[lbo-talk] Gang of Four updates

Alan Rudy alan.rudy at gmail.com
Fri Apr 16 07:28:24 PDT 2010


I really really loved Entertainment and skipped the needle to the end - to Anthrax - so often I almost wore the track out... and did wear some of my welcome out with dormmates... ahhhhh, controoolllllled ffeeeeeeeeedbbbbaaaaaaaaakk.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:12 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> [The Gang of Four is trying to raise some money for some charities -
> Amnesty International and Plan International (which promotes "child rights,"
> whatever that means) - via the release of its new album. If you pledge, you
> get periodic updates. Here's the latest, which is more interesting than
> most.]
>
> Hello from Pledge Music here in London,
>
> Gang Of Four has posted 4 new updates for "New Album - 'Content'":
>
>
> "A Love Like Anthrax original lyrics" from Jon (4):
>
> [ “You know, I know I’m exploiting you, but I’m not doing it on purpose”]
>
>
> I first saw this in 1970, reproduced in an academic book I’d found called
> “The Action-Image of Society”. The book, pretty dry, had photographs of
> street art alongside interviews with the student radicals who’d had such a
> great time making revolution, making love, lobbing pave at fascist riot cops
> and being totally unreasonable ( “Demand the Impossible!” ) . Yes!
>
> To the 15 year old I then was - and the ruin I am now - what’s not to like?
> Situationism was exciting, relevant, sharp. 7 years on , the first signature
> Gang of Four tune turned out to be Anthrax: where the meaning was contingent
> on circumstances, improvised and different every time. It still excites me
> because it’s never the same.
>
> By then, we were worn out of genre, finally serious about the music having
> learned what it meant be on a stage and had had the luxury of being
> completely ignored by the music biz. We could do what we liked. But the
> wheels of oppression turn slowly...
>
>
>
> [“ Things are getting back to normal”]
>
> This update includes 1 image.
>
> http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/gangoffour/updates/972
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> "A Love Like Anthrax original lyrics" from Jon (3):
>
> Godard’s film was of a piece with the détournement street-art that popped
> up all over Paris during the ‘68 attempt at revolution in France. Like this
> poster, which carried a new augmented message:
>
>
>
> This update includes 1 image.
>
> http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/gangoffour/updates/973
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> "A Love Like Anthrax original lyrics" from Jon (2):
>
> Gill & I wrote the song structure down on paper without playing anything,
> like this:
>
> 1/ guitar feedback solo 2/ Heavy drums & bass kick in with repetitive riff
> that never changes 3/ guitar drops out, Andy & Jon vocals battle it out- JK
> to sing a set of words and Gill to improvise about whatever he is thinking
> about 4/ Feedback again 5/ guitar drops out, more battling vocals. 6/ Bass
> and drums to end.
>
> It was enough to take into a rehearsal room and Hugo & dave could be relied
> on to deliver a massive rhythm section, funky and brutal, like Can on
> Tetley’s.
>
> The vocal parts were inspired by Jean Luc Godard’s movies, which we saw a
> lot of . I loved , in particular, the brilliant “ Numero Deux” ( Number Two)
> , which used a split screen technique in which you saw a scene from 2
> different points of view and where sometimes there were noises off
> commentaries on what was going on.
>
> Going on, this also inspired the inner sleeve art in Entertainment!
>
>
>
> This update includes 1 image.
>
> http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/gangoffour/updates/975
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> "A Love Like Anthrax original lyrics" from Jon (1):
>
> Going through a box in the attic, I found ,among the kibble, the original
> lyrics to Anthrax from 1977. Here they are. I’d forgotten about the
> additional verses. They’re not very good. .
>
> This update includes 1 image.
>
> http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/gangoffour/updates/976
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
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>

-- ********************************************************* Alan P. Rudy Dept. Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work Central Michigan University 124 Anspach Hall Mt Pleasant, MI 48858 517-881-6319



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