(Techno Punk) Second Layer - World of Rubber - 1981 - 2009, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

2nd Layer featured Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey, founding members of The Sound . They pioneered the use of drum machines and mixed machine based soundscape with more human elements created a sound ahead of its time. After releasing a couple of singles in 1979 and 1980 they released World of Rubber on Cherry Red in 1981. A beautiful, hard and emotional record. It contained many of the same elements as The Sound , not much of a surprise considering the line up, but the machine element gives it a very different sound. The Album has never been on CD and the vinyl is very hard to track down. Bonus Track Skylon previously unavailable.
2nd Layer were an electronic, machine-based outlet for Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey, both being founding members of "The Sound".
2nd Layer were born as Borland's former band "The Outsiders" reached their peak, "The Outsiders" were soon to disband, as drummer Adrian "Jan" Janes and bassist "Bob" Lawrence changed paths. Leaving Adrian and Graham to find a "new way of life" giving birth to "The Sound".
2nd Layer were already recording as "The Sound" emerged. Adrian supplied guitars, lyrics and vocals whilst Graham provided keyboards, bass, machine manufacture and programming.
2nd Layer were the first to use a "drum machine" on record, this being designed and constructed by Graham, the earliest recordings, with which, were made in 1976.
2nd Layer never performed live, preferring the studio environment. Two singles were released on Tortch-r records:- in 1979 "Flesh as Property" and in 1980 "State of Emergency".
A full length LP, "2nd Layer's World of Rubber" followed, released in 1981, on Cherry Red records.
Since the duo were central to the sound of "The Sound", 2nd Layer retained a similar feel, although in a slightly detached way, which is to be expected when machines replace humans.
Borland's song-writing isn't much less personal here than it was for the Sound.
Headheritage Review
Well I might as well review another record of Adrian Borland's. Second Layer was an experimental project inbetween Borland's previous punk band the Outsiders and the formation of the Sound later. The debut ep "Courts Or Wars" was minimalist punk with a drum machine whereas the later "State Of Emergency" ep was pure discordant noise. World Of Rubber has to be the grimmest album Borland ever involved himself in. Heavy-metallish guitars, Suicide-style machine rhythm and ugly, grayish tones from an ARP synth sums up what you get here.
The opener "Definition Of Honor" is an incendiary anti-war song that gives you images of Goya or Hieronymus Bosch. "The definition of honor is that hole in the side of your head..." "In Bits" just makes me think that's what the vast emptyness of extreme alienation must be like, with that devastating attack of feedback concluding it. "Save Our Souls" is the most melodic but still pretty grim even by Borland's usual standards... Y'know it's funny that his lyrics in the Sound did have a great sense of hope to them, which isn't evident here.
What opens side two is a dubbish track ominously titled "Underneath The Gloss", which is enough to make your spine squirm and wonder if you're as sane as you think you are! "Zero" has a monolithic doomsday riff but then the whole track abruptly slows to a frightening crawl... "Japanese Headset" might be about brainwashing or torture -- Borland torments like a Spanish Inquisitor while another voice screams in a background of a cheap electronic rhythm. "Black Flowers" is one of the most funereal closing tracks I've ever heard, with a simplistic drum pattern, detuned bass and dissonant washes of either synth or organ (I'm thinking the former...)

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009
EAC extraction logfile from 16. May 2010, 11:43
Second Layer / World of Rubber
Used drive : SONY DVD RW DRU-190A Adapter: 4 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:17.60 | 0 | 19334
2 | 4:17.60 | 3:07.02 | 19335 | 33361
3 | 7:24.62 | 4:04.04 | 33362 | 51665
4 | 11:28.66 | 3:26.54 | 51666 | 67169
5 | 14:55.45 | 3:19.29 | 67170 | 82123
6 | 18:14.74 | 6:37.09 | 82124 | 111907
7 | 24:52.08 | 4:26.40 | 111908 | 131897
8 | 29:18.48 | 2:00.68 | 131898 | 140965
9 | 31:19.41 | 5:27.07 | 140966 | 165497
10 | 36:46.48 | 3:45.03 | 165498 | 182375
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\User\Escritorio\RS Links\2nd Layer - World of Rubber\Second Layer - World of Rubber.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3E71744B
Copy CRC 3E71744B
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report

AUDIOCHECKER v2.0 beta (build 457) - by Dester - opdester@freemail.hu
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Path: ...\2nd Layer - World of Rubber
1 -=- Second Layer - World of Rubber.flac -=- CDDA (99%)
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