News

Rhino will next month urge fans to “get the message” by reissuing and expanding their collection devoted to British dance-pop supergroup Electronic. Get the Message: The Best of Electronic, originally released in 2006, will be revisited as a new double-vinyl pressing or a 2CD edition pairing the original 15-track compilation alongside another 15 rare remixes and B-sides.

The acclaimed sound of the group was almost tailor-made to surprise fans who came across early U.K. hits like “Getting Away with It” and “Get the Message” at the tail end of the ’80s. Though their initial intention was to remain anonymous, it was hard to mistake the sound of New Order vocalist Bernard Sumner and guitarist Johnny Marr, just a few years removed from the dissolution of The Smiths. (Debut “Getting Away with It” also featured contributions from the Pet Shop Boys – Neil Tennant on backing vocals and Chris Lowe on synth bass – and ABC’s David Palmer on drums.) The unique collaboration was well-received by critics and fans, and Electronic would support Depeche Mode on tour following the release of their self-titled album in 1990.

Sumner and Marr would reconvene twice more by the end of the century, recruiting Kratwerk keyboardist Karl Bartos for sophomore album Release the Pressure (1995) and Doves bassist Jimi Goodwin and Black Grape drummer Ged Lynch for the less-intricately produced Twisted Tendencies (1999). Though both acknowledged that the project would probably not continue in 2003, both titans of British alternative music remain friends and have collaborated occasionally in concert. Their debut album was expanded in 2013.

Get the Message: The Best of Electronic will offer the best of that fruitful collaboration when it’s reissued September 29. Pre-order links and a full track list are below.

Get the Message: The Best of Electronic (Rhino, 2023)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1/LP 1-2: Original compilation (released as EMI 09463 71405 2 9 (U.K.)/Warner Bros./Rhino R2 77621 (U.S.), 2006)

1. Forbidden City
2. Getting Away with It
3. Get the Message (Single Remix)
4. Feel Every Beat
5. Disappointed (Single Mix)
6. Vivid (Radio Edit)
7. Second Nature
8. All That I Need
9. Prodigal Son
10. For You
11. Imitation of Life (New Edit)
12. Out of My League
13. Like No Other
14. Twisted Tenderness
15. Late At Night (Radio Edit)

Tracks 1, 7, 10 and 12 from Raise the Pressure (Parlophone (U.K.)/Warner Bros. (U.S.), 1996)
Original versions of Tracks 2-4 from Electronic (Factory (U.K.)/Warner Bros. (U.S.), 1991)
Original version of Track 5 from Songs from the Cool World (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) (Warner Bros., 1992)
Original versions of Tracks 6, 9 and 13-15 from Twisted Tendencies (Parlophone (U.K.), 1999/Koch (U.S.), 2000)
Track 8 from “For You” single (Parlophone (U.K.), 1996)
Original version of Track 11 from “Forbidden City” single (Parlophone (U.K.), 1996)

CD 2: Extras

1. Getting Away with It (Vocal Remix)
2. Lucky Bag
3. Feel Every Beat (DNA Remix)
4. Lean to the Inside (2013 Edit)
5. Get the Message (DNA Groove Mix)
6. Free Will (Edit)
7. Disappointed (12″ 808 State Remix)
8. Idiot Country Two (Edit)
9. Gangster (FBI Mix)
10. I Feel Alright
11. A New Religion
12. Turning Point
13. Until the End of Time (Fluffy Dice Remix)
14. King for a Day
15. Radiation

Track 1 from Factory U.K. 12″ single Fac257r, 1989
Track 2 from Factory U.K. 12″ single Fac257, 1989
Track 3 from Warner Bros. U.S. 12″ single 0-40159, 1991
Tracks 4 and 6 from Electronic (Special Edition) – EMI 50999 907431 2 2 (U.K.), 2013
Track 5 from Warner Bros. U.S. 12″ single 0-21832, 1991
Tracks 7 and 9 from Warner Bros. U.S. 12″ single 0-40562, 1992
Track 8 from Parlophone/Factory U.K. single R 6311, 1992
Track 10 from Parlophone U.K. CD single CDRS 6445, 1996
Track 11 from Parlophone U.K. CD single CDR 6436, 1996
Track 12 from Parlophone U.K. CD single CDR 6455, 1997
Track 13 from Parlophone U.K. CD single CDRDJ 6483, 1997
Track 14 from Parlophone U.K. CD single CDR6519, 1999
Track 15 from Parlophone U.K. CD single CDR 6514, 1999