The Normal - T.V.O.D./Warm Leatherette (CD)

All Music Guide

A pivotal, early release of electronic new wave, this single oddly gained more notoriety for its B-side, "Warm Leatherette." Amidst jolting zaps, pops, and blipping skips, Daniel Miller robotically intones about the pleasures of car crash as foreplay: "A tear of petrol is in your eye/The hand brake penetrates your thigh/Quick -- let's make love/Before you die." The track sounds like a darkly cartoonish version of a malfunctioning dot matrix printer: clinically pristine, minimal, and sinister. A brief flash that caused countless ripples, it sounds just as fresh two decades after its creation. "T.V.O.D." is no slouch either, commanding the tube owner to cut to the chase and stick the aerial antenna into their arm. [The single was later reissued on CD.]

- Andy Kellman, All Music Guide