Track listing
- A1 Brainwash 4:28
- A2 Drama Drama 3:57
- A3 Haven't We Met Somewhere Before ? 4:06
- A4 Long Holiday 2:12
- A5 The Man With the Answer 3:15
- B1 Carbon Copy 6:34
- B2 Exercise Is Good for You 3:35
- B3 Dream-O-Mat 4:13
- B4 Sigmund Freud's Party 2:53
- Total length: 35:13
Rate/Catalog
Catalog
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Review
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7 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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Sex [p] 33 rpm
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Sex 33 rpm
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Sex 33 rpm
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Sex 33 rpm
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Birds and Bees 33 rpm
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Sex Bonus Tracks, Remastered
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Sex Bonus Tracks, Remastered, Streaming2023 Digital File
3 Reviews
On December 15, 2021, I reviewed Sex, and gave it a 3.5 out of 5.
JAMOOL called this the O-Town to YMO/Kraftwerk's N*Sync/Backstreet Boys, and a more fitting comparison has never been made. Except the thing about O-Town was that they were really uncomfortably horny, and despite the title this is actually kind of sexless. Which is odd, because this is very much a synth-funk album, but I guess it's the kind of synth-funk that Belgians would play. Any eroticism here comes from the lyrics (written by Russell Mael of Sparks!), only Russell Mael's lyrics don't actually sound good sung by anyone other than Russell Mael. Only other thing of note is that the last track sounds like Taco's cover of "Puttin' On the Ritz".
JAMOOL called this the O-Town to YMO/Kraftwerk's N*Sync/Backstreet Boys, and a more fitting comparison has never been made. Except the thing about O-Town was that they were really uncomfortably horny, and despite the title this is actually kind of sexless. Which is odd, because this is very much a synth-funk album, but I guess it's the kind of synth-funk that Belgians would play. Any eroticism here comes from the lyrics (written by Russell Mael of Sparks!), only Russell Mael's lyrics don't actually sound good sung by anyone other than Russell Mael. Only other thing of note is that the last track sounds like Taco's cover of "Puttin' On the Ritz".
Published
Perhaps a little explainer is in order. "Sex" is Telex's third album, released in 1981. A year later, it was re-released in Britian as "Birds and Bees" with a different tracklisting, though not different enough that I'd consider them two different albums. The 2003 CD is "Sex", plus the extra tracks from "Birds and Bees", then some B-sides and unreleased stuff at the end (including an early version of "L'amour Toujours").
Anyway, this album is perhaps best known for the fact that the lyrics were written by Sparks, which is why the lyrics are wittier and more complex than usual. If you are familiar with Sparks then you will probably notice their presence right away ("If that guy weren't so black, he'd look just like me"). They sound odd coming from Michael Moers, not exactly a natural English speaker, sometimes putting emphasis on the wrong bits. But they still add an entertaining aspect to this album that isn't really present on the other albums. Particularly since a couple tunes here sound like they could have easily appeared on a de facto Sparks album ("Sigmund Freud's Party", "Carbon Copy", "Dummy"). Would've beat the piss out of Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat, that's for sure.
Unfortunately, the music itself is a bit droll and mechanical. Like Sparks I think they kind of dialed down the excitement after they'd become "veterans", especially since sucking the life out of things was kind of Telex's gimmick. But I'm not sure that works so well on a quirky pop album like this one. Now, that said, I think the hooks are generally good enough to survive that, particularly on cuts like "Dream-O-Mat" (one of their best tunes), "The Man With the Answer", and "Long Holiday". I guess it depends on how much you dig Telex's Commodore-heavy synth noises, which still sound like nothing else, even though (strangely enough) the record resembles the kind of shit digital pop we'd see a lot of in 1986 and 1987. Overall I think this is a solid 3-star record, but with the bonus tracks there's enough good stuff to up it a notch. Like with Neurovision I think they give the full story of what the group was up to around this time. Though I think "Basta" is actually from '87, probably included here cuz none of the other CDs had it.
Anyway, this album is perhaps best known for the fact that the lyrics were written by Sparks, which is why the lyrics are wittier and more complex than usual. If you are familiar with Sparks then you will probably notice their presence right away ("If that guy weren't so black, he'd look just like me"). They sound odd coming from Michael Moers, not exactly a natural English speaker, sometimes putting emphasis on the wrong bits. But they still add an entertaining aspect to this album that isn't really present on the other albums. Particularly since a couple tunes here sound like they could have easily appeared on a de facto Sparks album ("Sigmund Freud's Party", "Carbon Copy", "Dummy"). Would've beat the piss out of Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat, that's for sure.
Unfortunately, the music itself is a bit droll and mechanical. Like Sparks I think they kind of dialed down the excitement after they'd become "veterans", especially since sucking the life out of things was kind of Telex's gimmick. But I'm not sure that works so well on a quirky pop album like this one. Now, that said, I think the hooks are generally good enough to survive that, particularly on cuts like "Dream-O-Mat" (one of their best tunes), "The Man With the Answer", and "Long Holiday". I guess it depends on how much you dig Telex's Commodore-heavy synth noises, which still sound like nothing else, even though (strangely enough) the record resembles the kind of shit digital pop we'd see a lot of in 1986 and 1987. Overall I think this is a solid 3-star record, but with the bonus tracks there's enough good stuff to up it a notch. Like with Neurovision I think they give the full story of what the group was up to around this time. Though I think "Basta" is actually from '87, probably included here cuz none of the other CDs had it.
Published
Dan Lacksman, lead vocalist for the group, does not have what you could call a particularly distinctive singing voice, and the bands rhythms or music are far from groundbreaking, but this album easily hits the spot if you are looking for a representative for the eighties synth-pop genre. Quite cleverly writen 'english' lyrics(from a man who's natural language is not English) coupled with some damn catchy pop hooks, earns this highly polished and cleanly produced album a degree of dignity in the world of synth music. Who else could get away with a lyric like
" now I'm a person, I've started cursing." Nobody, but Dan Lacksman, that's who! The mans got a sense of humour.
" now I'm a person, I've started cursing." Nobody, but Dan Lacksman, that's who! The mans got a sense of humour.
Published
INTO 1 Vinyl LP (1982)
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Catalog
26 Mar 2024
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