Liquidizer is the debut album by British rock band Jesus Jones, released in October 1989 through Food Records. After various line-up changes, the members of the band moved to London, where frontman Mike Edwards would diversify his musical tastes. Guitarist Jerry de Borg joined soon after; in May 1988, Edwards acquired a sampler which would further his songwriting. With the addition of keyboardist Iain Baker, the band signed to Food Records by the end of the year. Initially enthusiastic about working with producer David Motion, recording sessions with him were fruitless. Craig Leon then produced Liquidizer in mid-1989, helping to give the album its signature tone, though the members would later be disappointed by the mixing.
Liquidizer is a techno and power pop album, borrowing influence from hip hop, that employed a large amount of samples, drawing comparison to Pop Will Eat Itself, Renegade Soundwave and World Domination Enterprises. It was met with favourable reviews from critics, many of whom praised the songwriting and use of samples. The album peaked at number 32 on the UK Albums Chart. "Info Freako" was released as the album's lead single in February 1989, followed that same year by "Never Enough" in June 1989 and "Bring It on Down" in September 1989. The first two both charted at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart, while "Bring It Down" reached number 46.
Background In December 1979, a band featuring guitarist Mike Edwards and drummer Simon "Gen" Mathews held their first rehearsal. In February 1980, Mike Palmer was drafted in as their vocalist,Edwards 2019, p. 8 and after a few months, Edwards became adamant about having a career in music.Edwards 2019, p. 9 After finishing school, Edwards and Palmer went to London to hand out demo tapes to A&R departments at potential record labels.Edwards 2019, pp. 10, 11 Edwards would leave the band by mid-1983; he spent several months working on material alone before deciding to form a new act with Gen and Palmer.Edwards 2019, pp. 11, 12 Since they lacked a bassist, Edwards contacted a local representative from a Musicians' Union, who knew of bass-playing son of a friend of his. Al Doughty, whose musicianship impressed the rest of the band, subsequently showed up to rehearsals. As they wished to succeed with the band, the members decided on moving to London. During this time, Palmer became disenchanted with how long the process was taking and the lack of fortunes.Edwards 2019, p. 12
Two weeks before the planned relocation to London, Palmer left the band. Edwards, who had started doing backing vocals alongside his guitar playing, became the new vocalist. He struggled initially, to the point where Doughty suggested recruiting a female singer that he was aware of. In January 1985, they moved into a flat in the Walthamstow area of London.Edwards 2019, p. 13 The trio found it difficult to secure gigs as promoters were not interested in the band, prompting them to take on "pay to play" engagements. Edwards found his bandmates competent musicians, but was critical of his own songwriting, referring to it as aimless. He continued to work on possible ideas using his Portastudio equipment. While this occurred, Doughty moved into the house of a former classmate, who joined them as a keyboardist. After two months, said person left as them and Edwards had differing personalities.Edwards 2019, p. 14 Another keyboardist, from friends they made in East London, joined but left after two practices.
As this was the time period of the proliferation indie bands, such as the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Smiths, it dawned on Edwards that they should instead bring in another guitarist. Edwards and Gen relocated to Willesden, and shortly after, they put an advert in Melody Maker looking for a guitar player. Edwards said they received two responses: one from an "overweight guy of Cypriot descent" who "didn't seem all that interested", and the other from Jerry de Borg.Edwards 2019, p. 15 Despite the poor sound in the room they held an audition in, which meant they were unable to hear what Borg was playing, he formally joined the band.Edwards 2019, pp. 15–6 Around the time he was discovering hip hop and sampling, Edwards' interest in skateboarding saw him practice at skateparks throughout London. Ghetto blasters at these locales allowed him to discover more music, such as the work of Age of Chance and Beastie Boys in 1986, and later acid house in 1988.Edwards 2019, p. 16 He said that "enough originality was about to inspire" his songwriting, which coincided with him receiving a drum machine from a friend of Borg.Edwards 2019, pp. 16–7
