Solid Gold (album)

Last updated

Solid Gold
Solidgoldgangoffour.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 1981 (1981-03)
RecordedJanuary 1981
Studio Abbey Road (London)
Genre
Length38:43
Label
Producer
Gang of Four chronology
Yellow EP
(1980)
Solid Gold
(1981)
Another Day/Another Dollar
(1982)

Solid Gold is the second album by the British 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.

Contents

The album was issued in a CD expanded version by the EMI Records and Infinite Zero Archive/American Recordings labels in 1995, which added the songs from Another Day/Another Dollar EP.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
Christgau's Record Guide A [4]
Pitchfork 9.5/10 [5]
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 9/10 [9]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]

Despite not receiving the same acclaim as the band's debut, Entertainment! (1979), the album was well received by critics, though many felt it was not as consistent as the debut. Pitchfork listed as the 24th best album of the 1980s. [11]

The Boston Globe wrote that, "even if musical experiment on this album generally succeeds, there are few memorable riffs, let alone much that's hummable or danceable, unlike the Gang's first album." [12] The Globe and Mail opined that "the guitar work is consistently scratchy and feverish, busting out of the mix at crucial points to carry along some of the duller items." [13] Milo Miles of Rolling Stone gave a positive review, but found "Andy Gill and Jon King's rejection of character nuance and simple, messy pleasures cuts them off from the rock mainstream all right, but it also prevents shared, everyday experiences. Worse, it makes the band members seem as distanced and bland as any arena-rock superstars. The novelty of passionate rock & rollers who are never personal has worn off." [7]

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice, gave it an A, saying "Not for its politics, which unlike some of my more ideological comrades I find suspiciously lacking in charity. And not for its funk, which like some of my more funky comrades I find suspiciously lacking in on-the-one. And certainly not for its melodies. I admire it, and dig it to the nth, for its tensile contradictions, which are mostly a function of sprung harmony, a perfect model for the asynchronous union at the heart of their political (and rhythmic) message." [14]

Andy Kellman of AllMusic observed, "Gang of Four's existence had as much to do with Slave and Chic as it did the Sex Pistols and the Stooges, which is something Solid Gold demonstrates more than Entertainment!", and concluded "This is a nickel less spectacular than the debut, but owning one and not the other would be criminal." [15]

Uncut called it the band's best album, saying it "catches them at their furious finest, shuffling between the personal politics of consumption and longing ("What We All Want") with broader assaults on, for example, US cultural hegemony ("Cheeseburger") and the continuing asset-stripping project of Thatcherism. This is worth owning if only for "History's Bunk", a former B-side with incontinent guitar flamethrowing that demonstrates, like PiL, that punk and fretboard excess weren't incompatible." [16] Joe Tangari of Pitchfork, declared it "a canonical record" saying, "for anyone with even a passing interest in the post-punk era, it's a must-own." [17]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Jon King; all music is composed by Gang of Four, except as indicated.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Paralysed" Andy Gill, King3:22
2."What We All Want" 4:59
3."Why Theory?"Lyrics: Gill, King2:33
4."If I Could Keep It for Myself" 4:09
5."Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" 3:19
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Cheeseburger"Lyrics: Gill, King4:05
2."The Republic"Music: Gill3:21
3."In the Ditch" 4:22
4."A Hole in the Wallet"Music: Gill4:05
5."He'd Send in the Army"Lyrics: Gill, King4:28

On the original EMI (UK) pressing of the LP, "Why Theory?" is track 5 rather than track 3.

The EMI Records and Infinite Zero/American 1995 reissue includes songs from the Another Day/Another Dollar EP.

CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."To Hell With Poverty!" 4:59
12."Capital (It Fails Us Now)"Gill4:04
13."History's Bunk!"Gill, King2:59
14."Cheeseburger" (Live) 3:40
15."What We All Want" (Live) 5:24

Personnel

Gang of Four
Technical

Charts

Album

YearChartPosition
1981 Billboard Pop Albums190

Single

YearSingleChartPosition
1981"What We All Want"Billboard Club Play Singles30

References

  1. Lester, Paul (2008). Gang of Four: Damaged Goods. Omnibus Press. ISBN   9780857120205 . Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  2. "SPIN Magazine iss. 5 vol. 19". 2003. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  3. Kellman, Andy. "Solid Gold – Gang of Four". AllMusic . Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  4. Christgau, Robert (1990). "Gang of Four: Solid Gold". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN   0-679-73015-X . Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  5. Tangari, Joe (9 February 2003). "Gang of Four: Hard / Solid Gold". Pitchfork . Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. Ludgate, Simon (7 March 1981). "So Four, so good". Record Mirror . p. 14.
  7. 1 2 Miles, Milo (6 August 1981). "Gang of Four: Solid Gold". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 2 April 2003. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  8. Considine, J. D. (2004). "Gang of Four". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp.  321–22. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  9. Kreilkamp, Ivan (1995). "Gang of Four". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 163–64. ISBN   0-679-75574-8.
  10. "Gang Of Four – Solid Gold". Uncut . No. 216. July 2004. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  11. Pitchfork (21 November 2002). "The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  12. Horowitz, Ben (6 August 1981). "Records". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 1.
  13. McGrath, Paul (30 May 1981). "Solid Gold Gang of Four". The Globe and Mail. p. F6.
  14. "Robert Christgau: Album: Gang of Four: Solid Gold". www.robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  15. Solid Gold - Gang of Four | Album | AllMusic , retrieved 17 April 2025
  16. "Gang Of Four - Solid Gold - Review - Uncut.co.uk". web.archive.org. 8 September 2006. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  17. Tangari, Joe. "Gang of Four: Hard/Solid Gold". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 April 2025.