"Welcome... welcome, to Peace and Love,
Incorporated"
Peace and Love, Inc. was Information Society's 1992 follow up
to Hack. The album was released in October of 1992 by Tommy Boy Records and had very
little success in the American Billboard charts. However, the
title track was the premier single from the album and went pretty
main stream. Since techno was finally being recognized by
suburbia you could be hearing this single in Gap Stores only a
few months after release (in the playlist right after Boyz II
Men or Nirvana). This is the last Information Society album
where the band still contained James Cassidy and Paul Robb. By
the next album attrition leaves only Kurt Harland (but gains his
little brother Kris).
The cover of the album has a photograph of a sculpture by
Timothy Eames. The sculpture consists of an articulated model
of a right-hand and a sphere. The hand is made from white
plastic, the ball joints at wrist and digit are wooden, stained
to a bronze. The hand, palm forward, holds up the sphere (which
is of the same stain as the ball joints); it is etched with
longitude and latitude. Orbiting the globe are the words,
"Peace and Love, Inc." The letters are bronze and
attached to a dark frame that stands on posts from the sphere.
The whole is similar to what you might find in the courtyard of a
corporate headquarters. The photographic treatment is simple:
the ambient light is low, while the sculpture is brightly lit
from the left against a black backdrop.
The album as a collection of music follows the formula of the
first two albums, but this one is progressively more electronic.
The musical vector is apparent from their debut with a
electro-pop (some people say Latin, some people say soul)
sound to the more distilled electro-industrial-funk sound in Hack
and leading to this album with lots of housey-techno Paul Robb
singles (Peace and Love, To the City, 1,000,000 Watts of Love)
mixed with Harland's "lonely" ballads (Where the I
Divides, Crybaby, To Be Free). The band wanted to come across
with something new - sharing a "mania for change at any
cost." As a result the production on this record was done by
four different people: Mike Thorne (who did most of Soft Cell's
albums), Eric Kupper and Joey Beltram, both from the New York
dance scene, and Karl Bartos (a member of Kraftwerk
before creating Elektric Music.)
The writing on this album is a more personal than Hack and
much more serious than the self-titled debut. One is more likely
to play this record if they are still hurting from a breakup, but
need something to get them going again. The energy comes through
in the music, but a sadness comes through in the lyrics.
Track Listing:
- Peace & Love, Inc.
by Paul Robb, produced by Mike Thorne with
Paul Robb and Joey Beltram.
"But what we've got/ Is a blue-light
special on truth, it's the hottest thing with the
youth... If you've got to have faith
in something, have faith in us we'll make it easy. If
you've got to belong to something, belong to us and
we'll make you PC! Peace and
Love, Incorporated."
- Going, Going, Gone
by Paul Robb, produced by Mike Thorne.
A fast paced ballad featuring Kurt's "sardonic"
vocals.
"Sometimes looking back I can't believe how
many times I left her. I guess it's all part of the
game/ That we play. All is fair in love and war/ But
in this case they're quote the same thing. What's the
difference if I go, or if I stay."
- To the City
written and produced by Paul Robb.
An instrumental that begins with the small dialog: "Taxi!"
"Where to, Mac?"
"To the city!"
The track continues with orchestra hits and sampled
tire screeching as a sort of soundtrack building to a
break containing a sample of Salt N' Peppa's "My
Mic Sounds Nice" "Take it from the top,
1-2." BAM! To the city!. Hearing this song
accompanies imaginings of sliding through the
futuristic streets of a dark, sci-fi megacity, as men
in trench coats and mirror shades pursue.
- Made to be Broken
by Paul Robb, produced by Mike Thorne
Leading in from the previous track the sound gets darker
and more industrial. The instrumental is complete with
samples from a mad scientist's lab and synthetic strings
playing a melodic refrain. Kurt Harland is up front with
Debbe Cole singing background vocals.
Never had to tell a lie. Never had to say
goodbye. It was only you and I/ Then.
Memories will have to do. They will take the place
of you. Can't you tell me what is true/ When:
chorus: Words are lies/ The day they're
spoken... Promises are/ Made to be broken.
- Still Here
by Kurt Harland and G. Hendricks.
An Information Society fan can tell this track is
quintessentially "Kurt". It has a feel that
goes way back to the debut's "Pure Energy" and
Hack's "Come With Me". This is what real
Techno sounds like when you mix it with dash of angst
and a little television addiction. This one also
contains samples from 1963's The Outer Limits, and of
course Star Trek, right in a one-two punch: "I am
in radio contact!" followed by a photon
torpedo and Bones asking, "What kind of
people are we?"
