Gang of Four – Solid Gold LP

Description

In addition to the release of our stunning Gang Of Four 77-81 box set, we are happy to reissue Gang Of Fours first two albums, Entertainment! and Solid Gold individually on LP and CD. The albums have both been remastered from the original tapes by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road, with supervision by Jon King.

All Music Guide:Gang of Four’s existence had as much to do withSlaveandChicas it didthe Sex Pistolsandthe Stooges, which is somethingSolid Golddemonstrates more thanEntertainment!Any smartypants can point out the irony of a band on Warner Bros. railing against systematic tools of control disguised as entertainment media, butGang of Fourwere more observational than condescending. True,Jon KingandAndy Gillmight have been hooting and hollering in a semiviolent and discordant fashion, but they were saying “think about it” more than “you lot are a bunch of mindless puppets.” Abrasiveness was a means to grab the listener, and it worked. RecitingSolid Gold’s lyrics on a local neighborhood corner might get a couple interested souls to pay attention. It isn’t poetry, and it’s no fun; most within earshot would just continue power-walking or tune out while buffing the SUV.Solid Goldhas that unholy racket going on beneath the lyrics, an unlikely mutation of catchiness and atonality that made ears perk and (oddly) posteriors shake. With its slightly ironic title,Solid Goldis more rhythmically grounded than the fractured nature ofEntertainment!, a politically charged, more Teutonic take on funk. It’s a form of release for paranoid accountants. Financial concerns form the basis of the subject matter; the hilarious but realistic “Cheeseburger” is a highlight with its thinly veiled snipe at America: “No classes in the U.S.A./Improve yourself, the choice is yours/Work at your job and make good pay/Make friends, great/Buy them a beer!” This is a nickel less spectacular than the debut, but owning one and not the other would be criminal.