Deceit (album)

Deceit is the second and final studio album by English experimental rock band This Heat, released in 1981 by Rough Trade Records. As with their self-titled debut album, the tracks on Deceit were assembled from largely improvised recordings that the band accumulated since their inception in 1976, with varying degrees of audio quality. However, it is generally considered to be more song-oriented than its largely abstract predecessor. The title is in part a pun on the band's name.[1]

"Hi Baku Shyo" redirects here. For survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, see Hibakusha.

Deceit
Studio album by
This Heat
ReleasedSeptember 1981
Recorded1977–1981
Studio
  • Cold Storage
  • Zipper Mobile
  • Mekon
  • Berry St
  • Vineyard
  • Surrey Sound
  • Nivelles
Genre
Length40:07
LanguageEnglish
LabelRough Trade
ProducerThis Heat and David Cunningham
This Heat chronology
Health and Efficiency
(1980)		 Deceit
(1981)
Additional cover art
The cover art (as shown in the 1991 CD booklet) reflected This Heat's anxiety about nuclear war.

Deceit is regarded as a classic of the post-punk era, and was ranked at number 20 on Pitchfork's list of the greatest albums of the 1980s.[2]

Background

In a 1991 interview, Charles Hayward explained that the threat of nuclear warfare motivated the band and provided the album with an underlying theme: "The whole speak, 'Little Boy', 'Big Boy' [sic], calling missiles cute little names. The whole period was mad! We had a firm belief that we were going to die and the record was made on those terms.… The whole thing was designed to express this sort of fear, angst, which the group was all about, really."[3] The album's subject matter also deals with war and imperialism.[4]

As with other This Heat recordings, much of the album was recorded at Cold Storage, a disused refrigerated storeroom at a former meat pie factory in Acre Lane, Brixton, England.[5] The music included new improvisations along with songs the band had been playing during live performances; portions of these songs were culled from actual concert recordings, such as "Makeshift Swahili", which was assembled from three different performances.[3][5] As Hayward describes, "some of the album was really plush sounding, some dim and pokey. Sometimes it would sound like the machinery was breaking up. We deliberately would make it sound as though the record player was exploding."[3][lower-alpha 1]

Artwork

The cover art for Deceit, designed by bandmember Gareth Williams and Nicholas Goddall, reflects the album's lyrical concerns, and includes a photomontage of images such as mushroom clouds, thematic maps depicting nuclear arsenals and photographs of Ronald Reagan, Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita Khrushchev. Charles Hayward explained that the album's cover photograph was achieved by using cut-out images from a Protect and Survive pamphlet, which were then assembled into a mask shape, photographed and projected over Williams' face. [6]

Release

During the 1990s, intermittent availability made Deceit a rarity and a collector's item among fans. In 2006, This Is, a Recommended Records imprint, released a remastered version of Deceit as part of the 6-CD Out of Cold Storage box set. This Is also released the album as a separately available CD. In January 2016, Light in the Attic imprint Modern Classics Recordings pressed remastered reissues of Deceit, This Heat, and Health and Efficiency on vinyl.[7]

Critical reception and legacy
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Pitchfork9.0/10 (2002)[9]
9.1/10 (2016)[7]
Uncut9/10[10]

Deceit has been well-received by critics.

AllMusic wrote of the album: "Out of all the boundary breaking that occurred during the fertile era of post-punk, This Heat's Deceit is one of the most expansive, imaginative and remarkably wild records to have been produced during the time—and very possibly the last three decades."[8] The Trouser Press Record Guide described the album as "austere, brilliant and indescribable."[1] Tiny Mix Tapes called it a "radiation-soaked masterpiece".[11]

Deceit is regarded as a classic of the post-punk era, and was ranked at number 20 on Pitchfork's 2002 list of "The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s"[12] and at number 73 on their 2018 list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s"[13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by This Heat (Charles Hayward, Gareth Williams, Charles Bullen).

No.TitleLength
1."Sleep"2:13
2."Paper Hats"5:57
3."Triumph"2:55
4."S. P. Q. R."3:26
5."Cenotaph"4:35
6."Shrink Wrap"1:40
7."Radio Prague"2:21
8."Makeshift Swahili"4:04
9."Independence"3:39
10."A New Kind of Water"4:57
11."Hi Baku Shyo 被爆症 (Suffer Bomb Disease)"4:03

Personnel
This Heat
  • Charles Hayward – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, drums, tape music
  • Gareth Williams – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, tape music
  • Charles Bullen – vocals, clarinet, guitar, drums, tape music
Production
  • David Cunningham – production
  • Martin Frederick – mixing
  • Laurie-Rae Chamberlain – colour xerography
  • Nicholas Goodall – sleeve photography direction
  • Studio 54 – sleeve design

Charts
Chart (1981) Peak
position
UK Indie Chart 18[14]

Notes
  1. The source text actually reads "record played", but this is assumed to be a typographical error.
gollark: Okay, we may need to initiate recalibration sequences.
gollark: Hmm, this is somewhat out of range of the apioanimic predictive algorithms.
gollark: Hmm, yes, this is in line with apiophonetic predictions.
gollark: This has been noted in your psychoapiological profile.
gollark: That was a holographic golf ball. You *cannot* escape.

References
  1. Grant, Steven (1991). Robbins, Ira (ed.). The Trouser Press Record Guide (Fourth ed.). New York: Collier Books. p. 673. ISBN 0-02-036361-3. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  2. "Staff Lists: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. 20 November 2002. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  3. Plunkett, Daniel (June 1992). "Charles Hayward". N D. 16: 7–14.
  4. Tudor, Alexander (7 November 2008). "Classic Political Records: This Heat Deceit / In Depth // Drowned in Sound". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  5. Cutler, Chris (2006). Out of Cold Storage (CD booklet). Recommended Records.
  6. This Heat interview Charles Hayward
  7. Sherburne, Philip (26 January 2016). "This Heat: This Heat / Health and Efficiency / Deceit". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  8. Kellman, Andy. "Deceit – This Heat". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  9. Leone, Dominique (18 February 2002). "This Heat: Deceit". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  10. "This Heat - This Heat/Health & Efficiency/Deceit reissued". Uncut. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  11. Bowe, Miles (27 April 2012). "This Heat – Deceit | DeLorean | Tiny Mix Tapes". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  12. "Staff Lists: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. 20 November 2002. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  13. "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s - Page 7". Pitchfork. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  14. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
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