Art Of Noise, The ‎– The Seduction Of Claude Debussy

Ambitious projects of this sort by veteran musicians often fall into one of two results: either pompous self-indulgence by artists desperate to remain relevant, or, as I believe in this case, refreshing and daring forays into modern styles. Although some will see this album in the former light, it seems to me that after having pioneered experimental pop in the Eighties, then going through a period of interesting, although less distinctive records, the Art of Noise here take a look at the 90's dance and ambient scenes, bring back their heavy hitters such as Trevor Horn and Anne Dudley, and produce a work that moves them forward as a group, while teaching their young competitors a few things about musicality and production value.

To their credit, they choose not to remain in an artistic rut, and although it could be argued that some of the elements here sound reminiscent of Enigma or In The Nursery, with dollops of opera and rap mixed in for good measure, the result is unique and eminently listenable. For best results, discard your notions of how this, (or any) band 'should' sound.

This album is a real gem, seldom does one come across such a perfect piece of art. The songwriting is achingly beautiful and the production is top-notch, it hasn’t dated one bit. Recurrent themes gently surface throughout the disc, and it's all held together by John Hurt's atmospheric narration, which adds a wonderful cinematic feel to it all.

As I recall now 1999 was a very boring year in musical terms, all filter-house and washed out trip-hop grooves. This release swam against the tide in all departments offering something very unique and beautiful, a true hidden treasure for those who know how to dig.

This is just a very bad and boring release and has nothing of the vigour, joy, intelligence, playfullness or any other positive adjective that I normally connect with the Art Of Noise. The incarnation of nothing. Whoever participated here gets no respect for this total waste of time. Utter disgrace.

good to see the Art of Noise come back out of their self imposed woodwork and schedules. Great to see them turning our attention towards Debussy and his work.
But I just don't find much enjoyable about this record. It's dated itself really well and doesn't stand up to much listening anymore save those one or two songs that had the immediate impact upon the first listen. The rest of it just gets skipped through.