Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There are two ways to look at the world of advertising, one being is that is brings a product into our lives that is indispensable, that will go on to change the course of our day, our year because we were fortunate enough to understand the message that it was carrying; and the other is that we see it as an intrusion, a focused infringement into our psyche, one that can cause the weaker willed to purchase anything, everything, that is placed before them, and therefore cause a draining of resources that might have been put to better use elsewhere.
Money for art’s sake…it depends on your point of view on how a Commercial Break might allow insight into the human condition, of the sometimes seemingly mundane, the bursts of inflammable combustion that reveals a darker, perhaps cooler, more expressive side to our relationship with the detail that has caught our eye, and the belief that, certainly in the music of one of Britain’s most endearing and enduring synth-pop bands of all time, Blancmange, that time provides us with our own trailer, the moment in between the programme in which we can catch our breath and see what inspires us.
The commercial side of life is wrought with the idea of everything being about money, the more it sells, so the belief goes, the more ‘right’ it must be, and yet whilst perhaps there is a market for everything, not all can be placed into the realm of being created solely to appear valuable, that art itself is more than just a figure on a spreadsheet, it is more than just a column of numbers, it is the essence of humanity, and it takes a soul, a creative, compassionate passion to bring it to life…forget the numbers, embrace the belief, and by doing so the listener becomes rich indeed.
It could be argued that Blancmange, the ever observational Neil Arthur and his co-author of depth in comprehension, Benge, have been in a flurry of production for a whole, five albums in just three years is phenomenal by any standards, and whilst some may have found the time consuming, it seems for the pair, it is the example of ethical belief in their work that leaves them inflamed with ideas, a beauty that cannot, will not stand still.
Commercial Break is that beauty personified, and as tracks such as Endless Posts, This Is A State, Empty Streets, Strictly Platonic and Looking After Aliens, all capture the insight with their usual industrious celebrated feel, the idealism of a lyric that is grounded in the Alan Bennett school of dry wit reflection and statement, and the music that frames Neil Arthur’s sense of society image and the persona of the age, the consistency of the music is appreciated, absolutely and fully.
The once dreaded phrase of ‘It’s time for a commercial break’ has thankfully been replaced by the notion that you only need one to see you through your time at the stereo, for in Blancmange’s Commercial Break, the world is a finer, and more intriguing place.
Ian D. Hall