"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single, but did not achieve chart success, partly due to a ban by the BBC.[5] Despite not generating a major hit single, the album reached no.14 and spent 77 weeks on the UK Albums Chart.[6] It has since been regarded as "an important outing",[3] is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and was re-released in 2010 in a three-disc special edition.
Recording
The album was recorded at a Sheffield studio, taking shifts with Martyn Ware's and Ian Craig Marsh's earlier band the Human League, who simultaneously recorded their Dare album. Local session musician John Wilson was recruited to play bass and rhythm guitar on the album which allowed the band to explore a new and more varied sound than the sparse electronic sound they had been restricted to. The title track also features r&b-style female backing vocals by Josie Jones. The album was divided into two distinctive parts, the "Pavement" side that featured the new funk-influenced sound, and the all electronic "Penthouse" side. Lyrically the album features political themes such as criticism of capitalism, nuclear warfare and the cold war arms race.[6]
Cover artwork
The cover of the album features a painting by Ray Smith, depicting the band members as businessmen in suits. Designed by the band and featuring the logo 'B.E.F The New Partnership – That's opening doors all over the world', it was intended as an ironic take on the upcoming yuppie culture and greedy capitalism.[6] Ian Craig Marsh came up with the title "Penthouse and Pavement" and the idea of the cover design from an ad in a business magazine.[6] The cover also feature the logo 'Heaven 17 Sheffield-Edinburgh-London', which was inspired by a packet of Dunhill cigarettes with a similar logo. The image was a deliberate attempt to present themselves as brand rather than a band.[6]
Whilst the singles charted poorly, the album charted at No. 14 and remained in the Top 100 for 77 weeks.[12] It was certified gold (100,000 copies sold) by the BPI in October 1982.[13]
It was well received in the British music press. Reviewing the album for NME, Paul Morley said: "Penthouse and Pavement is fabulous and it won't deny your needs and you just put our faith in it because it is true."[14] It was ranked the fifth best album of 1981 by NME.[15]
In Smash Hits the album was given an 8 out of 10 rating; "this is often danceble, always intriguing and sometimes a whole lot more", Dave Rimmer wrote.[10]
Lynden Barber of Melody Maker noted that Heaven 17, with their "alternative dance stance", had produced "some of the most enjoyable, inspiring and intelligent music you're likely to hear this year" and "occupy that rare space in contemporary pop reserved for true originals".[16]
Writing In Record Mirror, Mike Nicholls was critical of the album's richness describing the album as, "a pancake which requires more digesting than the entire contents of a Basque patisserie", advising readers to "tread gingerly and consume at leisure".[17]
In a retrospective review, Dan LeRoy of AllMusic felt that the album combined electropop with good melodies, and that Glenn Gregory was able to deliver the "overtly left-wing political" lyrics without sounding "pretentious".[3]
"Honeymoon in New York/B.E.F. Ident" (performed by the B.E.F., "B.E.F. Ident" unlisted)
Ware
Marsh
Malcolm Veale
2:52
2010 3-disc special edition
The album was reproduced live in its entirety in a series of concerts the band held throughout 2010, one of which (in Sheffield) was filmed and shown on BBC Two on 16 May 2010. The following night a documentary about the making of the album was screened; this was later included on a new three-disc special edition of the album released in November 2010.
Track listing
Disc 1
"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"
"Penthouse and Pavement"
"Play to Win"
"Soul Warfare"
"Geisha Boys and Temple Girls"
"Let's All Make a Bomb"
"The Height of the Fighting"
"Song with No Name"
"We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time"
"I'm Your Money" (12″ version)
"Are Everything" (12″ version)
"Decline of the West"*
Disc 2
"Penthouse and Pavement" (original demo)
"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" (original demo)
"Play to Win" (original demo instrumental)
"Soul Warfare" (original demo)
"Are Everything" (original demo)
"BEF Ident" (alternate version)*
"Decline of the West" (alternate version)*
"Rise of the East" (alternate version)*
"Music to Kill Your Parents By" (alternate version)*
"Uptown Apocalypse" (alternate version)*
"A Baby Called Billy" (alternate version)*
"Rhythmic Experiment 1"*
"Rhythmic Experiment 2"*
"Boys of Buddha Experiment"*
"At the Height of the Fighting" (original rhythm track)
"Rhythmic Loop Experiment"*
"Funky Experiment"*
"Song Experiment"*
"Heavy Drum Experiment"*
"Play to Win" (original demo with vocals)
* credited to B.E.F.
Disc 3 (DVD)
The Story of Penthouse and Pavement (2010 documentary)
¹ – The last track on the original vinyl LP release, "We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time", was recorded up to and onto the runoff groove; meaning the runtime of this track (as labelled on the LP sleeve) and the album is infinite, looping the line "For a very long time".
"Groove Thang", "Decline of the West" and "B.E.F. Ident" originally appeared on the B.E.F. cassette-only release Music for Stowaways (1981).
All tracks were mixed at Red Bus Studios except "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" and "Let's All Make a Bomb" which were mixed at The Townhouse.
The Canadian LP and cassette releases included the original version of "I'm Your Money" and an uncredited "B.E.F. Ident" between "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" and "Let's All Make a Bomb."[24] The cassette's version of "Play to Win" is an edited version of the 12" single mix. This version was later released on the 1986 UK compilation Endless (cassette version only)[25]
^ abRimmer, Dave (17–30 September 1981). "Heaven 17: Penthouse and Pavement". Smash Hits. Vol. 3, no. 19. p. 29.
^"Heaven 17: Penthouse and Pavement". Uncut. p. 86. [They] defined new pop ambitions with Penthouse and Pavement, a steely state-of-the-art, state-of-the-nation address...
