Electronic Eden
second album by the Brains
Electronic Eden is the second album by the Brains. It was released in 1981 through Mercury Records. It was the band's last studio album.
Production
Like the debut album, Electronic Eden was produced by Steve Lillywhite and engineered by Mark Richardson.
Critical reception
Robert Christgau thought that "despite its dull initial impact every track will give up a hook." Trouser Press wrote: "Lillywhite concocts a thick, heavy sound that subjugates [Tom] Gray’s synthesizers and Rick Price’s aggressive guitars to the tunes themselves. And for good reason: Gray’s songs are tart accounts of love and confusion perfectly suited to his dry, sardonic voice." The New York Times wrote that "the lyrics delineate urban landscapes and some strangely disturbing situations - a man whose friend has been traumatized by an accident, a couple who are in love but keep getting on each other's nerves - vividly and economically."
Track listing
All songs written by Tom Gray, except where noted.
The public source identifies “Electronic Eden” as second album by the Brains. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Electronic, Eden and second.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Electronic Eden”, the useful work is to connect “second album by the Brains” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5358245. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1981.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Electronic Eden”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Electronic Eden primary sources, Electronic Eden archive and Electronic research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Electronic Eden”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Electronic Eden” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.