Bigger Than America

Bigger Than America
Studio album by
Heaven 17
Released20 September 1996 (1996-09-20) (UK)
GenreSynth-pop
Length54:42
LabelEye of the Storm
WEA
ProducerB.E.F.
Heaven 17 chronology
Higher and Higher: The Best of Heaven 17
(1993) 		Bigger Than America
(1996) 		Before After
(2005)
Singles from Bigger Than America
  1. "Designing Heaven"
    Released: 30 August 1996
  2. "We Blame Love"
    Released: 17 February 1997

Bigger Than America is the sixth studio album by the English synth-pop band Heaven 17. It was originally released in September 1996, on the label Eye of the Storm, eight years after their previous album, Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho.

The album peaked at number one on Germany Alphabeat Redaktionscharts' Rock/Pop/Alternative Charts in November 1996, but did not chart in the UK. It was listed as number 6 on the online music magazine Addicted to Noise's Writers Poll.[1]

In an interview with The Guardian in 2010, Ware recalled: "This went under the radar to the extent that hardly anybody in this country knew about it; we did do an album in '95 called Bigger Than America, which was our attempt to re-engage early analogue synths and create an album based on that. It just got lost in the big Warner Brothers machine."[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Guardian[3]
Select[4]

Upon its release, Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian commented: "Heaven 17 have hardly changed [and] things are much the same - just less melodic. Marsh and Ware still produce plinky, one-tempo backbeats, [and] Gregory's lyrics are disillusioned, even morose. "We Blame Love" has the closest thing to a tune, which brings us to the crux of the matter - their status as godfathers of techno is unchallenged, but these songs are hollow and too samey."[3]

Robert Semrow of Keyboard wrote: "[Heaven 17] were outstanding before, and have only improved with time. Each song is solid and very dancefloor-friendly. Bigger Than America is similar to their previous sound, with pads and dance grooves providing a backdrop for Gregory's unmistakable strong vocals. Lots of movement, lots of changes, and lots to enjoy."[5] Howard Cohen of Knight Ridder summarised: "Erasure-like Europop cuts 'Freak!' and 'Another Big Idea' are danceable enough, and there's a throbbing Giorgio Moroder dance remix. But this is largely tuneless, boring stuff. Which explains why few missed Heaven 17 in the first place."[6]

Track listing

  1. "Dive" – 4:30
  2. "Designing Heaven" – 5:15
  3. "We Blame Love" – 4:49
  4. "Another Big Idea" – 4:57
  5. "Freak!" – 4:09
  6. "Bigger Than America" – 4:00
  7. "Unreal Everything" – 4:10
  8. "The Big Dipper" – 4:57
  9. "Do I Believe?" – 4:57
  10. "Resurrection Man" – 4:06
  11. "Maybe Forever" – 4:42
  12. "An Electronic Prayer" – 4:06
  13. "Designing Heaven – (Mies Van Der Rohe mix)" +
  14. "Designing Heaven (Den Hemmel Designen) – (Gregorio remix)" +

Tracks marked with "+" are bonus tracks added to the other version of the CD album.

Personnel

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for Bigger Than America
Chart (1996/97) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[7] 155

References

  1. ^ "Heaven 17 - The most complete homepage". Heaven17.de. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  2. ^ "Paul Morley interviews Heaven 17". YouTube. 3 November 2010. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b Sullivan, Caroline (14 March 1997). "This week's pop CD releases". The Guardian.
  4. ^ Leggatt, Rob (December 1996). "New Albums". Select.
  5. ^ "Keyboard - Google Books". 25 May 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  6. ^ Cohen, Howard (28 February 1998). "Tune up". The Gazette.
  7. ^ "Heaven 17 albums chart history received from ARIA in May 2024". ARIA. Retrieved 4 June 2024 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart