The official NMA board
General Category => New Model Army => Topic started by: Master Ray on October 04, 2013, 10:53:29 PM
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So... there was a recent thread about T + D with everyone expressing their love for that fine album... deservedly so, it's a bloody classic... but what about the follow-up, Impurity?
For my money, it's my favourite NMA album ever, despite such masterpieces as HIGH, TODAY IS A GOOD DAY and, yes, BD+W coming out since...
I think that much of it comes from the fact that my first NMA gig was the Manchester Academy gig on the Impurity tour... I'd heard TGOC and TAC before (and snippets of other tunes), but it was my first NMA live experience and, lets face it, that's when this band REALLY makes sense...
This album has it all... the big bass-driven anthems (Whirlwind, Space), the Ed AJ-heavy stuff (Purity), the percussive elements of later albums (Innocence, Eleven Years), the acoustic or mellow bits (Before I Get Old, Bury The Hatchet, Marrakesh) and the flat-out mental tunes designed for the moshpit ( Get Me Out, Lust For Power...)
I just think that Impurity is a bit deeper and darker and more elaborate / diverse than it's predecessor...
Plus, my favourite NMA album cover ever...
So, what are your opinions of this masterpiece... IYO..?
:o
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If I could only have one NMA record, Impurity would probably be it. Utterly beautiful, whistful, aggressive, dark, - it's got everything.
Maybe it's not such as bold a statement as T&C, but in terms of songwriting and album sequencing I think it's a masterpiece. Lush sound without being overbearing, light and shade in abundance, all the space and depth that the songs merit, some of Justin's best lyrics - I could go on.
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Probably the album I play the least. It's definitely not bad but it never really fired for me. After the raw beauty of T&C this one seemed a bit too polished and maybe a bit rushed. I remember being quietly disappointed. It's definitely their most dated sounding album to my ears.
Like all their albums, it does contain some cracking tunes though and know that many fans rate it highly. But the good thing about NMA is that you can always count on them to blow your socks off again sooner or later and LOHC certainly did that for me.
On a side note, I remember a tape of Impurity circulating shortly before its release which contained the album as well as all the B-sides and Far Better Thing and Luhrstaap acoustic. The one thing I remember is that the version of Space had a male voice doing Joolz's spoken part. Otherwise it was identical. I must dig it up and have a listen. Anybody know the story behind that?
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As previously mentioned I too was a little under whelmed when it came out as T&C was such a fantastic album it was always going to be hard to follow. Impurity was a hard one for me to get into but eventually I did and it has grown on me and I can appreciate it for the great album that it is.
I love the way it opens with the almost frantic "Get Me Out" then "Space" a great openning to an album.
I love "Bury The Hatchet" it reminds me so much of my late teens and early 20's and all the stupid petty rivalry that used to go on in the pubs and clubs where I used to drink and that now I'm 20 years older it makes me smile to think what a dickhead I was :-[
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Played it to death for about 20 years. Play it still but not as much. T&C was a hard act to follow but by golly did they! Vanity, Lust for Power, Bury the Hatchet (some guy playing spoons on that one!) Classic.
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Impurity is very close to my heart too - it was my first tour (did Leicester De Montford and Villa Leisure Centre) and I remember them walking on to the recorded version of Before I Get Old, firing up their equipment and crashing the walls down with Whirlwind.....utter chaos in the pit - magnificent.
I love the album, faves being the rarely mentioned 'Innocence', 'Whirlwind' (for the memories) and Space....but every song's a belter. I agree with Master Ray about the artwork (although I'd say BD&W is a close second). I had the pleasure of seeing many of the original artworks while at Studio Bijoux a couple of weeks ago and Joolz told me she'd no idea what had happened to her original of Impurity sadly. :'(
Maybe (aside from the songs) it's the memories of those first few gigs 23 years ago this month but for me Impurity will always be a treasure.
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Impurity has a very big pull for me...... Hence the rocker of the tyitle. My first tour, endless memories....... Some life long friends from near n far. That lp has lasted a sight longer than my first marriage dig, I met my best man on that tour, I'm still in contact with him n not the ex! lmao
Space and Marrakesh will be favourites for ever I think. So many great songs, I can't think of an obvious lesser track to be fair. Ghost Of Cain just hedges it as favourite lp, I wore out my vinyl and cassette of that lp. (Reminds me, I need to get another cassette copy of that!)..........
On balance IMPURITY still stands as a 9 out 10 record......... I promised myself that gut rocker 15 years ago, I only wish I'd done it sooner.
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Bloody love it.
My most favorite NMA album of all time.
:)
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Impurity is easily my favourite NMA album.
Oddly enough, Get Me Out is one of my least favourite songs of theirs, but from track 2 onwards the album is fantastic all the way through.
Unlike some people, it's not because it was my first album or tour - didn't really get into the band until 97/98, around the time of Strange Brotherhood.
