The arrangements of the songs is insanely otherworldly in some cases, mixing odd and stunning sounds and with experimental instrumentation that abounds throughout the ten tracks.

This track was to be Mackenzie's last release whilst under contract to WEA in the United Kingdom, as he signed to AVL/Virgin subsidiary Circa Records (still under the Associates name at this point). As Situation Two's parent label Beggars Banquet [9] [10] had a labels deal with WEA International at the time (primarily for Gary Numan), the Associates found themselves signed to Warner with their releases now going out on their own Associates record label. The Associates are a band which was, and is, hard to define or pigeonhole, dipping a toe in post punk, experimenting with electronics and a variety of weird and wonderful instruments, some of their songs dripping with addictive pop hooks, while others verging on melancholic torch songs and the avant grade. Pushing sonic boundaries while pennning couplets such as "the alcohol loves you while turning you blue" or "Z is the black sheep of the alphabet", they were essential in mapping out new directions for their genre and were as wayward, eccentric and over the top as one could possibly hope for. They have the cheek to rework the cursed suicide song “Gloomy Sunday” as an electronic croon (and get away with it), but nothing compares to “ Party Fears Two”, which is that contradictory thing, an anthem of ambiguity.He thought that the more money we owed them, the more obligation on their part to make this work to get their investment back.

Formed in Dundee, Scotland in 1979, The Associates were comprised of vocalist Billy Mackenzie and multi-instrumentalist Alan Rankine. Billy's operatic vocals are mindblowing here, especially towards the end as they shift into backing vocals that sound spectral and Spectoral at the same time.

The fact that every single note on Sulk matters, and that it is still the most extravagant, joyous, indulgent (in a good way), downright weird and most important pop record ever made, more than a quarter of a century after its making. They capture the Associates firing on all cylinders and moving inexorably towards the studio sessions that would yield their treasured magnum opus. When they announced their arrival with an impudent cover of “ Boys Keep Swinging”, their debt to Bowie seemed obvious.

In addition to the original albums, two compilation albums were released: Double Hipness (2000), a collection of early tracks with the 1993 reunion demos; and Singles (2004), an extended version of Popera – The Singles Collection which caught up with post-1990 material and included the cover of Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging". Alan Rankine, left, and Billy Mackenzie of the Associates performing at University of London Union, London, in 1981.Tell Me Easter’s On Friday” is a stumbling, extraordinary procession, and there is no obvious comparison to the song’s marriage of Rankine’s far eastern motifs and MacKenzie’s shower-stall croon, but you can just about detect a thematic empathy with Joy Division.

It simply does not matter if one has a four-octave vocal range if one insists on squandering said talent on pointless exercises in sonic masochism. Tracks like Grecian 2000 and Ulcragyceptmol are more alien and experimental; the best bonus track remains Australia (which is actually track 16 and not 15) which is as great as any of Sulk-proper. The despair of “ Even Dogs In The Wild” is delivered as a finger-snapping torch song with a siren guitar and a whistling solo.The first five-tracks are seen as the dark half, opening with instrumental Arrogance Gave Him Up (which like bonus-cut And Then I Read a Book was the kind of song they experimented with on the two-volume BBC sessions)- which with closing instrumental nothinginsomethingparticular gives the album a circular feel.