CLOSE-UP : THE CINERAMA SINGLES (Part 6)

A GUEST SERIES by STRANGEWAYS

Close Up: The Cinerama Singles #6 :  The Torino singles

Album-wise, where debut Va Va Voom had been the sound of a project finding its feet, its follow-up Disco Volante had perfected the Cinerama formula. So which way would Torino, the next LP, jump?

Let’s find out via the three releases from that third and final Cinerama album (although there’s a bit of a twist in that tale). In this post we’ll look at just one single, though, then wrap-up the remaining Torino releases next time.

Health and Efficiency (2001, Scopitones)

Health and Efficiency, named after the long-established British naturism magazine, was the first Torino-featured single out of the block. Released in 2001, its sleeve notes don’t reference the 2002 LP at all so it’s possible this was technically a standalone release. It does actually close the album though, so in my book it’s OK to lump it in under the Torino banner.

Anyway, Health and Efficiency is a beezer of a song and, if you’ve not heard it, is worthy of the six-plus minutes this task requires. Predicated on the passing of time, it’s one from the trusted quiet/loud stable and was recorded by the late Steve Albini. Here, the engineer mixes orchestration with absolutely huge guitar parts – almost as huge as the Weddoes’ own Bewitched, Dalliance or Niagara – to thrilling effect.

In keeping with much of Torino, Health and Efficiency signalled a significant shift towards the bigger, darker sounds that characterised Wedding Present albums like Bizarro and Seamonsters. It was a record also that welcomed back the Weddoes’ Saturnalia-era guitarist Simon Cleave.

mp3: Cinerama – Health and Efficiency

The track opens and closes with speech, covertly captured via MiniDisc recorder, by David Gedge on the streets of New York City. At the tail-end of the piece this voice, which the book Sleevenotes tells us is providing a nostalgic commentary concerning urban loss, asserts that We have become a very cold society – prior to a will-o’-the-wisp plink that abruptly ends the number.

On the LP, so long as you’re listening to it in intended sequence, this shrill, resonating little note provides a full-stop, really, to Cinerama as a band. It’s almost as if, job done, into the ether they disappear.

Looking at Torino’s tracklisting now, the lilting Cinerama sound is certainly across it, most notably via moments of lightness like the feathery Airborne and the ecstatic, bawdy-as-it-sounds Tie Me Up. But for the most part the guitars are back, and Health and Efficiency was the single that announced this.

Your B-sides are Swim, a sprightly number – one I hadn’t heard in such a long time – and Diamonds Are Forever. That’s, of course, a cover of the John Barry-composed, Shirley Bassey-sung theme from the 1971 James Bond film of the same name.

mp3 : Cinerama – Swim
mp3 : Cinerama – Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds are Forever is built, really, for what the idea of Cinerama was possibly all about: a bit of glamour and nostalgia, quiet scandal and sophistication. Here, a somewhat throaty David Gedge – a delivery heard throughout these three tracks – delivers a respectful take that doesn’t overdo things or camp it up.

It’s a version that popped up again – on Not From Where I’m Standing, the LP of Bond-related covers we referenced a while back in this series. This was a release whose sales raised funds for the mental-health initiative CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably.

Wrapping up, an eye-catching sleeve, one of Cinerama’s best, may well be a clipping from an issue of Health and Efficiency itself. Upon the cover an elegant lady strikes a graceful pose, whilst the band name, splayed across her chest, artfully preserves her modesty.

Tune in next time for a double feature: those two remaining Torino-era singles.

strangeways