Inevitably, 'We Have Explosive' came out as a single. After a promo 12'' edition in 1996, and the track's iconic appearance on the wipEout 2097/XL game, chances of it not being a single must have been low. It's not my favourite FSOL track, but it's such an obvious single. At the height of the big beat era, when tracks with chunky programmed drums, guitar samples and novelty vocal samples were all over the charts, 'We Have Explosive' fit in perfectly. It was even released on two CDs: the standard multi-part single, and a second disc of remixes, the first commissioned mixes for FSOL since the start of 1992.
We Have Explosive cover 2
Having the beat-heavy remixes on one CD allowed Brian and Garry to do a more traditionally FSOL take on the track, by skewing it into bizarre territory over the course of a suite. At 29 minutes, the Part 1-5 version is the shortest FSOL single of this kind, although 'My Kingdom' is only 26 if you cut the radio edit. I remember listening to the top 40 in March 1997, and Mark Goodier announcing the track. I was totally surprised and really excited to hear FSOL on the radio, and the following day legged it into town straight after school. I couldn't imagine what would be on the single, and upon seeing it was a Part 1-5 format again, began to try and work out how they would make an atmospheric soundscape release out of such a brutal, heavy track. True to form, nothing else on the single really resembles the main track, with 'Part 2' and 'Part 4' being much more atmospheric breaks tracks, 'Part 3' being a seemingly odd foray into funk, and 'Part 5' a much slower, more ambient piece. In the same way 'Cascade' and 'Lifeforms' have very different atmospheres to their parent album, 'We Have Explosive' eschews almost all of Dead Cities' glossy 'city on the brink' atmospherics in favour of a rawer, more organic sound, including environments taken from transmissions on the '96/'97 tour. Indeed, the single as a whole more closely resembles the live shows, a nocturnal atmosphere overhanging the whole release. If not quite as steeped in urban decay as the transmissions, I always got the image of being on ex-industrial waste ground on the edge of a city, at night, overlooking the city as I leave.
We Have Explosive cover 3
For the second disc, the band got Leon Mar to supply two further remixes under his Oil guise, and fittingly they are funkier than his staggered 'Part 2' reworking, taking in classic breaks and slap bass. Remarkably, the other remix was the first appearance of hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Mantronik after a six year break from the music industry following the breakup of his group Mantronix. Mantronik provided two remixes, the second being limited to a promo 12'', as well as a promo CD-only edit. With no linking environments, and a general focus on chunky breaks, the remix disc is an unusual FSOL release. Sadly for vinyl fans, the 12'' truncates both releases, including a couple of tracks from each, leading to a generally unsatisfying listening experience overall. In the US, without the runtime limitations for charting singles like in the UK, the CD includes all nine tracks.
We Have Explosive cover 4
If the funkier approach and remix disc are somewhat different, then the artwork mixes things up a lot. The art over all releases features no FSOL hallmarks at all: no computer graphics or photo manipulation; no Spikey, Vit or Sheuneen; no microgramma. Instead, it depicts screenshots from the music video, directed by animator Run Wrake. Wrake's surreal style, playful and largely hand-drawn and cut, is so at odds with the typical FSOL style that the covers for these releases are startling; the old fashion sci-fi font similarly so. The standard CD cover depicts a man walking in front of banks of cars, the title added in newspaper clipping text; the remix disc shows a man with a plug for a head and phono cables for arms; the 12'' features a sinister looking figure holding up the title. The US CD has the title in monochrome. It's a very strange about-turn for a band with a fairly consistent house style. The only Buggy image is the oil image below the CD tray and under the text on the 12'' cover, which had previously been used in the Dead Cities limited edition book. Even typography and layout are credited to FSOL, with overall design by Ian Kay, suggesting Bugs had left the camp at this point. He would be absent from the band's artwork for another ten years. The EBV logo is present, but the Electronic Brain Violence text is missing for the first time since 1994. The video includes footage from Wrake's short film Juke Box as well as new material, all cut at high speed. It's big, colourful and completely daft, and in that manner suits 'We Have Explosive' very well. It also feels like a very new type of FSOL.
We Have Explosive cover cover 5
'We Have Explosive' went on to be the band's highest charting single, peaking at number 12 in the UK singles chart and spending three weeks in the top 100. Singles-wise, the Dead Cities era remains the band's most successful period. In a 2006 interview with Clash Magazine, Garry said "'We Have Explosive' was basically the end." He meant it in a philosophical way, meaning a point of no return into aggressive electronic music that required a lot of personal course correction. But it's also true of the band's releases. 'We Have Explosive' was the last FSOL release for four and a half years, and the last not to be at least partially based around older / archived material for 17. Nobody was expecting that at the time, of course. The CD came with one of those cards asking you to fill in details so they could send you news of forthcoming releases. I dutifully filled it in and took it to the postbox, excited in the knowledge that I'd be the first to know when their next release came along. That, of course, never happened. Either way, it's a fine single, one which goes way further with the track than anyone would initially expect, and commercially, if nothing else, the band went out on a high.
Release date: 17th March 1997.
Tracklists CD (VSCDT 1616 | 7243 8 94137 2 4) 1. We Have Explosive (7'' Edit) 2. We Have Explosive (Oil Funk Remix) 3. We Have Explosive (Mantronik Plastic Formula #1) 4. We Have Explosive (Oil Dub)
CD (VSCDX 1616 | 7243 8 94138 2 3) 1. We Have Explosive (Part 1) 2. We Have Explosive (Part 2) 3. We Have Explosive (Part 3) 4. We Have Explosive (Part 4) 5. We Have Explosive (Part 5)
CD (ASW 6196) 1. We Have Explosive (Part 1) 2. We Have Explosive (Part 2) 3. We Have Explosive (Part 3) 4. We Have Explosive (Part 4) 5. We Have Explosive (Part 5) 6. We Have Explosive (Oil Funk Remix) 7. We Have Explosive (Mantronik Plastic Formula #1) 8. We Have Explosive (Oil Dub) 9. We Have Explosive (7'' Edit)
12'' (VST 1616 | 7243 8 94137 6 2) A1. We Have Explosive (Part 1) A2. We Have Explosive (Leon Mar Mix) A3. We Have Explosive (Oil Funk Remix) B1. We Have Explosive (Mantronik Plastic Formula #1) B2. We Have Explosive (Part 5)
12'' (VSTDJ 1616) A. We Have Explosive (Mantronik Plastic Formula #1) B. We Have Explosive (Mantronik Plastic Formula #2)
CD (VSCDJ 1616) 1. We Have Explosive (7'' Edit) 2. We Have Explosive (Mantronik Plastic Formula #1 Edit)
Credits Written and produced by The Future Sound of London. Engineered by Yage. Recorded at Earthbeat Studio, 1997. Guitar stab, wah guitar and vocal yell sourced from Run DMC LP Tougher Than Leather (J. Simmons / D. McDaniels / J. Mizell) courtesy of Profile Records Inc. and Protoons inc. 'Part 2' remixed by Leon Mar. 'Part 3': sounds sourced from the original 24 track master of 'Rockchester' by Fats Comet (Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald, Adrian Sherwood) courtesy of Blanc/On-U. 'Oil Funk Remix' and 'Oil Dub' remixed by Oil. 'Mantronik Plastic Formula #1', 'Mantronik Plastic Formula #2' and 'Mantronik Plastic Formula #1 Edit' remixed by Kurtis Mantronik. Sleeve image by Run Wrake from the film Juke Box. Layout and typography FSOL. additional design by Ian Kay @ Hills Archer. Oil texture by Buggy G Riphead. Published by Sony Music Publishing.
