20 Jazz Funk Greats

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20 Jazz Funk Greats
20 Jazz Funk Greats.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 1979
RecordedAugust 1979
StudioThe Death Factory (Hackney, London)
Genre
Length42:23
Label Industrial
Producer Sinclair/Brooks
Throbbing Gristle chronology
D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle
(1978)
20 Jazz Funk Greats
(1979)
Heathen Earth
(1980)

20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third studio album by British industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1979 by the band's Industrial Records label. Known for its tongue-in-cheek title and artwork, it has been hailed as the band's best work, with Fact naming it the best album of the 1970s and Pitchfork naming it the best industrial album of all time. [5] [6]

Contents

Recording

20 Jazz Funk Greats is the band's first full studio album, as prior albums contained both live and studio recordings. The production is credited to "Sinclair/Brooks". The album was recorded at the band's Death Factory studio in Hackney on a 16-track tape recorder borrowed from Paul McCartney after Peter Christopherson, also a member of the graphic design collective Hipgnosis, had worked on the artwork for Wings' 1975 album Venus and Mars. [7] The album was produced using a wide variety of electronic musical instruments and effects units, primarily from Roland and its subsidiary Boss, as well as some that the band had designed or modified themselves. [8] [9] [10]

Artwork and title

The album's cover photograph was taken at Beachy Head, a chalk headland on the Sussex coast known as one of the world's most notorious suicide spots. [11] In a 2012 interview, Cosey Fanni Tutti explained the album cover's design and tongue-in-cheek title:

We did the cover so it was a pastiche of something you would find in a Woolworth's bargain bin. We took the photograph at the most famous suicide spot in England, called Beachy Head. So, the picture is not what it seems, it is not so nicey nicey at all, and neither is the music once you take it home and buy it. We had this idea in mind that someone quite innocently would come along to a record store and see [the record] and think they would be getting 20 really good jazz/funk greats, and then they would put it on at home and they would just get decimated. [12]

The 1981 issue of the album released on Fetish Records featured an alternate version of the cover art in which an apparently dead naked body is seen lying in front of the band. Graphic designer Stanley Donwood, known for his work with Radiohead, selected the album cover as his personal favourite in a 2013 interview. [13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [14]
The Austin Chronicle Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Pitchfork 10/10 [16]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [18]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 7/10 [19]
Uncut 8/10 [20]

In 1979 upon release, the album and Adam and the Ants' debut LP Dirk Wears White Sox were the co-subjects of a highly negative - and denounced as abusive by Ants front man Adam Ant - joint review by Paul Morley in the NME under the headline "Berks That Lurk In The Corner Of Your Psyche." [21]

Reviewing the album's 2011 reissue for Pitchfork , Drew Daniel of Matmos praised 20 Jazz Funk Greats as Throbbing Gristle's peak, writing that "it's in the pathos of their promiscuous liaisons with the forbidden territory of various forms of 'real music' that this album generates a weirdly gripping power of its own." He continued, "20 Jazz Funk Greats finds the band waking up from D.O.A 's dark night of the soul and feeling curiously frisky. Snacking on not only the titular funk and jazz, the band also takes touristic zig zags through exotica, rock and disco". He ultimately awarded it a perfect 10/10 score and the site's "Best New Reissue" designation. [16]

AllMusic writer Paul Simpson wrote, "Thoroughly exciting and immeasurably influential, 20 Jazz Funk Greats is easily Throbbing Gristle's crowning achievement, and one of the highlights of the post-punk era." [14] In a retrospective review of Throbbing Gristle's discography for Uncut , Michael Bonner stated that "Musically, it turned away from the precipice; not exactly jazz and funk, but sublimating TG’s noise elements within electronic rhythms and proto-exotica. Album highlight "Hot on the Heels of Love" is convincingly Moroder-esque disco, Cosey breathing sweet nothings amid bubbling synthesisers and whip-crack snare. Elsewhere, P-Orridge mines a lyrical seam of control and domination." [20] Dusted Magazine described the album as "a deliberate attempt to toy with the ideas behind marketing strategy and the purpose of musical genres."

