Skip to content

Paul Haig \ The Warp of Pure Fun [LTMCD 2378]

Originally released on Les Disques du Crépuscule in 1985, The Warp of Pure Fun is Paul Haig's second solo album, and remains his most popular long player. Glossily produced with former Associate Alan Rankine, Warp contains no less than four classic singles in Heaven Help You Now, Love Eternal, Big Blue World and The Only Truth, the latter produced by Bernard Sumner (New Order) and Donald Johnson (A Certain Ratio).

The seven bonus tracks include a lively version of Suicide's biker epic Ghost Rider, on which Haig is joined by former Josef K colleague Malcolm Ross, as well as several b-sides from 12-inch singles, and two unreleased cuts: Endless Song and Shining Hour.

Tracklist:

1. Silent Motion
2. Heaven Help You Now
3. Love Eternal
4. This Dying Flame
5. Sense of Fun
6. Scare Me
7. Big Blue World
8. The Only Truth
9. One Life Time Away
10. Love and War
11. Ghost Rider
12. Endless Song
13. Shining Hour
14. Trust
15. Dangerous Life
16. Closer Now
17. World Raw

Remastered for CD and download, sleevenotes in booklet. Cover design by Benoît Hennebert.

The Warp Of Pure Fun [LTMCD 2378]

Reviews:

"Haig tapped into the dance zeitgeist, swapped Oxfam for Gaultier and allied his croon to the emergent electro wave. Excellent singles, plus seven extra examples of Haig's anguished android funk pop" (Uncut, 11/2003)

"Arguably still his finest solo recording. Haig's knack for heady melody coupled with enigmatic lyrics and that wonderfully aloof delivery remain gloriously intact, and is coaxed into wonderful shapes by ex-Associate Alan Rankine. The fact that Warp is also heavy on the shoulda-been-huge singles quota also helps significantly. Warp still takes some beating 18 years on and makes magnificent rubble of the theory that there were no superb pop albums released during the excessively naff mid-1980s" (Whisperin' & Hollerin', 10/2003)

"A consistent wad of pop, Haig has once more opted to give it electronified pop with wit, wild statements and jaunty boxes of guitars" (NME, 11/1985)