Gang of Four

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I know nothing about this band. Tell me more please. I have heard them mentioned on here before and their 'best of' CD is dead cheap in the shops at the moment.

(Statto?)

Stacks
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stacks Wrote:(statto?)

Repost

statto Wrote:overproduced overrated bunch of crap

Thumbd

Icon_razz
instead of greatest hits, buy "entertainment"
Cloak and Dagger Wrote:buy "entertainment"

my quote above was originally posted about that LP

:P
I thought you were on about this gang of four:

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Teef
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batfink Wrote:bwabba bwabba bwabba NORK NORK NORK NORK bwabba bwabba bwabba NORK NORK bwabba NORK.
i like gang of four, though i just have the 'a brief history of the twentieth century'. it's a best of compilation on emi.
entertainment is one of my all-time favorites. skittery , disjointed guitar work & tight varied drums glued together with some poignant social political observations that still ring true. The reissued cd has an early ep on it also. Hugely influential. Dont sleep. sort of early clash meets early wire im my mind, for some reason.
Wire piss all over Gang of Four

:P
i have to buy 'pink flag' some day.

*makes mental note*
pez Wrote:I thought you were on about this gang of four:

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Teef

Surely this one? Teef

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george formby Xyxthumbs
pieter Wrote:a short history of listening p.2

all vinyl, all the time. here's the latest:

gang of four - solid gold. this record is so blindingly good. and it just keeps getting better and better. i don't think it's ever felt as shockingly great as it did last night. i'd like to say that it's a blueprint for many bands that followed, but the fact is that no band that's modeled themselves after gang of four has really ever managed to come close to this record.

seriously. i'm in awe all over again. i shouldn't say this, but i can't help but think that this band absolutely wipes the floor with so many of today's 'important' or 'progressive' or 'provocative' bands. and this record is 25 years old. this record is unsettling, probing, challenging. it's art. it rocks. it's everything a great record should be.

last night i was also struck anew by how incredible the record sounds. some might call it raw, but anything recorded at abby road can't properly be called raw. it's more like caustic. the silence and space between the instruments is almost as important as the notes and tones that are present.

also, on the artwork tip, the juxtaposition of the cheeseburger and medieval beheading, sandwiched between the eye-bleedingly bright pop art motif is genuinely disturbing if you stop and look at it and let it sink in. although i wonder if this effect only really works if you've got the original vinyl. i have no idea how this is repackaged on cd.

can't really remember where and when i got this. probably san francisco, mid-80s.

hmmm, well ok, i'll check it again since you're so keen...

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later...

Icon_eek

this is much better than entertainment
it's just one long crang guitar fest

Oops :d
cp_ffm Wrote:i have to buy 'pink flag' some day.

*makes mental note*

wicked album. checked it out on statto's recommendation a while ago. gets the Xyxthumbs from me! Smile

it's just been re released too, so there's no excuse!!
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batfink Wrote:bwabba bwabba bwabba NORK NORK NORK NORK bwabba bwabba bwabba NORK NORK bwabba NORK.
pez Wrote:
cp_ffm Wrote:i have to buy 'pink flag' some day.

*makes mental note*

wicked album. checked it out on statto's recommendation a while ago. gets the Xyxthumbs from me! Smile

it's just been re released too, so there's no excuse!!
haven't bought it yet. i even forgot about it. Oops
Statto Wrote:later...

Icon_eek

this is much better than Entertainment
it's just one long crang guitar fest

Oops Grin

i find it ironic that 'solid gold' was more commercially successful than 'entertainment', because they went from pop music to sounding dark and abstract and miserable Teef wire and gang of four fall into the same box for me, namely 'the only 2 bands that make me think that post-punk is worth listening to because too many of the other ones sound like half-baked postmodern art projects'. i don't even really like pink flag or most of chairs missing either, but 154 is something special, it's divine and psychedelic.
scart ridge Wrote:that make me think that post-punk is worth listening to because too many of the other ones sound like half-baked postmodern art projects.

please back that up with names Bigstick
i sort of mean 'post-punk' as distinct from the poppier 'new wave' stuff that arguably followed it (which i love), but i wasn't there so i don't REALLY know how the lines were/are drawn :P

but a few from the new wave classics list you dug up:

Statto Wrote:Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville

poorly recorded, musically cluttered, meandering and lacking direction

Statto Wrote:Public Image Limited - Metal Box

i would have liked PIL a lot better if it didn't seem like johnny rotten was hung up on being underground instead of successful. but i can kind of understand, given his position

Statto Wrote:Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance

i've kept giving pere ubu chances and i still don't get it, to me it's sort of lacking a melodic centre, which is my usual problem with this stuff...i like music with a certain measure of melodic and rhythmic concentration, not stuff that dances around the lack of a centre with complicated technique and unnatural shifts in groove and rhythm.

Logos Wrote:Slits - Cut

interesting ideas fit into poorly designed song structures that flop all over the place where i personally expect some sense of integrity and groove. 'FM' is an all-time favourite, though!

