| Heathen Earth | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by Throbbing Gristle | ||||
| Released | June 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 16 February 1980 | |||
| Genre | Industrial | |||
| Label | Industrial | |||
| Producer | "Sinclair/Brooks" | |||
| Throbbing Gristle chronology | ||||
| ||||
Heathen Earth is a live album by the English industrial band Throbbing Gristle, released in 1980 through Industrial Records.
Tracks 1–8 document their performance 16 February 1980 at the Industrial Records studio in front of a small, invited audience. The audience are all credited by name on the album, including Jonas Almquist of the Leather Nun, Monte Cazazza (who shot the video of the performance), Geoff Rushton and Jon Savage. Included on the CD editions are bonus tracks taken from their 1980 7" singles "Adrenalin" and "Subhuman."
Heathen Earth was originally released in 1980 on the band's label Industrial Records. The first pressing was limited to 785 copies on blue vinyl. The second pressing was on black vinyl. The first CD release was in 1991. Along with the rest of their albums, it was remastered by Chris Carter and re-released as a two-CD set in 2011. This edition divided the album into nine tracks instead of eight (track 6 was split in two) and listed official titles for the first time. The second CD consists of live recordings and single tracks.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Pitchfork Media | (8.0/10) [2] |
| The Quietus | favourable [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [4] |
Pitchfork gave it an 8.0/10 grade, commenting that the album "[sounds] slightly stiff relative to the unhinged and abrasive live sound captured on the TG24 boxset, which archives their scalding live gigs before frequently hostile crowds with less fidelity but more heart. [...] But it's a testimony to their precision that, for all their influence, nobody quite sounds like them when they are truly on blast, as they are here." [2] The Quietus called it "more cohesive and marshalled" than any of Throbbing Gristle's other live records, finishing that "it remains a brilliantly weird album." [3]
All tracks are written by Throbbing Gristle (Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, Chris Carter)
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Untitled | 26:33 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Untitled | 21:32 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Untitled | 4:38 |
| 2. | Untitled | 6:39 |
| 3. | Untitled | 7:17 |
| 4. | Untitled | 7:46 |
| 5. | Untitled | 7:44 |
| 6. | Untitled | 4:56 |
| 7. | Untitled | 7:33 |
| 8. | Untitled | 1:05 |
| 9. | "Adrenalin" | 3:59 |
| 10. | "Subhuman" | 2:53 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Cornet" | 4:39 |
| 2. | "The Old Man Smiled" | 6:41 |
| 3. | "Improvisation" | 7:23 |
| 4. | "The World is a War Film" | 7:42 |
| 5. | "Something Came Over Me" | 7:49 |
| 6. | "Still Talking" | 3:16 |
| 7. | "Bass" | 1:38 |
| 8. | "Don't Do as You're Told, Do as You Think" | 7:38 |
| 9. | "Painless Childbirth" | 1:03 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Introduction (Sheffield University, 1980)" | 0:35 |
| 2. | "Trained Condition of Obedience (SO36 Club, Berlin, 1980)" | 3:30 |
| 3. | "Heathen Earth (Sheffield University, 1980)" | 6:07 |
| 4. | "An Old Man Smiled (SO36 Club, Berlin, 1980)" | 5:32 |
| 5. | "Auschwitz (Rafters, Manchester, 1980)" | 5:19 |
| 6. | "Devil's Gateway (Rafters, Manchester, 1980)" | 3:58 |
| 7. | "Punished (Sheffield University, 1980)" | 5:53 |
| 8. | "Tortured Smiles (Sheffield University, 1980)" | 2:51 |
| 9. | "We Said No (Sheffield University, 1980)" | 5:29 |
| 10. | "Subhuman" | 2:57 |
| 11. | "Adrenalin" | 3:55 |
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Indie Chart [5] | 10 |
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.
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.
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. P-Orridge was also a founding member of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth occult group, and fronted the experimental pop rock band Psychic TV.
Peter Martin Christopherson was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis.
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.
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