Penthouse and Pavement is the debut studio album by the English synth-pop band Heaven 17, released on 18 September 1981 by Virgin Records.

"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single, but did not achieve chart success, partly due to a ban by the BBC.

Cover artwork

The cover of the album features a painting by Ray Smith, depicting the band members as businessmen in suits. Designed by the band and featuring the logo "B.E.F. The New Partnership – That's opening doors all over the world", it was intended as an ironic take on the upcoming yuppie culture and greedy capitalism.

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Whilst its singles charted poorly, Penthouse and Pavement peaked at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the top 100 for 77 weeks. It was certified gold (100,000 copies sold) by the BPI in October 1982. It was ranked the fifth-best album of 1981 by NME.

"This is often danceable, always intriguing and sometimes a whole lot more", Dave Rimmer commented in Smash Hits.

Writing for Record Mirror, Mike Nicholls found the album "a little too rich a mixture in parts", calling it "a pancake which requires more digesting than the entire contents of a Basque patisserie", and advising readers to "tread gingerly and consume at leisure".

Track listing

Bonus tracks

2010 3-disc special edition

The album was reproduced live in its entirety in a series of concerts the band held throughout 2010, one of which (in Sheffield) was filmed and shown on BBC Two on 16 May 2010. The following night a documentary about the making of the album was screened; this was later included on a new three-disc special edition of the album released in November 2010.

Disc 1

  1. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"
  2. "Penthouse and Pavement"
  3. "Play to Win"
  4. "Soul Warfare"
  5. "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls"
  6. "Let's All Make a Bomb"
  7. "The Height of the Fighting"
  8. "Song with No Name"
  9. "We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time"
  10. "I'm Your Money" (12″ version)
  11. "Are Everything" (12″ version)
  12. "Decline of the West"*

Disc 2

  1. "Penthouse and Pavement" (original demo)
  2. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" (original demo)
  3. "Play to Win" (original demo instrumental)
  4. "Soul Warfare" (original demo)
  5. "Are Everything" (original demo)
  6. "BEF Ident" (alternate version)*
  7. "Decline of the West" (alternate version)*
  8. "Rise of the East" (alternate version)*
  9. "Music to Kill Your Parents By" (alternate version)*
  10. "Uptown Apocalypse" (alternate version)*
  11. "A Baby Called Billy" (alternate version)*
  12. "Rhythmic Experiment 1"*
  13. "Rhythmic Experiment 2"*
  14. "Boys of Buddha Experiment"*
  15. "At the Height of the Fighting" (original rhythm track)
  16. "Rhythmic Loop Experiment"*
  17. "Funky Experiment"*
  18. "Song Experiment"*
  19. "Heavy Drum Experiment"*
  20. "Play to Win" (original demo with vocals)

<sup>*</sup> credited to B.E.F.

Disc 3 (DVD)

  1. The Story of Penthouse and Pavement (2010 documentary)

Personnel

Heaven 17

  • Glenn Gregory – lead vocals, backing vocals
  • Martyn Ware – pianos, synthesizers, Linn LM-1, percussion, backing vocals
  • Ian Craig Marsh – synthesizers, saxophone, percussion

Session musicians

  • The Boys of Buddha – synthetic horns
  • Steve Travell – acoustic piano (4)
  • John Wilson – guitars (1–4), guitar synthesizers (1–4), bass (1–4)
  • Josie James – backing vocals (2)

Production

  • Richard Manwaring – co-producer, engineer
  • Bob Last – executive producer
  • British Electric Foundation – producers, packaging design
  • Peter Walsh – production assistant (2–4, 6), engineer (2–4, 6)
  • Steve Rance – engineer (5, 7–9)
  • Ray Smith – cover painting
  • Studios: Virgin Townhouse (London), B.E.F.–Maison Rouge (Sheffield), Garden (London)

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Chart performance for Penthouse and Pavement

! scope="col"| Chart (1981–1982)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

|-

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

| 99

|-

! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)

| 18

|-

|-

|-

|}

Certifications

"Penthouse and Pavement" is featured in the hit 1982 film Night Shift (starring Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton and was included on the film's soundtrack. The song is also included in Rockstar Games video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories where it is played on the fictional radio station Wave 103.

Notes

  • ¹ – The last track on the original vinyl LP release, "We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time", was recorded up to and onto the runoff groove; meaning the runtime of this track (as labelled on the LP sleeve) and the album is infinite, looping the line "For a very long time".
  • "Groove Thang", "Decline of the West" and "B.E.F. Ident" originally appeared on the B.E.F. cassette-only release Music for Stowaways (1981).
  • All tracks were mixed at Red Bus Studios except "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" and "Let's All Make a Bomb" which were mixed at The Townhouse.
  • The Canadian LP and cassette releases included the original version of "I'm Your Money" and an uncredited "B.E.F. Ident" between "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" and "Let's All Make a Bomb." The cassette's version of "Play to Win" is an edited version of the 12" single mix. This version was later released on the 1986 UK compilation Endless (cassette version only)

References

<!-- This is a licensed stream for the album, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->

  • Penthouse and Pavement (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)