Gang of Four: Entertainment!
CML call number: CD ROCK Gang
Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in the New Yorker: "The nineteen-seventies English band Gang of Four comes up every few minutes these days because of the huge influence that its scratchy, skeletally funky rock has exerted on a recent crop of popular guitar bands: the Rapture, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and the Futureheads, among others. Gang of Four's original members … recently reunited after more than twenty years to undertake a tour, during which they played in front of kids who have been ripping them off without ever having seen them in action. V2 will release newly recorded versions of their old songs in the fall, but all of this news is as dust next to the original document — their 1979 début, 'Entertainment!' (reissued by Rhino), one of the most efficient, articulate rock records ever made. After meeting in and around the University of Leeds, the four musicians decided to combine punk's raw energy with a loose take on Marxist self-critique. Their lyrics approached every social relationship as a potential exploitation: love affairs, marriages, jobs, friendships. … No other band has ever done anything like this" (6/27/05).
Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in the New Yorker: "The nineteen-seventies English band Gang of Four comes up every few minutes these days because of the huge influence that its scratchy, skeletally funky rock has exerted on a recent crop of popular guitar bands: the Rapture, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and the Futureheads, among others. Gang of Four's original members … recently reunited after more than twenty years to undertake a tour, during which they played in front of kids who have been ripping them off without ever having seen them in action. V2 will release newly recorded versions of their old songs in the fall, but all of this news is as dust next to the original document — their 1979 début, 'Entertainment!' (reissued by Rhino), one of the most efficient, articulate rock records ever made. After meeting in and around the University of Leeds, the four musicians decided to combine punk's raw energy with a loose take on Marxist self-critique. Their lyrics approached every social relationship as a potential exploitation: love affairs, marriages, jobs, friendships. … No other band has ever done anything like this" (6/27/05).
posted by casemusic at 3:10 PM
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