This is (hopefully) where this blog gets entertaining. I've never heard of Gang of Four, I don't know anything about them, not sure what type of music they play, or even if there's literally a gang of four in the band. The year 1979 gives me some clue--disco, funk, or punk--but then again plenty of hard rock bands were born of that era as well. Is this another band that I just missed on my radar, or did Rolling Stone strategically place a few less-known on the list?1979 was the year I bought my first two records: My Sharona by the Knack and Tragedy by the Bee Gees. I won't try to defend, or even recall what was going through my mind as a 10 year old. But suffice to say, I had entered the realm of making musical decisions. Would I have decided on Gang of Four? Should I have?
Ether- OK, so it's punk. At first listen it reminds me of a cross between the Clash and Violent Femmes. It has an uncluttered "bass up front" sound but it's also dissonant, both musically and lyrically. A quick wiki search on the band reveals they were part of the "post-punk" movement and were politically charged.
Natural's Not in It- Ten year old me would have jumped around to the beat. Forty-something me is desperately searching for the lyrics online to fully understand the song's message of the Karl Marxian theory of alienation. Yeah, I'm serious. "Dream of the bourgeois life, This heaven gives me migraine"
Not Great Men- Even if I turn off the lyrics in my ears (which I'm often guilty of) these songs are still highly engaging, raw, and naked of the effects processing that many bands hid behind. You add the lyrics into the mix, and it's high level sociopolitical commentary (that you can mosh to).
Damaged Goods- "your kiss so sweet, your sweat so sour" Four songs into this album, and I realize that unlike Mott the Hoople's album, this time Rolling Stone's list got it right. I find myself madly looking for the words to each song, which I'm now realizing was GOF's forte.
Return the Gift- "please send me evenings and weekends" repeated over and over and over. Normally I'd jump all over the ad-nauseam use of a line, saying "I get it already." But in this song about conforming to the work schedule of the world; each time the line is repeated, it takes me a little further down the road of enlightenment.
Guns Before Butter- "just keep quiet no room for doubt." Is the point of view that of a young German circa 1939 who's moral compass is struggling with the path of the swelling nationalism? Does it sound like the story of Vietnam draft dodger? I think this song that questions blind-patriotism is applicable today, as it was countless times in history. Whether the point of view is that of a hero or a villain, is dependant on where you stand.
I Found That Essence Rare- Side two of the album opens with a song about media, TV, or maybe it's about sex? "Look at the world through your Polaroid glasses, things'll look a whole lot better for the working classes"
Glass- I've been attempting to boil down each of these songs into a singular meaning, or a "read". There are messages, swirling messages that are interpretable, and I don't want to do them the disservice of telling you what they are about. It's going to take a whole lot of listens before I can do that, and even then, I'll only be able to tell you what they are about, to me.
Contract- "our bodies make us worry". Another song full of dissonance, mental and musical, seemingly about sex, relationships, and differing role perceptions.
At Home He's a Tourist- was the highest charting song for GOF (#58 on UK). "Two steps forward, six steps back six steps back" I haven't mentioned it mainly because I've been hyper-focused on lyrics, but each of the songs so far have really interesting bridges, and sub bridges, and departures... in a word, substance.
5:45- A melodica opens the song, and acts as the haunting background melody. "Guerrilla war struggle is a new entertainment" Are we getting desensitized to violence on the news, or are we so predictably fascinated with blood and death that the media knows how to cash in?
Anthrax- The buzz and screech intro to the last song on the album lasts over a minute, but it's not random, it's planned, it's poetry. As is the brilliant device of the two distinct streams of singing and speaking in each headphone channel. They seem to be skew in this "anti-love" song, unrelated and then you realize they meet.
Wow, what a trip that was. A journey I'll need to make quite a few more times before I can even claim proper appreciation for what Gang of Four did here on their debut album. They wrote music, interesting stripped down songs that musically I'd put on par with the Clash, and infused it with hard political and social inspection. Topics so far beyond the normal love-lost, or teenage angst of rock, that the album will warrant multiple listens (and I plan on doing just that).
I've been introduced to a new band--a band that I don't think I'd have stumbled upon if it wasn't for this project. I wasn't ready for this when I was ten, but why couldn't I have done this blog last year? Gang of Four performed live here in Chicago last February. I'm convinced that after listening to this album, I would have instantly bought tickets to the show. If, like me, you hadn't heard of GOF, or if you aren't familiar with their music, I'd encourage giving them a listen, and just as importantly, giving them a read.
Next up #489 Steve Earle- Guitar Town (1986)
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