Gang Of Four.

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I like "Hard". No, really

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Sunday, 6 March 2005 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

"well, except I Love a Man in a Uniform

HANG ON A SECOND, that's a fantastic song, you nutter. Until the end, when it just kind of forgets that it's over and keeps going. "

hahaha OTM

― latebloomer: my cats are wobderful (latebloomer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

HOLY FUCK they were amazing last night in SF!

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 12:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, they sounded great at Coachella - much better than their records - I'm actually really interested to hear this re-recorded and remixed disc they're putting out.

Also, "I Love a Man in a Uniform" is one of the best songs ever obviously.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

they didn't play that last night, I couldn't believe it.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

re-recorded and remixed disc

Oooh. Didn't hear about that! Do tell!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

They're probably and unfortunately self-conscious about "pandering" to the audience with their most pop-friendly track (which is a lame thing to do).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

According to S/FJ's bloggo, there's a rerecorded version of "To Hell With Poverty" available via iTunes.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

they played "parade myself" though which is way poppier and more stupid.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000904169

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

To Hell With Poverty was fucking scathing though, absolutely floor thuddingly great.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

It is my understanding that they're playing only stuff from the first two records cuz that's the only two which Dave Allen played on.

― peepee (peepee), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I had to go to the ballet last night and missed them.

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost - good.

Hoping for "He'd Send in the Army" ....

― diedre mousedropping (Dave225), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:09 (twenty-one years ago)

So is Songs Of The Free going to get a reissue soon? I can't believe Hard got one, and Songs didn't... (actually even weirder, the Hard reissue is a twofer with Solid Gold!)

― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

that hard reissue sounded like someone had the rights to just those two, and realized no one would buy hard on its own, so they tacked it on. but maybe that's totally off-base.

― j fail (cenotaph), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Songs Of The Free is great in a way that's totally different from the first two.. if there's any single album that would serve as a primer for what Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 sound closest to, save "I Love A Man In A Uniform", Songs Of The Free is it.

― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Going next week!

By the way, does anyone else think it's kinda fucking lame that this is a Clear Channel tour? I mean, I don't expect everyone to toe the indie line on that but for a band that talked so much political B.S. in their day I find it irksome.

Still, I'm going and (thanks to my...cough...CC connection....I'm going for free!) Yay me!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd let it slide, because how else would they be able to tour North America? I doubt Warner Bros. was going to give them tour support for a 25 year old album.

― Vic Funk, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

i went to the fillmore last night, only to find out my ticket wasn't waiting for me at the door. fucking pissed i missed it.

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

What's more lame is that a friend of mine has been working on getting this to happen for the last two years and then got screwed by one of the band signing with another booking agent, and the rest of them going along with it. That, and getting the former manager of Wham! involved.

― peepee (peepee), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

i went to the fillmore last night, only to find out my ticket wasn't waiting for me at the door. fucking pissed i missed it.

had you paid for it already? I think this is going to happen to me every time I get willcall tickets.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd let it slide, because how else would they be able to tour North America? I doubt Warner Bros. was going to give them tour support for a 25 year old album.

I dunno, I've seen people like The Soft Boys and Richard Thompson, and Mission of Burma do reunion (non Clear Channel) tours at First Ave in recent years...they can't be getting much in the way of tour support.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

haha I guess Richard Thompson was reuniting with himself!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

you know, this band sounds better now than they did when they recorded those records. THey were THUNDEROUS. Jon King was a SPAZZ. I can't imagine he had more energy in the 1980 than he did last night.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 21:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm really excited for tuesday.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

SO TORN. I hate both Clear Channel and the Quest, plus I smoke my fucking head off and Minneapolis has a brand-new smoking ban. On the other hand, it's the Gang of Four, and I hear tell of a product called Nicorette. AGH.

― box of socks, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 22:22 (twenty-one years ago)

box of socks, another mpls ilxor! hi there.

i didn't even TRY to get tickets, by the time i caught wind i knew it was a done deal.

so BoS if you want to stand outside and smoke i'll watch for you and tell you abt it later...

― g e o f f (gcannon), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Greetings from the Lyndale and Franklin area. It's sold out, is it? Well, that makes it simple for me. Fuck a Clear Channel show. I saw 'em back in the day anyway.

― box of socks, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

< /bitter old punk >

― box of socks, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 22:56 (twenty-one years ago)

no shit? well now i feel bad for telling ppl trying to sell me on bloc party to fuck off cos "i bought entertainment and solid gold in 1995, dude..."

ha i just looked at the quest website, and maybe it's not sold out! i'll have to think about this, the opinion on this thread seems to = they are on fire.