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Has always been my favourite NMA album Impurity even tho I was watching NMA from the time of Vengeance. Just something about the atmosphere of that album and a time in my life when it was on constantly (on tape) in my motor. Get Me Out is for me the ultimate NMA song, throbbing, relentless and compelling and with an undeniable anthemic chorus and of course amazing when the band do it live. Only caught one gig on the Impurity tour at the old Cornwall Coliseum, still love hearing Whirlwind live or on the album. The artwork has an air of legend about it and Before I Get Old gives me goosebumps and makes the hairs on me neck stand on end - although it wouldn't this weekend cos I had a very close crop with a cut throat yesterday lol
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It's the album I discovered them with, when it came out, and as such it'll always have a special place in my heart. When asked the dreaded question 'which is your favourite NMA album' my answer alternates between Impurity and Ghost of Cain (although objectively I say their best has probably gotta be T&C because of the reasons stated by many in the other thread)
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I love it so much I gave myself a silly username in its honour. 8)
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Well, some of us can blame "Thunder & Consolation" for being such a blast of an album... and to follow that up with "Impurity" was/is hard work indeed! Not my fave but I love tracks such as "Lust For Power", "Purity" and "Before I Get Old", and "Whirlwind", just to name a few.
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I think if I was forced to make a choice it is my favourite album. Songs like Purity, Lurhstaap, Vanity, Space and Whirlwind are among their best. The show they played at the Town & Country on that tour remains in my all time top ten greatest live gigs. Also unlike T&C which contains the gloriously shite 'Inheritance' there isn't a single track that I dislike. Did anyone else note how Marshall reworked Space on the last tour? Pure genius, musicianship just doesn't get any better :) :) :)
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For me, it does have tracks I don't really like "11 years" and "Before I grow old".
But it has some absolutely fantastic tracks which sounded even better live (as on Raw Melody Men) but also one of my all time favourite tracks "Marrakesh".
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This is probably my favorite album of theirs. It popped up in the car the other day and I listened to the entire album and loved every second of it.
This is kind of hard to explain.... While I think T&C is the "easiest" to listen, I think this one is the most consistent. All the songs seem to "fit together" perfectly. There isn't a song on here that I'd say could fit comfortably on another album. Like when reviewers say "___track name___ sounds like it could have come from the __album name___." Everything on here sounds like it could only work on this album and have the same impact.
Absolutely brilliant.
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Although all the albums have an individual sound, for me, the two that are most alike are Thunder / C and Impurity. To me Impurity is almost a follow on. Maybe because they were recorded so close together.
For me the two stand out tracks on Impurity are Space and Marrakesh. Particularly the flow of Marrakesh, a song stripped right down to basics. A vocal and acoustic guitar. Relying on its feel and lyrics. For me that song really shows off the main mans talent as a singer / song writer.
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Although all the albums have an individual sound, for me, the two that are most alike are Thunder / C and Impurity. To me Impurity is almost a follow on. Maybe because they were recorded so close together.
For me the two stand out tracks on Impurity are Space and Marrakesh. Particularly the flow of Marrakesh, a song stripped right down to basics. A vocal and acoustic guitar. Relying on its feel and lyrics. For me that song really shows off the main mans talent as a singer / song writer.
Totally agree with that comment, Space n Marrakesh have been favourites from first hearing in August of 90!
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Impurity is one of my faves.
Eleven Years is one of my favourite all time NMA tracks yet always seems to get overlooked in the favourite song lists and is rarely played live:(
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For me every album,IMHO has a weak track except Impurity.So on that basis,it's probably their best album.The well known phrase about"hair on the back of the neck sticking up"comes to mind,but when I hear Purity it feel like I'm growing a mane ;D
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I think Master Ray summed it up almost perfectly for me in the first post. Impurity was the third NMA album I bought, after it took a while for T&C to get me into the band and No Rest For the Wicked to confirm their greatness for me. With Impurity it was love at first listen and 20 years later it still sounds as fresh and wonderful as it did then. I'm sure some of it is because I'm a synth player/programmer and Impurity has the best synth work on it by far. I also really like some of the studio tricks they've used to great effect, like the fading intro to Innocence, the reverse reverb on the drums in Eleven Years and the backwards guitar in Lurhstaap.
Bury the Hatchet is probably the only song that I don't think is amazing, it's way too folky for me, but in the context of the album it really works. If I was to list my 5 favourite NMA songs (there has to be a thread for that here somewhere), three of them would come from this album - Purity, Lust For Power and Vanity (but not necessarily in that order). Those are songs for which no stereo can muster enough volume.
BTW, I should note that being from Sydney, I've never seen NMA live so there is no live bias here. They were supposed to come out here a couple of times in the last 5 or 6 years but neither tour ever eventuated. I couldn't see it working though, nobody out here knows who they are (despite my best efforts).