Development and recording Edwards saw an advert for a sampler in Loot in May 1988, which in reality was a "glorified echo pedal" with a maximum sampling time of two seconds. Despite the limitation, which he was able to extended with the tape-speed control on his Portastudio, it aided his creativity.Edwards 2019, p. 17 Discussing the musical direction, Edwards highlighted the work of Age of Chance, Pop Will Eat Itself and the Shamen as for what he was aiming for.Edwards 2019, pp. 17–8 Inspired by the live sound of the Shamen, Edwards set about changing his band's live setup, with the inclusion of a drum trigger. While his love of making music was at a high point, he had considerably less interest in trying to promote it. As a result of their mutual pastime in skateboarding, Edwards met Iain Baker, who would later become their keyboardist.Edwards 2019, p. 18 Gen stepped up in a managerial role, organising gigs and would approach managers of other bands in the hopes of taking them on.Edwards 2019, p. 18–9 While on a holiday in Spain in June 1988, Borg, Edwards and Gen christened the band Jesus Jones. That same month, Edwards made a three-song cassette that featured early versions of "Info Freako", "Broken Bones" and "What's Going On", the latter then known as "Grunge Hip". Three months afterwards, Gen borrowed a half-complete demo of "Info Freako"; sometime later, Edwards was contacted by Andy Ross of Dave Balfe Management in October 1989. Ross told him that he was involved Food Records and invited Edwards for a meeting. Eight months prior, the label had given up independent status when they signed a deal with EMI and gained their distribution system.Harris 2004, p. 48
With the involvement of EMI A&R representative Nick Gatfield,Silberman ed. 1994, p. 5 Jesus Jones subsequently signed a recording contract with Food Records in December 1988 for a single, with the option for a second single and an album.Edwards 2019, p. 19 That same month, they had performed a gig to six people in Covent Garden. As talk of the band made its way through the music industry, a queue would form for their next show in January 1989 that wrapped around a city block.Edwards 2019, pp. 19–20 Soon afterwards, the members began using monikers: Edwards with Jesus H. Jones, Baker with Barry D and Doughty with Al Jaworski. Over the next few weeks, the band's gigs sold out as they started received coverage from the music press.Edwards 2019, p. 21 The band members left their day jobs in order to support the Shamen and the Wonder Stuff on their respective toursEdwards 2019, p. 22 between March and June 1989. Food Records proposed that "Bring It on Down" should be touted as a single; Balfe recommended David Motion as the choice of producer. Baker liked the suggestion as he enjoyed Motion's work with Clare Grogan, Intaferon and Strawberry Switchblade. Upon collaborating, Baker commented that Motion's "ultra-glossy and professional approach" did not work with what they wanted. Liquidizer was ultimately produced by Craig Leon, except for "Info Freako", which was produced by Edwards, in mid-1989. "Bring It on Down" went through numerous changes: a longer intro section, a portion evolving into "I Feel Love" (1977) by Donna Summer, and another that Baker said could "only be described as a free-form acid techno workout."Baker 2022, p. 9 Michael J. Ade acted as engineer for the sessions, while Nick Davies mixed "All the Answers" and "Bring It on Down". Baker felt that Leon was crucial to the album's tone, as he helped to unify "and giv[e] it a sense of its own identity. He also gave it its signature sound – a full-on squealing wall of high-frequencies of buzzing, trebly noise". Several mixes would be made as they tried to balance the guitar parts with the electronic backing tracks. When mixing concluded, Edwards took a copy to the band's rehearsal space. Upon listening to it, Baker said they were partially disappointed with it, but decided to focus on their upcoming gigs instead.
Composition and lyrics
Musically, the sound of Liquidizer has been described as power pop and techno,Schuftan 2012, p. 25 with influence from hip hop, drawing comparison to the work of Pop Will Eat Itself, Renegade Soundwave and World Domination Enterprises. AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett wrote that the liner notes list a myriad of sources for samples, stretching from "Prince and Sonic Youth to Apocalypse Now and the news and views of 1988 and 1989". Baker said the members were enthusiastic about releasing an album as quickly as they could, shifting their aim away from making a "grand artistic statement" to instead "strik[ing] while the iron was still hot". They focused on replicating their live sound, which was aggressive, frantic and loud; they performed like this in order to impress crowds.
Baker said their use of sampling made them stand out from their contemporaries, despite the technology being in its infancy having limited use. They had 12-bit Akai S950, which had insufficient memory for what the band wanted. In order to free up space, they could sample at half of the normal bandwidth, which Baker said was the equivalent of bouncing down tracks on a multi-track console. A drawback to this meant that the sound quality would worsen the sound quality, though Baker said they would be pushing this as much as they could. He mentioned that this creativity fed back into the tracks that Edwards wrote, which were "full of as much noise as possible". Tracks that they viewed as tame during the demo process would evolve into loud songs with more complex forms.