― g e o f f (gcannon), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe it's not sold out! ... the opinion on this thread seems to = they are on fire

AGGGHHHGGGHHH

― box of socks, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I paid a shitload of money for this show ($25/ticket plus ridiculous service fees) and I am not the biggest Gang of Four fan on earth and I was absolutely not disappointed in any way. If that helps.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 23:04 (twenty-one years ago)

On another message board, a guy who went to Coachella gave the Gang of 4 a 3-star (out of 5) review and said "I wouldn't buy an album." But he gave the Futureheads 4 1/2 stars. With no apparent irony.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 5 May 2005 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

On another message board, a guy who went to Coachella gave the Gang of 4 a 3-star (out of 5) review and said "I wouldn't buy an album." But he gave the Futureheads 4 1/2 stars. With no apparent irony.

I totally understand that mentality, though! There's nothing wrong with liking the current "imitators" more than the original.

― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 5 May 2005 01:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, I like early XTC more than the Futureheads (which I think is a more reasoned comparison), and I certainly like Gang Of Four more than Radio 4... but if someone has the opposite opinion, good for her/him!

― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 5 May 2005 01:46 (twenty-one years ago)

In principle, I agree. In practice...the Futureheads?

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 5 May 2005 01:49 (twenty-one years ago)

One thing to keep in mind about the tour sponsorship and all, Dave Allen has been working for record labels in A&R on and off for a long time. The dude is in the biz. At least in the US, Gof4 was always on a major label. Mind you, it doesn't change how the tunes sound.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Thursday, 5 May 2005 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

earl, you mean hugo, not dave. dave has been in the biz, too, but in a much more indie role (he used to work at emusic, for instance).

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Thursday, 5 May 2005 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

and the major label thing is a ruse too. the indie architecture in the us hadn't been built then! i mean, the ramones were on a major!

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Thursday, 5 May 2005 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I'm pretty sure Burma didn't have to fly all its band/crew/instruments over from the UK for starters (and the "tour out of Atlanta" story in Our Band Could Be Your Life shows they knew how to tour the US cheap and effectively). As for the Soft Boys, they had a deluxe reissue of a classic album and a reunion LP after 20 years on Matador, so I'm sure they got some money to tour. As for Thompson, I dunno. Does he travel with a band? If not, that cuts down on touring costs.

― Vic Funk, Thursday, 5 May 2005 10:49 (twenty-one years ago)

thompson was with a band. still, WHAT ABOUT THE INDIANS THAT ARE BEING EXPLOITED, IS NO ONE THINKING OF THEM?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 5 May 2005 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Did any of you read that backlash thread about the Gang of 4 on the Dissensus chat board where folks argued that they were overrated--stiff musically, cliched lyrically, and hypocritical cuz they were on a major babbling about marxism while trying to sell as many records as they could?

I don't buy most of that criticism but it was provocative.

― steve-k, Thursday, 5 May 2005 13:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone into the Gang of Four because of the pseudomarxism needs to have their lives subsidized.

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 5 May 2005 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

hahaha... i just read that as a question, peepee

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 5 May 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Was their Marxism really pseudo? I thought that their sociopolitical stance was what made their aesthetic work. Isn't the tension inherent in their being a pop band critical of pop commodity-selling as an enterprise what makes them still worth listening to today, not just that Dave Allen could really place bass, & etcetera? I mean, isn't that just the thing that keeps them from being totally rigid and unfun, that they express the confusion and conflict of "false consciousness", and don't just present a line of dogma, like other bands of their ilk? Sorry, I'm not a music critic-- it seems like this is the stuff is what really makes them artists worth listening to and thinking about, not just that they made pretty noises or whatever.

Anyway, I've been thinking about going to see them, but I'm really conflicted about it. Could I get some elaboration here from the people who have gone to see them? What does it mean that they sound better now than they did in their prime? Are they still coming from somewhere near the same stance that they did back in the day, or is this just a payday for them? And does that matter? I dunno, maybe they've evolved into something better and I'd be missing out if I didn't go. Anyone?

― Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 6 May 2005 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

For me, their original recorded output sounds somewhat thin and flat (apparently as intended). The live show at Coachella had a big full sound that was more pleasing to me.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 6 May 2005 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

GoF live on KEXP.org right now!~!!!!

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Friday, 6 May 2005 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

This is too good. I can't wait for this show!

― Kate Silver (Kate Silver), Friday, 6 May 2005 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

they were fucking great last nite in PDX!! andy gill looked like he had just woken up, staring down the crowd through puffy eyes hacking at his guitar = awesome. jon king was indeed spazzed out, and now looks like an MP. they got into a fight briefly and andy was on his cellphone onstage. two encores; they genuinely seemed happy to be playing! (except when they were bickering). andy's tone was absolutely coruscating and mr. allen was quite thrashy/funky. recommended!

― f, Friday, 6 May 2005 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

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I didn't realize that's Andy's wife on track 4 (Or rather four years before they were married.)

― birdistheword, Friday, 20 February 2026 21:20 (three months ago)

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