Night Time is the fifth studio album by the English post-punk band Killing Joke, released in February 1985 by E.G. through Polydor Records and produced by Chris Kimsey.

Release

Night Time was released in late February 1985 by E.G. Records. It was an international hit, reaching number 11 in the United Kingdom in its first week on 9 March, number 8 in New Zealand and number 50 in Sweden. The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2008 with nine bonus tracks, including 1984 Kid Jensen BBC radio sessions, the non-album single "A New Day" and the previously-unreleased complete version of "Blue Feather" (previously only available as an instrumental remix on the B-side to "Love Like Blood").

Critical reception

The album generally received favourable response. In retrospective reviews, PopMatters opined that the band "perfected" their "balance between antagonism and accessibility", commenting "the band are simply on fire on this record". AllMusic commented that the album found the band "caught between their earlier aggression and a calmer, more immediately accessible approach".

Legacy

Ned Raggett of AllMusic remarked that "Eighties" turned out to be the retrospectively most well-known song, due to a surprising and not always remembered example of Killing Joke's influence -- Nirvana, of all groups, thoroughly cloned the watery guitar line at the heart of the track for "Come as You Are"".

Track listing

Personnel

Killing Joke Production and artwork

Charts