Bloodline (Recoil album)

Background

Bloodline marked the first time a Recoil album featured outside singers, bringing in Moby, Curve’s Toni Halliday, and Douglas McCarthy. McCarthy took the lead on the debut single, which was a cover of Alex Harvey’s “Faith Healer.” The song “Electro Blues for Bukka White” pioneered the approach of weaving vintage recordings into a modern electronic track. Moby, who sang on “Curse,” would later find major success with his 1999 album Play, which shares a clear musical debt to that electro blues style. Where Moby used Alan Lomax field recordings, Wilder had drawn from a 1963 Bukka White recording of “Shake ‘Em on Down.” The track’s spoken parts come from a recording called “Remembrance of Charley Patton.” Both original recordings ended up on Bukka White’s Revisited album, issued by Fuel 2000 in 2003.

Credits and personnel

Alan Wilder handled production and instruments. Douglas McCarthy provided lead vocals on "Faith Healer". Toni Halliday sang lead on "Edge to Life" and "Bloodline". Moby contributed rap on "Curse".

Bukka White's vocals from "Shake 'Em on Down" were used for "Electro Blues for Bukka White". Diamanda Galás contributed whispering vocals on "Curse"; her contribution is unexplained in the credits but she is mentioned as appearing on the album. Jimmy Hughes played bass guitar on "Edge to Life".

Steve Lyon engineered, Aaron Trinder played guitar on "Faith Healer", and Dave Eringa assisted as engineering assistant. Martin Atkins and T + CP Associates handled sleeve photography and design. The coda to "Curse" contains a backmasked sample from "The Lord Is My Shepherd" from You Must Be Certain of the Devil.

The interlude between "Electro Blues for Bukka White" and "The Defector" includes a piano sample from the end of David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane". Samples of Anthony Hopkins' voice from The Silence of the Lambs appear throughout "The Defector". In "Edge to Life", the end of Ippolita's monologue from Depeche Mode's Strange is heard twice. An interpretation of "Laura Palmer's Theme" from Twin Peaks is featured in the instrumental interlude in "Bloodline". "The Defector" is Wilder's tribute to Kraftwerk.