the group then went on hiatus while bowie conducted his solo sound+vision tour. in december 1990, bowie split from emi. hunt sales said that emi "kind of freaked out a little bit at the strident, single-less tin machine debut", which partially explained why bowie switched music labels. in march 1991, the band signed to victory music, a new label launched by jvc and distributed worldwide by london records and polygram, and recorded more new material. this was combined with tracks from the sydney sessions to form the "tin machine ii" album. the album was described as "just as impure and twisted [as their first album], but more r&b and less abrasive." gabrels explained the change between the first and second album was because by the second album, "we knew one another as musicians. ... it wasn't as dense. and we actually left more room, i think for david to come up with some interesting melodies. there was more room for vocals on this record."