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Cheers, wrbones! My heart bleeds for you, mate, that you never had the NMA live experience. I truly hope that either NMA someday make it over to your shores or you manage to get over to the UK or somewhere like that. It must be so frustrating, but I can imagine that a band without major label funding will struggle to get over to the other side of the world from the UK...
Hope it happens one day before too long... and hey, if you fancy a foreign trip, c'mon, save up, you don't need to eat THAT badly...
;)
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Well, I'm hoping that my band might get to play at one of the big summer festivals in Europe next year, as our label is going to work our next album's release around it. If that pans out, I just have to hope I can make it coincide with an NMA show somewhere.
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Ten years before "Get me out", there was... ;D:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9C7o3WGMoE
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Blimey... certainly a bit similar!
I've no idea if any of the NMA musicians are familiar with Discharge... if they were, I doubt they would have intentionally ripped off the band in question. And if they were, there is such a thing as 'unconscious plagiarism', ie a memory that seems to be new... or it could have been accidental, GMO is a simple chord thing, eh?
Sidenote.. a crappy band I used to be in used to rehearse at a little studio that was owned by a guy who played in Discharge for a while, he even produced one of our demo tapes... :D
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Never noticed the similarity with the Discharge song before. Awesome 8)
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Ten years before
"Get me out" by New Model Army (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOxnEv5YDeI)
there was...
"Decontrol" by Discharge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9C7o3WGMoE)
OMG!! :o That guitar riff sure sounds very familiar, too familiar. What an incredible find, Guillaume! When and how the heck did you stumble upon this particular Discharge track? ???
I personally don't believe it was intentional either... just pure coincidence. Either way, just in case... let's keep it to ourselves. :-X
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Wasnt get me out in the radio back in the day?
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Wasnt get me out in the radio back in the day?
Not in 1980, no... ;)
Good to hear from you, me old mate!
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OMG!! :o That guitar riff sure sounds very familiar, too familiar. What an incredible find, Guillaume! When and how the heck did you stumble upon this particular Discharge track? ???
I found the "truth"thanks to good old Youtube, when reading the comments under the "Get me out" track! The comment under the video, posted two months ago! ;):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAia0LnHx_I
"Sounds very much like.....discharge decontrol"
And is it me or early bass notes of "Born feral" sound a bit like the early bass notes of The Cure's ones..." A forest"?
Overall i often thought that NMA's bass sound in the 80's sometimes a bit sounded like The Cure's bass sound.
It's logical to have influences, conscious or not conscious, when you are an artist...i remember for example Justin saying that "Falling"'s guitar riff was a tribute/influenced by Bo Diddley.
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Influences are one thing,we are all influenced by our daily lives in one way or another.Always wondered whether there was copying/plagiarism in David Bowie's "Jean Genie" and Sweet's "Blockbuster",both released in 1973.The opening chords are identical.
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Yeah, pop / rock music has been going on for decades, it's inevitable that some tunes will mirror another, there are only so many sequences of notes that can be played... I remember hearing Pulp's Disco 2000 and thinking 'hang on, isn't that Gloria by Laura Branighan'?
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Happy birthday IMPURITY!
Released 30 years ago...in September 1990.
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As time goes bye …
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Impurity was my first "looking forward to" nma album. I listened to T&C at a friends and got hooked, then went for the older recordings and then i was so excited waiting for a new album. Immediate love!...with all my personal "nah, i don't like that song so well" nma experience at first listen and them later becoming favorites or loved ones.
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Happy birthday IMPURITY!
Released 30 years ago...in September 1990.
Yup, as if I didn't need yet another reminder that I'm old as fook... ;D
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I was 15 or so and someone played a tape that was basically Impurity but had far better things, better than them and I think vagabonds on it. I was transfixed and loved it but funny thing is about 6 months later someone played a tape with Betcha on it and i had no idea they were the same band could hardly believe it!
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Blimey I posted this 12 years ago (and back when there were a few long lost NMA forum folks posting regularly), just wondering what anyone thinks about this album seeing as we've had a few since I made the original post...
Still my very fave, yes that might be 'nostalgia tickles and remembering how happy I was back then as opposed to these days' and, yes, nearly 35 years ago? :o but how does anyone feel about it in the cold light of the 21st century? What the heck, it's been 5 years since anyone posted. ;)
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how does anyone feel about it in the cold light of the 21st century?
Funny you should update the thread because I've been re-listening to IMPURITY a few times in the last few weeks. I still think it's a really good album, my favorite tracks are "Marrakesh", "Purity", "Eleven Years", "Bury the Hatchet" and the underrated "Innocence" but there are no bad songs or fillers on this album, whereas you can find fillers here and there on others NMA albums! But I still put the timeless classic THUNDER AND CONSOLATION above this superb IMPURITY!