...We stay together now/ When all the signals
say we should move on from here... But I don't think
it's coincidence. And I don't believe in accidents.
It's time to ask ourselves/ "Why are we still
here?"
this is also the last track on side a
- 1,000,000 Watts of Love
by Paul Robb, produced by Eric Kupper and
Paul Robb.
I believe this is the first track on the B-Side to make
it easier for club DJ's. Following the title track this
is the most obvious piece of dance music. Eric Kupper's
influence is evident as well. The piece centers around
the introduction of electricity arcing. It's got ravey
klaxons, blipping melodies, sawtooth 404's, and your
bumping 4/4 kick drum. It also carries the cyberpunk
underpinnings over from Hack:
There comes a time when/ You need a good friend/
And all that you've got/ Is that glowing screen.
You know you could fly. Your rate could
run high/ But you've been squeezed in/ To that same
old scene. You know what I mean.
...
By turning that switch/ You're finding your niche/
And you could tell them/ Where to put that advice.
You should get back in. It's time to
jack in. We'll help you hack in/ To that glowing
life. You won't have to think twice.
Turn up the power. This is the hour. From every
tower/ A Million Watts of Love
- Where Would I Be Without IBM
by Paul Robb, produced by Elecktric Music.
Combine InSoc with Kraftwerk, throw in Kurt Harland's
sample collection of corporate TLAs, then make a little
pop culture statement about global corporatism, and then
you have this track. It fits perfectly in tone and style
following 1,000,000 Watts of Love. This includes the
choice verse:
Where would I be without all my toys? where would
I be without sampled noise? where would I be without
seeing you again? where would I be without IBM?
Entertainment, creativity, human relationships,
all have a minuscule imprint on our fates when compared
to the far reaching societal control of global
corporations.
- To Be Free
by Paul Robb, produced by Elecktric Music.
This track is a poppy little ballad with sequenced
piano's and a pitch bending synth string bridge. In this
case I don't think that Karl Bartos was working with
Robb, making a piece that is similar to other works on
the album, but has incongruities within itself (I think a
listen is necessary to describe what I mean). The
simplicity of the beat, the wide audience appeal, and the
familiar format make this track filler. While it could
stand up on it's own as a dreary pop single (like they
all were in 1992) it seems to me to be placed here to
make the next track better, like using salt to bring out
the sweetness of the next dish.
Staring at an empty screen/ I can sometimes feel
like dying. Doing what I have to do/ I can almost
hear you crying... This is how it feels, To be
Free. Figures slowly come to life. Almost always
they are having/ Minor problems, minor strife. I can
almost here you laughing... This is how it feels/ To
be free.
- If It's Real
by Paul Robb, produced by Eric Kupper and
Paul Robb.
Paul Robb's influences come through clearly in this track
with a complex, hip-hop beat, funky horns from years of
James Brown, all with the club sound of his past
success. Because of the fusion of sounds and the
optimistic lyric this is one of my favorites from the
album. Lead vocals are Kurt Harland with Debbe Cole as
backup. Have a taste:
I don't know what you're thinking/ And I don't
know how you feel. I only want to be with you/ If
it's real. Only if it's real. And when I learn you
feel the same/ The future and the past. We can make a
change. This time things can last. And every time I
think of you/ I can't believe it's true. The world
can seem so old/ But I am born anew.
- Crybaby
by Paul Robb, produced by Mike Thorne.
This is the slowest, moodiest song of the album. "If
I could say I still loved you, I would do it/ For
you." Kurt sings the ballad over swelling strings
and soft piano. "If I could stop the hands of time,
I would do it on a dime... But life rolls on/ And I am
already gone. What can you say, I'm still running away.
So crybaby, cry. I don't care anymore." I guess it's
interesting to note that this time the voice is not the
victim, which is pretty uncommon for Information Society.
"Crybaby, cry because I'm over you."
- Where The I Divides
by Kurt Harland, produced by Mike Thorne.
Industrial sounds and driving bass derivative from albums
past explode from the crooning of "Crybaby".
The imagery of the lyric is varied and surreal. The tone
is uplifting and alternates from the darker industrial
pulsing and mechanics into a brighter electronic chorus
of harp and choir. This piece is the sound you hear on
later Information Society albums where Robb and Cassidy
aren't around.
- 300bps N, 8, 1
(Terminal Mode Or ASCII Download)
This track is the recording of a modem transmisson. It only
appears on the CD version of the album.
The contents of that transmission probably deserves its
own node.