Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise

Critical reception

In a retrospective review, Charles Waring of Record Collector magazine gave the album four out of five stars and called it a "techno-pop classic". He said that it encapsulates both the popularity of the Fairlight CMI synthesizer and popular music in 1984—"the dawn of a new pop sensibility where sequencers, samplers and drum machines held sway". Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani also gave it four stars and said that it was "as subtly influential as Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express". He found its "blend of experimental rock and New Wave" both "brash" and innovative, and said that the album is "at times irksome but always groundbreaking." In his five-star review of the album, Allmusic's Ned Raggett called it an "entertaining and often frightening and screwed-up package", and said that "rarely has something aiming for modern pop status also sought to destroy and disturb so effectively." Ian Wade of The Quietus viewed it as an influential "brilliant racket of" what contemporary listeners of the album believe would be the sound of the future, and called its music "thrillingly inventive, reasonably danceable and full of interesting bits to laugh, love and dance to."

Pitchfork critic Tom Ewing gave the album's deluxe reissue a score of 8.6 out of 10 and said that it "flirts with annoyance and even boredom", but "could also be thrilling", and concluded in his review that it is "as sly, stirring, and occasionally infuriating now as it was on release." Robert Christgau gave Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? a "B" and said that, although its "concatenation of musical-instrument imitations and collapsing new sound effects" begets occasional interest and groove, only "Close (To the Edit)" sustains its performance.

Track listing

All tracks written by Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J. J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan, and Paul Morley, except where noted.

Side one

1. "A Time for Fear (Who's Afraid)" (Dudley, Jeczalik, Langan, Morley) – 4:43
   (Talking Voice on Intro: Fidel Castro)
   (Contains a brief musical sample of "Everything Happens to Me", as performed by Yasuaki Shimizu and The Saxophonettes)
   (Contains a re-sung vocal sample of "Song from M.A.S.H.", written by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman)
2. "Beat Box (Diversion One)" – 8:33
   (Contains a sample of "Rosanna", as performed by Toto)
3. "Snapshot" (Jeczalik, Langan, Morley, Bert Seager) – 1:00
   (Contains a replayed sample of "Baba O'Riley", as performed by The Who)
4. "Close (To the Edit)" – 5:41
   (Talking Voices: Camilla Pilkington-Smyth)
   (Contains a sample of "Leave It", as performed by Yes)
   (Contains a vocal sample of "Beer Barrel Polka", as performed by The Andrews Sisters)

Side two

1. "Who's Afraid (of the Art of Noise?)" (Dudley, Jeczalik, Morley) – 4:22
2. "Moments in Love" – 10:17
   (Originally appeared on "Into Battle with the Art of Noise")
3. "Memento" – 2:14
4. "How to Kill" – 2:44
5. "Realisation" (Jeczalik, Morley, Horn) – 1:41
6. "Close Up" (1994 Japanese bonus track)