
  2. "Love Like Blood"
    Released: January 1985
  3. "Kings and Queens"
    Released: March 1985

Night Time is the fifth studio album by English post-punk band Killing Joke, released in February 1985 by E.G. through Polydor Records and produced by Chris Kimsey.

Release

Night Time was released in late February 1985 by E.G. Records. It was an international hit, reaching number 11 in the United Kingdom in its first week on 9 March,[1] number 8 in New Zealand[2] and number 50 in Sweden.[3]

The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2008 with nine bonus tracks, including 1984 Kid Jensen BBC radio sessions, the non-album single "A New Day" and the previously-unreleased complete version of "Blue Feather" (previously only available as an instrumental remix on the B-side to "Love Like Blood").

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
PopMatters9/10[6]
MusicHound Rock[7]
Select[8]
Smash Hits5/10[9]

The album generally received favourable response. In retrospective reviews, PopMatters opined that the band "perfected" their "balance between antagonism and accessibility", commenting "the band are simply on fire on this record".[6] AllMusic commented that the album found the band "caught between their earlier aggression and a calmer, more immediately accessible approach".[4]

Legacy

Ned Raggett of AllMusic remarked that ""Eighties" turned out to be the retrospectively most well-known song, due to a surprising and not always remembered example of Killing Joke's influence -- Nirvana, of all groups, thoroughly cloned the watery guitar line at the heart of the track for "Come as You Are"".[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Killing Joke (Jaz Coleman, Paul Ferguson, Geordie Walker, Paul Raven), except as noted

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Night Time"4:58
2."Darkness Before Dawn"5:22
3."Love Like Blood"6:50
4."Kings and Queens"4:41
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Tabazan"4:36
2."Multitudes"4:59
3."Europe"4:38
4."Eighties"3:51
2008 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Eighties" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 2:53
10."New Culture" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 3:12
11."Blue Feather" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 4:33
12."All Play Rebel" (Kid Jensen Session, 17/04/84) 3:23
13."A New Day"
4:23
14."The Madding Crowd" 5:10
15."Blue Feather" (Joke Mix) 3:59
16."Love Like Blood" (Gestalt Mix) 5:10
17."Kings and Queens" (Geordie's Dub Mix) 5:00

Personnel

Killing Joke

Production and artwork

Charts

Chart (1985) Peak
position
New Zealand Albums Chart[2] 8
Swedish Albums Chart[3] 50
UK Albums Chart[1] 11

References

  1. ^ a b "Killing Joke | Artist | Official Charts". Official Charts. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b "charts.nz – Discography Killing Joke". charts.nz. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b "swedishcharts.com – Discography Killing Joke". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  4. ^ a b c Raggett, Ned. "Night Time – Killing Joke | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  5. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  6. ^ a b Begrand, Adrien (30 April 2008). "Fun & Games: Killing Joke in the Mid-'80s | PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  7. ^ Holtje, Steve (1999). "Killing Joke". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. pp. 629–630. ISBN 978-1-57859-061-2 – via the Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Perry, Neil (July 1991). "Killing Joke". Select. p. 86.
  9. ^ Heath, Chris (28 February – 13 March 1985). "Albums: Killing Joke – Night Time (EG)". Smash Hits. Vol. 7, no. 5. Peterborough: EMAP National Publications, Ltd. p. 21. ISSN 0260-3004. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

External links

Killing Joke
Authority control databases
Categories