Electric

Electric is the third album on which THE CULT stripped away their former aesthete air and pushed thick riffs and a dry beat to the front. Billy Duffy’s guitar restrains excess ornament while sounding phrases that stamp the songs in a single strike. Welcoming the great producer Rick Rubin, the band made a bold change of direction toward sturdy hard rock. “Love Removal Machine,” “Wild Flower” and “Lil' Devil” make the most of the strength of simple repetition. Songs like “Peace Dog” and “King Contrary Man” breathe the appeal of bare rock ’n’ roll too. A cover of Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” is also included, well expressing the band’s new orientation. By sharpening the sound to draw out the band’s wildness and the physicality of rock ’n’ roll, it became a turning-point record for them.