| Happy Now | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 19 April 2019 | |||
| Genre | Art punk | |||
| Length | 40:21 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Gillmusic | |||
| Producer |
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| Gang of Four chronology | ||||
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Happy Now is the ninth and final studio album by English post-punk band Gang of Four, [1] self-released on 19 April 2019. [2] The release has received mildly positive reviews. [3] It is the band's last album before the guitarist and only remaining original member Andy Gill's death in 2020. [4]
Happy Now received generally positive reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic . It has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on seven reviews. [3] The editorial staff of AllMusic Guide gave the album four out of five stars, with reviewer Mark Deming writing, "this is taut, effective music that honors Gang of Four's heritage but succeeds on its own terms". [5] In Under the Radar , Mischa Pearlman's review praises the music's social and political relevance, giving it a seven out of 10. [6]
All songs written by Andy Gill, except where noted:
Gang of Four
Additional personnel
Gang of Four are an English post-punk band, formed in 1976 in Leeds. The original members were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. There have been many different line-ups including, among other notable musicians, Sara Lee, Gail Ann Dorsey, and Mark Heaney. After a brief lull in the 1980s, different constellations of the band recorded two studio albums in the 1990s. Between 2004 and 2006 the original line-up was reunited; Gill toured using the name between 2012 and his death in 2020. In 2021, the band announced that King, Burnham, and Lee would be reuniting for a tour in 2022 with David Pajo on guitar.
Entertainment! is the debut album by English post-punk band Gang of Four. It was released in September 1979 through EMI Records internationally and Warner Bros. Records in North America. Stylistically, it draws heavily on punk rock but also incorporates the influence of funk, dance music, reggae and dub. Its lyrics and artwork reflected the band's left-wing political concerns. It would be an influential release in the burgeoning post-punk movement.
The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground…[who] turned out a series of independent records filled with scathing, disembowelling, guitar-driven pseudo-industrial noise, all of which received positive reviews in underground music publications and heavy college-radio play."
Vincent Grant Gill is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a vocalist and musician have placed him in high demand as a guest vocalist and a duet partner.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers is the debut studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 10, 1984, via EMI America and Enigma Records. The album was produced by Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, and is the only Peppers album to feature Jack Sherman on guitar. Sherman was in the band as a replacement for founding member Hillel Slovak, who'd left the band along with founding drummer Jack Irons before the album was recorded. After the tour for this album, Sherman was fired and Slovak rejoined the band. The album also features founding members Anthony Kiedis on vocals and Flea on bass, as well as Cliff Martinez on drums.
Parachute is the first album by the band Guster, released in 1994. Four thousand copies were released under the band name Gus. Those copies are considered very rare by Guster fans.
Michael Hutchence is the only solo posthumous album by INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. It was released on 14 December 1999, just over two years after Hutchence's death.
Hazel was an American alternative rock band based in Portland, Oregon. The band was a quartet, consisting of Jody Bleyle, Pete Krebs, Brady Smith (bass), and Fred Nemo (dancer). It lasted from 1992 to 1997.
Mr. Happy Go Lucky is the 14th album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp. It was released on September 10, 1996. It was his first album released after his heart attack in 1994. Mellencamp's music on the album is said to reflect his brush with death. The album was recorded in Belmont, Indiana, in Mellencamp's Belmont Mall recording studio. The first single from the album, "Key West Intermezzo ," peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is his last Top 40 single in the United States to date. "Just Another Day" was the album's second single and stalled at No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Andrew James Dalrymple Gill was an English musician and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the rock band Gang of Four, which he co-founded in 1976. Gill was known for his angular, jagged style of guitar on albums such as Entertainment! (1979) and Solid Gold (1981) and hit singles such as "At Home He's a Tourist", "Damaged Goods", "Anthrax", "What We All Want" and "I Love a Man in a Uniform".
Solid Gold is the second album by the English post-punk band Gang of Four, released in 1981. Two of its tracks, "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" and "He'd Send in the Army", are re-recordings of songs previously released as a single in the UK.
Lucky Pierre is a new wave band, founded in Cleveland in 1974 by singer-songwriter, guitarist and the only constant member, Kevin McMahon. The initial line-up of the band included McMahon on vocals, John Guardico on guitar, Dennis DeVito on bass and Brian Dempsey on drums. The band has released a string of singles in between the late 1970s and early 1980s, before entering to a hiatus and reforming in 1988, with guitarist Rick Christyson and keyboardist Trent Reznor, the founder of the industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails.
Learning to Crawl is the third studio album by British-American rock band The Pretenders. It was released on 21 January 1984 after a hiatus during which band members James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon died of drug overdoses. The album's title of "Learning to Crawl" was given in honor of Chrissie Hynde's then-infant daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde. She was learning to crawl at the time that Hynde was trying to determine a title for the album.
Hard is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk group Gang of Four. It was originally released in 1983 on Warner Bros. Records and was the first album to not feature original member Hugo Burnham, while Dave Allen had already left before the previous album, Songs of the Free.
Shrinkwrapped is the sixth studio album by Gang of Four. It was released in 1995 on Castle Communications. Some of the songs are featured on the Peter Hall film, Delinquent.
Prick was an American industrial rock band, founded in 1992 in Los Angeles by guitarist and songwriter Kevin McMahon, after his first project Lucky Pierre disbanded. The first line-up of the band featured McMahon on vocals and guitar, Chris Schleyer on guitar and Andy Kubiszewski on drums. The band was known for its glam rock and new wave influences.
The Peel Sessions is a compilation album by Gang of Four.
Content is the seventh full-length studio album by English band Gang of Four, released on 24 January 2011 on Grönland Records in Europe and the following day on Yep Roc Records in the US. It was the last Gang of Four album to feature original vocalist Jon King.
What Happens Next is the eighth studio album by English post-punk band Gang of Four. It was released on 24 February 2015 through Metropolis Records and Membran record label. It is the band's first album to feature John "Gaoler" Sterry on vocals, following vocalist Jon King's departure, which left the guitarist Andy Gill as the sole original member of the band.
Life! is a studio album by American country singer-songwriter Bill Anderson. It was released on March 4, 2014 via TWI Records. It was Anderson's 43rd studio release and contained a total of ten tracks. The project was Anderson's first studio album in four years and one of several he issued on his own record label.