Statto Wrote:Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

this is great, but i kind of consider them pop music after all the worship from modern goths and post-punks, and besides, they turned into new order.
thanks for the reviews Icon_yippee

my takes...

scart ridge Wrote:
statto Wrote:swell maps - a trip to marineville
poorly recorded, musically cluttered, meandering and lacking direction
swell maps were deliberately messy and shambolic. that's why they're good Smile


scart ridge Wrote:
statto Wrote:public image limited - metal box
i would have liked pil a lot better if it didn't seem like johnny rotten was hung up on being underground instead of successful. but i can kind of understand, given his position
that's more looking back at john lydon from 2006. but anyway john is almost irrelevant musically though he does do a nice whine. metal box is all about wobble's basslines and keith levine's insane guitar work.


scart ridge Wrote:
statto Wrote:pere ubu - the modern dance
i've kept giving pere ubu chances and i still don't get it, to me it's sort of lacking a melodic centre, which is my usual problem with this stuff...i like music with a certain measure of melodic and rhythmic concentration, not stuff that dances around the lack of a centre with complicated technique and unnatural shifts in groove and rhythm.
fair enough. ubu aren't for everyone. especially given david thomas's histrionics.


scart ridge Wrote:
logos Wrote:slits - cut
interesting ideas fit into poorly designed song structures that flop all over the place where i personally expect some sense of integrity and groove. 'fm' is an all-time favourite, though!
i think these songs are wonderfully constructed. it's a credit to the producer dennis bovell that he could recognise and bring out the music in what was previously really awful punk.


scart ridge Wrote:
statto Wrote:joy division - unknown pleasures
this is great, but i kind of consider them pop music after all the worship from modern goths and post-punks, and besides, they turned into new order.
again it's the production that makes the record. joy division sounded nothing like this. they were a dreadful punk band too (warsaw), who were getting a bit better, but still martin hannett wouldn't let them anywhere near the studio after they'd laid down the basic tracks.


your turn Kisskiss Wave
Statto Wrote:That's more looking back at John Lydon from 2006. But anyway John is almost irrelevant musically though he does do a nice whine. Metal Box is all about Wobble's basslines and Keith Levine's insane guitar work.

i don't have any other context to look at it from Teef it still seems sort of like he must have been co-ordinating the project and leading their creative direction, and to me it seems like he was doing it at least in part because he was ashamed of having achieved mainstream success by faking his way there, so he wanted to do something with artistic credibility...'first edition' more so than 'metal box' though. i really do like the playing on 'metal box', but i could see it being turned into a collection of tight pop songs and being better off for it.

Statto Wrote:Again it's the production that makes the record. Joy Division sounded nothing like this. They were a dreadful punk band too (Warsaw), who were getting a bit better, but still Martin Hannett wouldn't let them anywhere near the studio after they'd laid down the basic tracks.

hah Hahaha i can only imagine.

Statto Wrote:your turn

i'd offer up some music that i like but i don't like much music anymore these days Teef
scart ridge Wrote:it still seems sort of like he must have been co-ordinating the project and leading their creative direction

That's true. It was Lydon who instigated the dub bass and stuff.

scart ridge Wrote:and to me it seems like he was doing it at least in part because he was ashamed of having achieved mainstream success by faking his way there, so he wanted to do something with artistic credibility...'first edition' more so than 'metal box' though.

Nah. He just wanted to do some music that he liked.

scart ridge Wrote:i really do like the playing on 'metal box', but i could see it being turned into a collection of tight pop songs and being better off for it.

No!!!!!!!!

Spank

Ya big fool :P
apparently, about pIl. i heard Lydon say that when he brought in Jah Wobble (the bassist who helped make it sound like dub) that he knew him from the sex pistols days, and would have used him for the pistols but said he really needed a "fake", a "fashion victim" i.e. Sid Vicious because "Jah Wobble was the real thing, and would have killed us all." Lol
Cloak and Dagger Wrote:instead of greatest hits, buy "entertainment"

you can buy an original vinyl copy here...

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZfirstmobile

:P
SETI Wrote:apparently, about pIl. i heard Lydon say that when he brought in Jah Wobble (the bassist who helped make it sound like dub) that he knew him from the sex pistols days, and would have used him for the pistols but said he really needed a "fake", a "fashion victim" i.e. Sid Vicious because "Jah Wobble was the real thing, and would have killed us all." Lol

except Glen Matlock was the real bass player and wrote all the music
the Pistols were finished after they kicked him out

not that that bothered Malcolm Mclaren of course Wink
Repost

pieter Wrote:a short history of listening p.2

all vinyl, all the time. here's the latest:

gang of four - solid gold. this record is so blindingly good. and it just keeps getting better and better. i don't think it's ever felt as shockingly great as it did last night. i'd like to say that it's a blueprint for many bands that followed, but the fact is that no band that's modeled themselves after gang of four has really ever managed to come close to this record.

seriously. i'm in awe all over again. i shouldn't say this, but i can't help but think that this band absolutely wipes the floor with so many of today's 'important' or 'progressive' or 'provocative' bands. and this record is 25 years old. this record is unsettling, probing, challenging. it's art. it rocks. it's everything a great record should be.

last night i was also struck anew by how incredible the record sounds. some might call it raw, but anything recorded at abby road can't properly be called raw. it's more like caustic. the silence and space between the instruments is almost as important as the notes and tones that are present.

also, on the artwork tip, the juxtaposition of the cheeseburger and medieval beheading, sandwiched between the eye-bleedingly bright pop art motif is genuinely disturbing if you stop and look at it and let it sink in. although i wonder if this effect only really works if you've got the original vinyl. i have no idea how this is repackaged on cd.

can't really remember where and when i got this. probably san francisco, mid-80s.

Falcon Falcon Falcon
got entertainment a couple of months ago. oi loves it! Xyxthumbs

all about i found that essence rare and damaged goods Falcon
[Image: pezholiodoa.gif]

batfink Wrote:bwabba bwabba bwabba NORK NORK NORK NORK bwabba bwabba bwabba NORK NORK bwabba NORK.

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