Big Black - The Model/He's a Whore

I bought a huge batch of Big Black vinyl a few months ago and I've been looking forward to writing about one of the 45s in there, and since I did Krafwerk's 'The Model' last week this seems as good a time as any...

I hate those people who dismiss a band by saying, "all their stuff sounds the same to me," so it's with some trepidation that I say of Big Black that a lot of their stuff sounds the same to me. Big Black for me are less about the songs and more about the sound; that pummelling, scratchy, aggressive, mean, cruel sound. In a lesser band's hands it could come across as a pantomime, but there's a sincerity to Big Black: Albini is really pissed off.

When twinned with a memorable song the Big Black experience really takes off, so it should come as no surprise that some of my favourite Big Black tracks are covers of songs that have more than a modicum of melody in them that the majority of Big Black originals eschew. So, this record sits pretty well with me, being as it is a tribute to both Cheap Trick and Kraftwerk.

'The Model' appears on Big Black's 1987 swansong Songs About Fucking and 'He's a Whore', although originally only intended for this release, was also included on the compact disc and cassette editions of the album. Although both tracks are freely available on the CD this record is a still a desirable item as it's such a cool, fun package, which is what this blog is all about really.

This is a double A-side and so you get two different covers! Awesome. Both covers playfully ape classic artwork by each band.



The Cheap Trick side, the first time I saw it, had me exclaiming "Holy shit! Is that Steve Albini?" When Albini is the looker in the band, well - you've got a band that could make onions cry. But that's what Big Black was about: brutal songs about ugly subjects. It's a great photo though, perfectly mimicking Cheap Trick's 1977 debut album cover.



Even the record label continues the theme with the Big Black logo, which is a really nice touch.



The song itself is a poppy new-wave number. This is about as poppy as Big Black get, with those drum machine beats sounding more danceable than punishing. It is surprisingly faithful to the original, except for the dead-panned vocals, and it seems like Big Black are having fun with it, even having stab at some - shock! - harmonies! Sounds to me like Santiago Durango on lead vocals growling, "Ahh'm a whwwooar."



The Kraftwerk side brilliantly replicates the artwork of their 1978 album The Man-Machine. That album's photography by Gunther Frohling has become quite iconic and whoever did this Big Black record has done an excellent job of recapturing it. I wonder who that mystery man was?



Again, this side gets its very own Big Black 'Kraftwerkesque' logo which repeats on the record label:



As for the song, it's an aggressive and heavier take on the original, with the drum machine and grimy bass very prominent. Steve Albini turns in some wonderfully noisy guitar squall in place of the synths. Overall the tone is nastier and this is a more menacing version than the original with Steve Albini sneering the vocals atonally. Lines like "I'd like to take her home with me that's understood" take on new meaning in this version: whereas in Kraftwerk's they sound sad and wistful, in Big Black's version it seems like a taunt; lurid and goading. Kraftwerk's 'Model' is unattainable; on a pedestal. Big Black's 'Model' is in the gutter getting spat on. You don't want to know what they have in mind for her if they get her home. It's a great cover as the band really find a different angle and feeling in it, while retaining most of the elements that make the original such a great song. Steve Albini must have had a soft spot for this as he continued to cover it with Rapeman and in his collaboration with Zeni Geva.

Absolutely classic 7" and well worth getting even if you own the CD. And remember, CDs make Mr. Albini sad.

Kraftwerk - The Model

This is an amazing single.

First off, it's got 'The Model' on it, which could very well be Kraftwerk's best song, and if not is certainly the song which best captures all the elements of what the group is about in an accessible and enjoyable three minute 'pop' song. With that in mind it's slightly baffling as to why it wasn't chosen as a single in 1978. Originally one on the highlights from 1978's The Man Machine it was a further three years before the song enjoyed commercial success in the UK.

'The Model' didn't receive a UK single release until July 1981, by which time Kraftwerk had released and were promoting the Computer World album. 'Computer Love' was selected as the second single from the album with 'The Model' included on the B-side. The single fared admirably, reaching #36 in the singles chart, but it was the B-side that caught the attention of the radio station DJs. After 'The Model' began to receive substantial airplay EMI reissued the single in December, with the same catalogue number, but this time with 'The Model' on the A-side. A music video was also produced. The re-issued single spent thirteen weeks on the charts and scored the group a #1 hit. However, it seems they were unhappy with the label's decision to release old material instead of focussing on Computer World.



Anyone who comes out with the tired old "soulless, emotionless, cold and clinical" response to Kraftwerk should listen for the melancholic yearning in this track. The lyrics speak of glamour, but the music tells the real story; the narrator is made to seem detached from that world, looking in mournfully at a girl whose success seems increasingly hollow and pitiful.

'Computer Love' is another great Kraftwerk track, now sadly more widely recognised as a Coldplay song. But before they got their dreary hands on the sparkling little riff and spread a thick, dull layer of grey jam over the whole thing it actually a rather sweet little song. It's rather light and whimsical in comparison to most of Kraftwerk's body of work; although quite representative of the Computer World album it is taken from.



Finally, the thing I love most about this one is the artwork. Slick, bold, bright and funky; it's just a great, iconic image; perhaps even better now than when originally issued.