The Future Sound Of London - Dead Cities (CD 1996)

Undoubtedly FSOL's key album, the post apocalyptic urban feel slotted into the latter half of the 1990s perfectly. Orginally issued with a limited edition 196 page book, which contained short stories designed and written in the same artwork as the existing album cover, this album amazed me when I heard it for the first time.

Though the album contains 13 tracks, the track listing on the back insert of the CD is ambiguous, as 15 song titles are listed, with most of the second half of songs not numbered. The common interpretation, confirmed by the promo edition of the CD, is listed here:

"Herd Killing" 2:37
"Dead Cities" 6:37
"Her Face Forms in Summertime" 5:38
"We Have Explosive" 6:19
"Everyone in the World Is Doing Something Without Me" 4:10
"My Kingdom" 5:47
"Max" 2:48
"Antique Toy" 5:43
"Quagmire" 5:13
"In a State of Permanent Abyss" 1:44
"Glass" 5:38
"Yage" 7:32
"Vit Drowning" 4:48
"Through Your Gills I Breathe" 0:44
& 4:46
"First Death in the Family" 2:18
silence 1:00
"Dead Cities Reprise" (hidden track by Headstone Lane) 1:28

There's a myriad of samples all entwined to create aural art pieces including:
Track 1, "Herd Killing", is a remix of track 4. Both feature several samples from the Run DMC album "Tougher Than Leather". Track 6 "My Kingdom" prominently features: A vocal sample of "Rachael's Song" by Vangelis, from the Blade Runner soundtrack. A sample of the intro to "Cockeye's Song", and rearranged samples of Gheorghe Zamfir's pan flute riff in "Cockeye's Song" and "Childhood Memories", taken from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for "Once Upon a Time in America". A guitar sample taken from Ozric Tentacles's album "Pungent Effulgent" is used extensively in the beginning.

This album is best listened to in its entirety with headphones on. If you were fortunate to get the book as well the two compliment the bizarreness and beauty of the album perfectly.