Gang of Four Album: “A Brief History of the 20th Century”

Description :

Gang Of Four: Andy Gill (vocals, guitar); Jon King (vocals, melodica); Hugo Burnham (vocals, drums); Sara Lee, Dave Allen (bass); Steve Goulding (drums). Additional personnel: Jon Astrop (bass); Stevie Lange, Joy Yates, Dolette MacDonald, Edie Reader, Paula West (background vocals). Producers include: Andy Gill, Jon King, Rob Warr, Rick Walton, Nick Launay. Includes liner notes by Greil Marcus. Released in 1990 to help promote a reformed Gang of Four, A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 20th CENTURY is a powerful overview of one of the best political rock groups. It is also a great introduction to the band's world-view. In this view, everything has a political context--love ("Anthrax"), the military ("I Love an Man in Uniform"), loneliness ("Call Me Up"), and, of course, history ("The History of the World")--and no one is innocent. Many of the band's high points appear: "At Home, He's a Tourist," "Damaged Goods," "To Hell With Poverty," and "We Live as We Dream, Alone." Frequently employing a martial beat and elastic, funk-inspired bass-guitar lines overlaid with left-field squalls of noise, the Gang of Four's songs set out to convince you of things--and don't give up until you agree. For the believers and the scholars, A BRIEF HISTORY also includes an essay penned by culture/music critic Greil Marcus about experiencing the band's rise to fame first-hand.

Like the reviewer from Penn, bloody GOF got me thru my first year of college. The most original poli-punk band of all time; their influence on music and culture is still being felt today. To see this compilation thrilled me so much I blew off buying groceries, just to once again freely indulge in Andy Gill's feedback driven loping delivery of the classic "Anthrax." One of the tightest, yet most dissonant and disjointed bands ever. I have two of their early albums, Entertainment! and Solid Gold, but they're all worn and scratchy. I wonder why? Anywho, although Solid Gold deserves a bit more recognition here, this is a very welcome, value-heavy compilation from a band that achieved in its own unique way what the Clash wished it could've been--uncompromising Mao-pop with a twist of punkyfunk chops and brazen Brit attitude that refused to sell out. Sad yet glad, ABHOT2C it's all we have. Indeed, we live as we dream, alone.

The other reviews here are better and more informed than I could contribute, so I hope to just bolster them. If you like early British punk, Sex Pistols, Wire, Clash, and you haven't listened to Gang of Four, you're just not done yet. They rank right up there with the best of that genre and they're every bit as original as any other member. This collection is excellent.

Missed them when they played about 2004 at Hard Rock Cafe in Anaheim. My 2 friends who saw it were just blown away. It's a good sign when a band can regroup 25 years later and still blow you out. I owned this cd and from about the first minute it wasn't working right. Just ordered another copy, this 8? years later. Couldn't hold out any longer. Anthrax is such a joy. That feedback and dual vocals just gets me. So few political bands particularly from the States. Nice to see an intellectual UK politically assertive punk dance band! Ha. Entertainment lp is among the greatest records ever. This brings together bout the best of the rest with the best of Entertainment tho that album is perfection with no bad songs, er, all great songs. If you only own one Gang of Four record, go with this one. A broad range of their finest songs. No question.

Gang Of Four was a swell band and this is a great collection of some of their finest moments. It is unfortunate that "Entertainment" and "Solid Gold" are not in print as there are a few deserving tracks that didn't make it onto this compilation. As an overall view of their work however it's hard to find too much fault. Gang Of Four were driven by their own unique dialectic; they were funky yet cerebral, dogmatic yet humorous, musically aggressive yet lyrically thoughtful. In my opinion they were one of the finest bands of their era. Also, if you can find it, check out "Playing With A Different Sex" by the Au Pairs which is in a similar vein. Enjoy!