Into Battle With The Art Of Noise

The first of many Art of Noise releases to confound collectors with artist and title information incorporated in Paul Morley's oft-pretentious and sometimes-cryptic prose, "Into Battle" is, according to Morley c. 2009, 'neither an album or a single or an EP - just a length of music that we put on a 12" record.' At the time of release, ZTT's own advertisements called it a single, it had a single's catalog number, and it charted as such, prompting chart rules to be adjusted to clarify just how long a 'single' could be. The ZTT website refers to it as an EP, an album, or neither (just a 'record' or 'release'). Morley himself called it an EP during the Value of Entertainment concert in 1985. Meanwhile, the music press called it an EP or a mini-album. On the U.S. dance chart, the format was unspecified when listing it as the source of the long version of "Beat Box", but it later climbed the Black LPs chart, despite being advertised as a 12" by Island in January 1984. In the credits to the 1986 compilation Daft, it is referred to as an 'albumette'.
Even its title is a matter of contention. Catalogs, discographies, and the releases themselves variously list it as "Into Battle", "Into Battle with the Art of Noise", or just "The Art of Noise". It also charted in the U.S. as "Beat Box", being that country's only commercial release to contain the song at the time.
The cover art is based on that of The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Further Out (opens in a new tab) (1961), and incorporates a section of the panel "The Knights of Christ" from Jan van Eyck's "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" (1432).