Let's see now... what was I doing in 1993 when 777 was originally released? Hm... I guess I was in college, drunk, using whatever drugs I could get my slippery little fingers on, listening to the Violent Femmes. I think Reagan was president and there were hostages in Iran. Ollie North was on TV just weeks before OJ Simpson shot his girlfriend and her gardener. It was a crazy year, 1993.

And, to be honest, I didn't listen to a shred of techno that year. I didn't go clubbing, use ecstacy or suck a pacifier. I just drank huge quantities of Schlitz five nights a week and vomited quietly in the morning. The only dancing I did was the seizures I'd get when I passed out.

So what has 777 got to offer you today? Primarily and most arrogantly I'd say it's "an intriguing retrospective to the moment when techno was emerging from the primordial soup of music and beginning to stand on its own two feet." Isn't that great? Can you believe they pay me for this? I'd like to go on by saying, "It is locked firmly between the ambient and dance genres, balancing spacey textures with a beat that drives the album from start to finish." Yeah, that'll fly. Really, though, it's not that great an album by today's standards. Sure, it has that balance thing I mentioned, but it comes across as soulless and without personality, mechanical. System 7 has put out far better material (Power of Seven is one of their finer releases) and 777's forgetability far outweighs its historical significance as "early techno, pre- marketing era." Think about it. Techno in the age of Reagan? It doesn't seem possible. It happened, sure. But are you looking back or looking forward, anyway?

-James P. Wisdom