The Anvil (album)

Recording

The only musician of the first album line-up that did not participate in this album's recording was John McGeoch. McGeoch commented in an interview: "One time I was in Spain [touring with Siouxsie and the Banshees] at the same time as Visage were recording the second album in London. Rusty [Egan] wanted me to put a guitar solo on something or other but I only had one day off and there was no way that I could fly home on my one day off. Rusty is not a man to be put off by such things and he was actually trying to put together a satellite linkup from Madrid to London for this one guitar part. Not surprisingly it didn't come off but I was sorry not to have been as involved on The Anvil as I had been on the first album".

Release

The Anvil was released in March 1982. It reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, which was the band's highest ever chart peak in the UK, and was certified "Silver" by the British Phonographic Industry in April 1982. The album sparked a brief controversy at the time of its release for being named after New York's famous gay bar/nightclub of the era.

The album's first single was "The Damned Don't Cry" which was released three weeks ahead of the album and reached No. 11 in the UK Singles Chart. The second single released was "Night Train" in June 1982, reaching No. 12. The album's title track was remixed and released as a promo single as well as a German-language 12" version ("Der Amboss"), and "Whispers" was also released as a single in Japan (where both it and "Night Train" were used in TDK television commercials).

The album's front cover photograph was taken by Helmut Newton. The original vinyl release of the album came in an embossed/textured sleeve (considered as deluxe packaging for the time), and a limited number of copies (3,000) came with a free poster of Steve Strange posing with a number of models at the Hôtel George-V in Paris (the poster is an extended shot of the 12" single cover of "The Damned Don't Cry").

The Anvil was the last Visage record to feature Ultravox frontman Midge Ure, who left the band after its release. Commenting on his departure the following year, Ure stated:

"The trouble with Visage was that there were too many chiefs, six characters all wanting an equal say without putting in an equal amount of work. I was doing most of the writing and producing, and we all knew Steve [Strange] was the frontman, but when it became successful, jealousy and the nasty side of the business crept in. That was never the way it was intended.

The album's first release on the compact disc format was in Germany in 1984. It was re-issued on CD in the United States in 1997 by One Way Records, complete with two bonus tracks (though they are tracks from the 1980–81 era and not that of The Anvil). The Anvil was re-issued in the UK on CD by Cherry Red Records on 17 March 2008, containing six bonus tracks and detailed liner notes.

Reception

In his retrospective review, Dan LeRoy of AllMusic wrote that "almost all the band's efforts on The Anvil are extremely well-crafted synth pop." Emily Mackay of Record Collector opined that the album "[still] sounds remarkably fresh."

Track listing

All tracks written by Visage (Billy Currie, Rusty Egan, Dave Formula, Steve Strange and Midge Ure).

Personnel