Pitchfork ranked 20 Jazz Funk Greats at number 91 on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1970s. [22] British electronic music magazine Fact named it the best album of the decade, writing: "This album is a rupture. It's an open crack into the unpronounceable dimensions into which tumble important streams of 20th-century pop, art and underground culture, to seethe around each other, mingling, festering, sprouting new and unpredictable forms which in turn would ooze out to infest vast sections of what comes after." [5]

In June 2019, Pitchfork named 20 Jazz Funk Greats as the best industrial album of all time. [6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Throbbing Gristle (Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter, Peter Christopherson)

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."20 Jazz Funk Greats"2:51
2."Beachy Head"3:42
3."Still Walking"4:56
4."Tanith"2:20
5."Convincing People"4:54
6."Exotica"2:53
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Hot on the Heels of Love"4:24
2."Persuasion"6:36
3."Walkabout"3:04
4."What a Day"4:38
5."Six Six Sixties"2:07
Bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Discipline (Berlin)"10:45
13."Discipline (Manchester)"8:06
2011 remastered edition bonus disc
No.TitleLength
12."Weapon Training" (Live at The Factory, Manchester 1979)1:35
13."Convincing People" (Live at The Factory, Manchester 1979)6:12
14."They Make No Say" (Live at Northampton Guildhall 1979)5:28
15."Five Knuckle Shuffle" (Live at The Factory, Manchester 1979)6:27
16."His Arm Was Her Leg" (Live at The Factory, Manchester 1979)3:51
17."See You Are" (Live at The Factory, Manchester 1979)5:46
18."What a Day" (Live at The Factory, Manchester 1979)6:17
19."Discipline" (Live at Illuminated 666 Club, Manchester 1980)8:11
20."Discipline" (Live at SO36 Club, Berlin 1980)10:47

Personnel

Technical

Equipment

Roland equipment used on the album included a SRE-555 Chorus Echo delay, SH-7 synthesizer, CSQ-100 sequencer, CR-78 drum machine, and System-100M modular synthesizer. Boss equipment included a PH-1 phaser effects pedal, DR-55 "Dr. Rhythm" drum machine, KM-4 mixer, CE-2 chorus pedal, and BF-2 flanger pedal. [23] Other equipment included a Simmons ClapTrap percussion synthesizer, Auratone 5C speakers, JVC amplifier, TEAC cassette deck, Seck 6-2 audio mixer, Casio M10 keyboard, and Chris Carter's custom "Gristleizer" effects unit. [10] [23]

Charts

Chart (1980)Peak
position
UK Indie Chart 6 [24]

Related Research Articles

Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments and punk provocation". The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by members of Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. While the genre name originated with Throbbing Gristle's emergence in the United Kingdom, artists and labels vital to the genre also emerged in the United States and other countries.

Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a name to the industrial music genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Throbbing Gristle</span> English band

Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evolving from the experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made their public debut in October 1976 in the COUM exhibition Prostitution, and released their debut single "United/Zyklon B Zombie" and debut album The Second Annual Report the following year. P-Orridge's lyrics mainly revolved around mysticism, extremist political ideologies, sexuality, dark or underground aspects of society, and idiosyncratic manipulation of language inspired by the techniques of William S. Burroughs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genesis P-Orridge</span> English artist, musician and writer (1950–2020)

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge was an English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions artistic collective and lead vocalist of seminal industrial band Throbbing Gristle. They were also a founding member of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth occult group, and fronted the experimental pop rock band Psychic TV.

