Electronic - Raise the Pressure / Virgin Audio CD 1996

UPC 724384173524

Raise the Pressure is Electronic's second studio album, released in July 1996.

Seven of the thirteen tracks were composed by full-time members Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, and the other six co-written with former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos. He was recommended to Electronic via a friend of Sumner's, and commuted to Manchester throughout 1995 during the recording sessions, which stretched from late 1994 to late 1995.

The protracted sessions resulted in a dense, thick production that was later acknowledged by both Sumner and Marr and criticised in professional reviews; they consequently spent much less time on their next album Twisted Tenderness.

Raise the Pressure was also remarked upon for Bernard Sumner's impressionistic lyrics, which some saw as the result of his use of Prozac during this period, following an appearance on the BBC 2 programme The Late Show, which explored the effects of the antidepressant on creativity. According to Sumner, however, he only wrote one lyric whilst under the influence of Prozac. Musically the album comprises guitar pop/rock songs ("One Day", "Out of My League") and more dance oriented tracks ("Until the End of Time", "If You've Got Love").

Tracklist: