Someone (I ALWAYS forget who requests these things) asked for some Gang of Four, I don't have a hell of a lot, but I'll certainly share what I DO have.....for whatever reason, they are simply one of those bands for which not a hell of a lot of rarities/boots/whatever exist, but of course I'll share the stuff I DO have, be it easy to find elsewhere or not.The original "Gang" were vocalist Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bassist Dave Allen, and drummer Hugo Burnham (they changed lineups a few times, and I'd like to mention bassist Sara Lee also because she was really a DAMN fine bassist)...
The Gang produced some incredible post-punk, politically motivated, and INCREDIBLY stripped down rock, the very DEFINITION of "not for everyone", but, before we go much further, let me say that I LOVE their shit to death......it didn't sound like ANYTHING else, and they were MAD about shit, which, if you follow my theories, makes for the best rock n roll......
Thier debut, "Entertainment!" is a classic of the post-punk era features some of their better works" "Return the Gift", "Anthrax", "Great Men", and especially "At Home He's a Tourist".....this particular version, thankfully, contains the "Yellow" EP, so we get some added Gang stuff such as "He'd Send in the Army" and my absolute fave "Outside the Trains Don't Run On Time"......classic album that should be in EVERYONE's collection!These latter two track also appear on "Solid Gold" (1981) (different versions), "Solid Gold" is also one you'd want, it includes the classic "Cheeseburger", and "Paralysed".....another good disc, though not quite as essential as the expanded "Entertainment!". (Note: My "Solid Gold" is a vinyl rip, as is my "Another Day Another Dollar " EP.....not in the greatest shape so I found a digital version, similar to the expanded "Entertainment!/Yellow" coupling, which couples "Solid Gold" and "Another Day Another Dollar" quite nicely.
They struck it rich again in 1982, releasing "Songs of the Free", which includes what I assume is their best known track "I Love a man in Uniform", and also the very fine "We Live as We Dream, Alone"....this is yet another of those acts that maybe got shortchanged just a bit in the States for being to "British", but so it goes, I really like ALL thier shit,and, even if I didn't always know EXACTLY what they were bitching about, they sure as hell always sounded pissed whatever the issue.Should you be in the mood for simply a sampler comp, "A Brief History of the 20th Century" is a decent one, touching on most of the highlights of the first three classic albums, but I don't recommend it as I really those three albums are essential, and the comp (shockingly, to me at least) doens't include such obvious material as "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time". We've also got a fine Peel Session, and a few live discs, the quite common "At the Palace 1984" and the maybe a tad more rare "Southhampton University 1979", and "Bournmouth Town Hall 11/22/79"
Personally I find everything here essential, wish I had a few more live ones (DaveSez?), sounds like they were the real deal live......I look at them as basically a European ancestor of Rage Against the Machine, hell, they (Rage) were from the US and half the time I never knew what THEY were bitching about either, but like the Gang, they sure as hell sounded committed. Comment away, and if you have any other goods by this fab band, please share, they were a great one, for a while there. I know they did release a few albums post -"Songs of the Free", but as I recall they were fairly disappointing so they are not here (I don't have em anyway). ENTERTAINMENT! (W/"YELLOW" EP)-01 Ether/02 Natural's Not In It/03 Not Great Men/04 Damaged Goods/05 Return the Gift/06 Guns Before Butter/07 I Found That Essence Rare/08 Glass/09 Contract/10 At Home He's a Tourist/11 5.45/12 Anthrax/13 Outside the Trains Don't Run On Time/14 He'd Send In the Army/15 It's Her Factory/16 Armalite Rifle
SOLID GOLD (W/"ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER DOLLAR EP")-01 Paralysed/02 What We All Want/03 If I Could Keep It For Myself/04 Outside the Trains Don't Run On Time/05 Why Theory/06 Cheeseburger/07 The Republic/08 In the Ditch/09 A Hole in the Wallet/10 He'd Send In the Army/11 To Hell With Poverty/12 Capital (It Fails Us Now)/13 History's Bunk!/14 Cheeseburger (Live)/15 What We All Want (Live)SONGS OF THE FREE-01 Call Me Up/02 I Love a Man in Uniform/03 Muscle For Brains/04 It Is Not Enough/05 Life! It's a Shame/06 I Will Be a Good Boy/07 The History of the World/08 We Live As We Dream, Alone/09 Of the Instant
PEEL SESSIONS-01 I Found That Essence Rare/02 Return the Gift/03 5.45/04 At Home He's a Tourist/05 Natural's Not In It/06 Not Great Men/07 Ether/08 Guns Before Butter/09 Paralysed/10 History's Bunk!/11 To Hell With Poverty
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 20TH CENTURY-01 At Home He's a Tourist/02 Damaged Goods/03 Natural's Not In It/04 Not Great Men/05 Anthrax/06 Return the Gift/07 It's her Factory/08 What We All Want (Live)/09 Paralysed/10 A Hole in the Wallet/11 Cheeseburger/12 To Hell With Poverty!/13 Capital (It Fails Us Now)/14 Call Me Up/15 I Will Be A Good Boy/16 The History of the World/17 I Love a Man In Uniform/18 Is It Love/19 Woman Town/20 We Live as We Dream, AloneSOUTHHAMPTON UNIVERSITY 11/14/79-01 Essence Rare/02 5:45/03 Anthrax/04 It's Her Factory/05 Blood Free/06 Contract/07 Damaged Goods/08 Not Great Men/09 Natural's Not In It/10 At Home He's a Tourist/11 Return the Gift/12 Ether/13 Armalire Rifle/14 Rose Anne/15 Glass/16 Can't Stand My Baby
BOURNMOUTH TOWN HALL 11/22/79-01 I Found That Essence Rare/02 5:45/03 Anthrax/04 It's Her Factory/05 Blood Free/06 Damaged Goods/07 Not Great Men/08 Natural's Not In It/09 Information/10 At Home He's a Tourist/11 Return the Gift/12 Ether/13Armalite Rifle/14 Glass/15 Damaged Goods/16 Roseanne/17 Can't Stand My BabyAT THE PALACE 1984-01 We Live As We Dream, Alone/02 History's Not Made By Great Men/03 Silver Lining/04 The History of the World/05 I Love a man in Unform/06 Paralysed/07 Is It Love/08 Damaged Goods/09 At Home He's a Tourist/10 To Hell With Poverty!
Please continue with the requests, it is OK by me, trying to think of what to do ON MY OWN every day is a pain in the ass, especially after the brain trauma I suffered, so request away, and see what happens! Super Bowl weekend, take it to the fuckin bank, Seattle 27 Denver 21 how bout THAT fuckers?
BOURNMOUTH
ReplyDeletehttp://www38.zippyshare.com/v/94333946/file.html
BRIEF
http://www38.zippyshare.com/v/93873104/file.html
ENTERTAINMENT
http://www38.zippyshare.com/v/56736358/file.html
PEEL
http://www38.zippyshare.com/v/27082019/file.html
SOLID
http://www38.zippyshare.com/v/93933537/file.html
SOUTHHAMPTON
http://www38.zippyshare.com/v/72630889/file.html
SONGS OF THE FREE
ReplyDeletehttp://www38.zippyshare.com/v/61340021/file.html
how about "big country" and maybe the "at the bbc" 2013 collection?
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't have them
DeleteThank you sir. You made my morning with this post.
ReplyDeleteI already have most of this stuff but thanks for exposing them to others. This is great music. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeletePS; Got any rare Screaming Blue Messiahs or The Godfathers (speaking of loud and pissed off Brits). Thanks!
@BigScott: Just sent you an e-mail, hope you enjoy, also is there a link to At The Palace?
ReplyDeleteDAAAAMMMMMN Julian, thanks 1000000x over. downloading as quickly as I can, likely be tomorrow til I am done. Guys there are a TON of GOF boots there that I will repost once I get them done. Also the link for At the palace is coming!
DeleteThis is great, @BigScott. Still hoping for some Snakefinger, and maybe some Residents. Oh, and maybe, some Dead Milkmen? Also thought you might like to know (if you did not) that Hang Over Heart Attack is dropping quite a bit of good punk these 24 hours. Out!
ReplyDeleteAT THE PALACE
ReplyDeletehttp://www69.zippyshare.com/v/4275397/file.html
Thanks BigScott..
ReplyDeleteI don't want to wake up and see this blog on the internet anymore. You better shut it down now. You have no artwork in your posts, no track listings, poor descriptions, bad commentary ,bad bit rates, m4a crap, worst blog I ever come across makes me sick to see it. .
ReplyDelete"You better"......well ok I will if you feel that strongly about it
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - go fuck yourself
ReplyDeleteBigScott - keep on keepin on brother!
Anonymous appears to be a bit of a wanker.
ReplyDeleteBig Scott, I appreciate the commentary, and the music, and will continue to follow
hey wow! Again, much praise from the most-hi...whatta treasure trove of punky goodness!
ReplyDeleteI write with very mixed feelings about the most recent posts, in particular those from the Gang of Four and my latest contribution of the Au Pairs Rotterdam 1981. I also have mixed feelings about the idiot who just flamed out in the comments - but who had a good point in highlighting the lack of information given about the posts.
ReplyDeleteWhy mixed feelings about the Gang of Four posts? Because for two weeks I have been transferring rare Au Pairs to our host for another Au Pairs megapost, after which I would complete the current Television megapost and then tackle the biggie - the Gang of Four. Now I find my latest Au Pairs offering (but none of the previous ones so far transferred) buried in the midst of another post, and my Gang of Four megapost pre-empted by some hack ripping off my previous GoF posts elsewhere without even crediting the original posters (whom I always credited), but on top of it, stripping out all of my research - correct dates, venues, line-ups, bitrates, full tracklists, unusual song lyrics, gig posters, appropriate photos etc - for which the bozo gets named to this blog's Hall Of Fame ... Of course, I am happy to see the music circulate - that's why I post it or offer it to bloghosts for free. But my aim is also to fully document what I offer, not just splatter it about, stripped of all the details. And then opening this blog's post of the rarest of all recordings in my Gang of Four collection - Barbican 2005, only once ever posted on the web (by Altronic), snagged by me and reposted on darkcircleroom with my credits to Altronic, a whole intro I wrote and the gig poster to boot - and what do I find? Nothing except a totally inappropriate picture of Sara Lee who left the band in 1983, when every GoF fan knows that 2005-06 was the reunion of the original line-up. Sorry for bitching but what kind of incentive do you think this gives me to continue to share music - and to document what it is exactly?
Right bleedin' narked, Dave Sez.
For further information and downloads of the Gang of Four, see the comments to this post: http://growboredbigscott62.blogspot.com/2014/02/stuff-you-wont-want-to-miss.html
ReplyDeleteCheers, Dave Sez.
A bajillion Thanks are in order..seriously, this is awesome! hugs from Chicago!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I saw Gang of Four (w/Pylon opening) in the early 80s. They started with "Paralyzed" and I was.
DeleteThank u so much..=)
ReplyDeleteThanks for cool posts!!! Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteCreo que te amo.
ReplyDeleteRe Anon 'flipping out': You lot over there just don't get sarcasm do you :)
ReplyDeleteA couple of good uns here I didn't have so thanks a mill to all concerned. Dave Sez I understand your frustration...and although I'm around less these days I can vouch for Dave's integrity and hard work over the years. Totally uncalled for, anon. Shitty attitude - a practical suggestion or two is fine but you clearly have non-existent people skills.
ReplyDelete