COUM Transmissions was a music and performance art collective who operated in the United Kingdom from 1969 through to 1976. The collective was influenced by the Dada and surrealism artistic movements, the writers of the Beat Generation, and underground music. COUM were openly confrontational and subversive, challenging aspects of conventional British society. Founded in Hull, Yorkshire by Genesis P-Orridge, other prominent early members included Cosey Fanni Tutti and Spydeee Gasmantell. Part-time members included Tim Poston, "Brook" Menzies, Haydn Robb, Les Maull, Ray Harvey, John Smith, Foxtrot Echo, Fizzy Paet and John Gunni Busck. Later members included Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter, who together with P-Orridge and Fanni Tutti went on to found the pioneering industrial band Throbbing Gristle in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Balance</span> English musician and poet (1962–2004)

Geoffrey Nigel Laurence Rushton, better known under the pseudonyms John Balance or the later variation Jhonn Balance, was an English musician, occultist, artist and poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosey Fanni Tutti</span> British performance artist, musician and writer

Cosey Fanni Tutti is an English performance artist, musician and writer, best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey.

Paula P-Orridge, also known as Alaura O'Dell, is an English musician, writer, and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Carter (British musician)</span> Musical artist

Chris Carter is an English musician, best known for being a member of Throbbing Gristle and the duo Chris & Cosey, both with his longtime partner Cosey Fanni Tutti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris & Cosey</span> British band

Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti, both previously members of industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle. Since the release of their 1981 debut album Heartbeat, the group have expanded on the rhythmic ideas of Throbbing Gristle while adding synthesized pop elements to their sound.

<i>Part Two</i> (Throbbing Gristle album) 2007 album by Throbbing Gristle

Part Two is an album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle, released in 2007 through record label Mute Records.

<i>Heathen Earth</i> 1980 live album by Throbbing Gristle

Heathen Earth is a live album by the English industrial band Throbbing Gristle, released in 1980 through Industrial Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United/Zyklon B Zombie</span> 1978 single by Throbbing Gristle

"United/Zyklon B Zombie" is the debut single by industrial band Throbbing Gristle. It was released in 7" vinyl format in May 1978, through the band's own Industrial Records.

<i>TG Now</i> 2004 album by Throbbing Gristle

TG Now is an album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle. It was released in 2004 through the band's own record label Industrial Records and was their first album of original material since 1982's Journey Through a Body.

<i>The Second Annual Report</i> 1977 album by Throbbing Gristle

The Second Annual Report is the debut album by English industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in November 1977 through Industrial Records. It is a combination of live and studio recordings made from October 1976 to September 1977. The Second Annual Report is considered to be influential within electronic music, being one of the first industrial music albums.

<i>D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle</i> 1978 album by Throbbing Gristle

D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle is the second studio album by English industrial band Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1978 by their Industrial Records label.

<i>The First Annual Report</i> 2001 studio album by Throbbing Gristle

The First Annual Report is a bootleg album of music recorded by industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle in 1975. The recording originally went unreleased, and the band instead decided to release The Second Annual Report in 1977. This recording was first released unofficially in 1987 as Very Friendly through Spurt Records, before being issued prominently as The First Annual Report in 2001.

<i>In the Shadow of the Sun</i> (album) 1984 film score by Throbbing Gristle

In the Shadow of the Sun is an improvised musical score by Throbbing Gristle for the 1981 Derek Jarman film of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discipline (Throbbing Gristle song)</span> 1981 single by Throbbing Gristle

"Discipline" is a song by the English electronic group Throbbing Gristle.

Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, also shorter titled Other, Like Me, is a 2020 American-British documentary film on the music and art groups Throbbing Gristle and COUM Transmissions, which covers the history of both projects in archival film footage and photos and interviews with their members.

References

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  4. Pitchfork Staff (23 June 2004). "The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s". Pitchfork . Retrieved 16 April 2023. ...those crazy-ass bird calls, sleazy ambient pulsations, and homemade electro-pop grooves.
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  8. Throbbing Gristle – 20 Jazz Funk Greats, Discogs
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Sources

Further reading