Pete Shelley - I Don't Know What It Is 12''

Another cosmic classic. Of course I’m referring to the amazing B-side, as the A-side track and its dub version are not that much to write home about. But Witness The Change is definitively an instrumental electro bomb, 107 BPM of searing synth pads and minimal drum patterns altogether to make one of greatest electro synth-pop tracks.

Post-Punk Monk wrote;

I heard this single heavily on WPRK-FM in the summer of 1981. The A-side was a burning, relentless tech-glam stomper in the same vein as his first solo single “Homosapien.” Only on this one the 12-string acoustics were replaced with dive-bombing electric guitars to play second fiddle to the up-front synths. It’s cut from similar cloth to “Homosapien” but it lacked in freshness what it gained in intensity. WPRK-FM also gave just as much airplay, if not moreso, to the song’s B-side, the incomparable “Witness The Change.” Built on a snappy electro-latin rhythmic foundation, with more guitar crunch chords for emphasis, the number to this day remains my favourite Pete Shelley song, and a big part of the reason why I continued to pay attention to Shelley’s solo career. “Witness The Change” sounded for the entire world like some incredibly funky Stevie Wonder track from the mid-70s given a high-tech New Wave coat of paint in the most delightful way. Sure, Wonder also dealt in synths, and before Shelley was a blip on anyone’s radar, at that, but I’ve never heard a Stevie Wonder cut this perfect for my ears.

Ripped to MP3

Pete Shelley; I Don’t Know What It Is 12”

A.     I Don’t Know What It Is

B.     Witness The Change/I Don’t Know What It Is (Instrumental)