Solid Gold | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 1981 | |||
Recorded | January 1981 | |||
Studio | Abbey Road (London) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 38:43 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | ||||
Gang of Four chronology | ||||
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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.
The album was issued in an 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.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A [4] |
Pitchfork | 9.5/10 [5] |
Record Mirror | [6] |
Rolling Stone | [7] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [8] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10 [9] |
Uncut | [10] |
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." [11] 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." [12]
Pitchfork listed Solid Gold as 24th best album of the 1980s.
All lyrics are written by Jon King; all music is composed by Gang of Four, except as indicated
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Paralysed" | Andy Gill, King | 3:22 |
2. | "What We All Want" | 4:59 | |
3. | "Why Theory?" | Lyrics: Gill, King | 2:33 |
4. | "If I Could Keep It for Myself" | 4:09 | |
5. | "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" | 3:19 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Cheeseburger" | Lyrics: Gill, King | 4:05 |
2. | "The Republic" | Music: Gill | 3:21 |
3. | "In the Ditch" | 4:22 | |
4. | "A Hole in the Wallet" | Music: Gill | 4:05 |
5. | "He'd Send in the Army" | Lyrics: Gill, King | 4:28 |
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.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
11. | "To Hell With Poverty!" | 4:59 | |
12. | "Capital (It Fails Us Now)" | Gill | 4:04 |
13. | "History's Bunk!" | Gill, King | 2:59 |
14. | "Cheeseburger" (Live) | 3:40 | |
15. | "What We All Want" (Live) | 5:24 |
Album
Year | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|
1981 | Billboard Pop Albums | 190 |
Single
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | "What We All Want" | Billboard Club Play Singles | 30 |
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.
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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.
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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".
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Another Day/Another Dollar is a 12" vinyl EP by Gang of Four, released in 1982 in the US, by Warner Bros. Records. The release is a compilation of material previously unreleased in the US. The first two tracks were released in the UK as a single. The third track is the b-side of the UK only single "What We All Want," and the last two tracks are excerpted from a live show recorded at the Hammersmith Palais, in London, on 3/30/81. All five songs from the EP later appeared on the EMI Records and Infinite Zero Archive/American Recordings's 1995 CD reissue of the 1981 LP Solid Gold.
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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. It was recorded at Andy Gill's central London studio, The Beauchamp Building.
"Damaged Goods" is a song by English post-punk band Gang of Four. Acting as their debut single, it was released on 13 October 1978 through independent record label Fast Product. Produced by Fast Product owner Bob Last under the alias "Fast Product", the single received critical acclaim, prompting the band to sign to major label EMI. The title track and "Love Like Anthrax" were re-recorded for Gang of Four's debut album Entertainment! in 1979 and the whole EP was included in the Fast Product compilation Mutant Pop in 1980.
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