Review To reform, or not to reform? For many grey haired rockers, post punks and 90s indie sorts, the answer has of late been in the affirmative. The results of these reformations have been mixed. The Go-Betweens and Mission of Burma both picked up like they never stopped, successfully pushing their original sounds to new horizons. Others, like the Sex Pistols and the Pixies, are clearly in it for more monetary reasons.Gang of Four, the Leeds politico-post-punks who influenced everyone from the Chili Peppers to LCD Soundsystem, have reformed not once, but twice. First in the late 1980s, resulting in 1991’s Mall and 1995’s Shrinkwrapped albums, and then 2004 – a time when the jagged punk funk that fuelled their agitprop rage became the de facto sonic template for a post-punk revival.Seeped in critical theory, Gang of Four were always a band who preferred singing about ideas instead of merely rolling out the standard pop tropes. Why write a love song when you can pen a scathing critique of the very concept. Add an angry young man’s sneer and punk funk squall to the mix and you end up with their seminal first two albums, 1979’s Entertainment! and its follow-up of 1981, Solid Gold.Content is the group’s first collection of new material since Shrinkwrapped. Conceptually, they’re still favouring ideas over emotions. Starting with the premise that all creative art forms are now reduced to filler for the "advertising sandwich", the band attempts to extend the idea out to a larger rumination on human existence and perception.Unfortunately, the tepid alt-rock of opener She Said ‘You Made a Thing of Me’ does little to support the band’s thesis, with only guitarist Andy Gill’s singular tones penetrating an otherwise murky musical haze. Who Am I? serves up an exploration of personal identity in the era of on-demand media but, again, it collapses against a thin backdrop of anaemic indie-funk. I Was Never Gonna Turn Out Too Good finds singer Jon King in a duet with a Vocodered robot voice lamenting its life of servitude. It’s the lone standout on an otherwise turgid record, but that’s only by virtue of its sheer oddness.Does Content permanently tarnish Gang of Four’s status as legendary statesmen of leftfield rock? No, but even the greatest leaders must step back from the limelight at some point, and perhaps that time has again come for King, Gill and company. --Charles UbaghsFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off in a new window
G**R
I've waited thirty years for this album!!!
The Gang of Four were the anthem of my early twenties... and here they are providing the anthem of my early fifties! I was amazed at the quality of this album. Easily as good as those brilliant earlier tunes. Provocative lyrics... fantastic riffs... brilliant sounds. It's a word you rarely associate with rock... DEMOCRATIC. No voices or instruments dominate. The bass is as important as the guitar... which is as important as the drums... and the vocals make the whole thing hang together and make sense. The songs are crafted as a entity... not as the vehicle for a guitar solo or some egotistical vocalist. This is what U2 would sound like if they had an ounce of integrity! Gang of Four tunes make sense. They make you think. They make you dance. They make you remember what music is for. They are brilliant. ENJOY!
C**D
Not a classic but good anyway.
This is a half way album between the earlier post punk and the latest album What Happen's Nest?. 15 years apart from their previous album. Things change. The world has. It still has some of the edge of the earlier work though more polished. In some ways that's good, Gill said he doesn't want to become a parody of himself like so many bands do. Not a good album title. Terrible cover, who designed that? Should be shot. No way does it fit with the band or music. Not even readable.
R**S
Content about the contents
Content about the contentsbyRob JonesThe Gang of Four are true post punk revolutionaries’ and their current work will retain the faithful and inspire the new breed. The band nucleus of Andy Gill and Jon King keep that renowned GO4 edge alive but there is much more to these godfathers of punk-funk. GO4 can fuel their energy with that guillotine Gill guitar scything its way through the airwaves; but at the heart of the angular fare there is a leftfield rock meets dance polish. More ideas can surface in one GO4 song than in the careers of many more shallow and successful acts. The 10 tracks of Content are ready for your listening joy!
R**S
Content - I certainly am!!
Returning in a new century with a new line up (Andy Gill and Jon King still remain but gone are Dave Allen and Hugo Burnham, replaced with Thomas McNiece and Mark Heaney) and at a time when the world is in a bit of political and economical muddle to say the least, those angry neo-marxists are still angry enough at the world we occupy, still edgy enough to tell it how they see it to the world.A new decade opened up with the first new material for over 15 years with the Go4 finally delivering the much anticpated (well in this house anyway) new album "Content", on a new label (Yep Roc in the US, Gronland in EU) but still the same old Go4, telling the world through song and sounds how they see the 21st century world. This 10 piece musical feast of neo marxist funk has gladdened the heart of this writer, as we occupy a world of "reality/I wanna be famous" wannabees, Go4 frankly couldn't careless if you love them or loathe them.They just wanna tell the world that it's not any better than when the first crashed upon the post punk music scence of the late 1970's. And they're not wrong. With the left field (it's almost a ballad in Go4 terms) "A Fruitfly in the Beehive" being my fave track on Content closely followed by the Iraq War critic "You'll never pay for the farm" the old men of Go4 have reminded today's politically minded aspiring rock stars they is still the Daddies of Political Rock, in'it.Without Go4 they'd probably be no "Rap Metal" bands, No Nirvana, No RHCP, No Bloc Party but to name a few. And a duller place to inhabit it would be. Some may argue that the way the have "sold out" with Content (starting rasing funds on a music "pledge" site to record "Content") doesn't do they're neo marxists cred any good. I'd argue that there doing the best to get along in the 21st century capitalist society we all occupy.I for one am glad that there is still some angry 50 something indie kids wanting to tell their tale to a new generation. Play it proud and play it loud!!! And I look forward to seeing them in the flesh somewhere soon.
J**Y
Yeah, they still got it!
Have they still got it, you ask. The answer is a resounding yes - these boys have still got the juice. Anyone who was lucky enough to have seen them live recently at Heaven in London will know the angry young men are now angry older men and the energy, the power and the commitment is still very much there. Okay, this may not be as good as "Entertainment" but that work is one of the very best of the last 30 or so years and this is still a very good album. Material like "You Don't Have To Be Mad" and "I Can't Forget Your Lonely Face" sound as good live as the old classics and in many ways this album is a return to basics and the things that made Gang Of Four so great in the first place, memorable choruses, verbal interplay between the two vocalists, rock sold funk rhythm base provided by the new bass and drums team and Andy Gill's screaming crazy guitar runs. Have they lost their radical politics - well their live show proved they haven't (Coalition Government please look away now!)and songs like "You'll Never Pay For The Farm" and "I Party All The Time" are as angry and sharp as ever. "A Fruitfly In A Beehive" is a new classic to set alongside "Anthrax" and "Damaged Goods", Jon King showing he can really sing when he wants to and the red hot band knocking The Red Hot Chili Peppers into the revolutionary cocked hat. "It Was Never Gonna Turn Out Good" is an interesting electronic interlude on this album before "Do As I Say" returns you to the normal scheduled GOF template. After all these years I still love the songs from "Entertainment" (I still wake up thinking "desperation AM")and they have lost none of their power, but it is good, very good, to have another Gang Of Four album to love. Roll on the revolution if these guys provide the soundtrack, to hell with poverty and take a stick to your microwave oven.
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