Gang of Four
Jon King- vocals
Andy Gill- guitar, vocals
Dave Allen-bass
Hugo Burnham-drums
Intro
Gang of Four were four pretentious college students from the U.K influenced by the urban rhythms of funk and the abrasiveness of punk. I heard they are just a punk band with a disco bass player. That sounds strange.
Entertainment 1979
Best: Ether, Damaged Goods, E.45
Worst: Anthrax
Grade: A+
I'll give you an example of their sound. Mix scratchy chords, funky bass, and snide vocal interplay with pretentious(yet hilarious) satire and you get the GO4.
Allen and Burnham create some heavy grooves worthy of Funkadelic, while Gill plays minimal jagged guitar notes, not much on solos, but when he does play solos, its unmelodical "non-solos" or Hendrix like arty stuff(Anthrax). There's even some harmonica in some of the songs.
Most of this LP has some funny as fuck vocal interplay between Gill and King. And the lyrics kinda make you think about the heart of society.
"At home he feels like a tourist/At home he feels like a tourist/He fills his head with culture/He gives himself and ulcer"(At Home He's a Tourist)
"Aim for the body rare, you'll see it on TV/The worst thing in 1954 was the Bikini/See the girl on the TV dressed in a Bikini/She doesn't think so but she's dressed for the H-Bomb"(I Found That Essence Rare).
The only problem I have listening to this album is that songs have the same 4/4 beat that gets tiring after a while. But the funky grooves are original and lyrics are great to listen to.