Songs of the Free | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 1982 | |||
Recorded | March 1982 | |||
Studio | Ridge Farm Studios, Dorking, Surrey | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 39:32 | |||
Label | EMI | |||
Producer | Andy Gill, Mike Howlett, Jon King | |||
Gang of Four chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Rolling Stone | [2] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [3] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10 [4] |
The Village Voice | A− [5] |
Songs of the Free is the third studio album by Gang of Four, released in 1982.
It is their first recording with Sara Lee as bassist, replacing Dave Allen. The album also marks a shift towards R&B or funk music, and away from the more abrasive elements in their earlier albums.
In 1996, Infinite Zero Archive/American Recordings label issued it on CD, with two bonus tracks, and with a slightly changed song order (swapping the positions of "Muscle for Brains" and "We Live as We Dream, Alone"), and mistitling "I Love a Man in a Uniform" as "I Love a Man in Uniform." EMI reissued the album on CD in 2008 with the original song order and no bonus tracks.
Pitchfork listed Songs of the Free as 99th best album of the 1980s. [6] Rhino Records re-released Songs of the Free in limited edition of 6,250 on 180-gram blue, purple, and yellow splattered vinyl for Black Friday Record Store Day 2015.
All songs written by Andy Gill and Jon King
All songs written at Mount Pleasant Studios, 38 Mount Pleasant, London E1; with special assistance from Jon Astrop
with:
Album
Year | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|
1982 | Billboard Pop Albums | 175 |
Single
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | "I Love a Man in a Uniform" | Billboard Club Play Singles | 27 |
1982 | "I Love a Man in a Uniform" | UK Singles Charts | 65 |
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.
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You is the tenth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin released on March 10, 1967, by Atlantic Records. It was Franklin's first release under her contract with the label, following her departure from Columbia Records after nine unsuccessful Jazz standard albums, and marked a commercial breakthrough for her, becoming her first top 10 album in the United States, reaching number 2 on the Billboard 200. Two singles were released to promote the album: "Respect" and "I Never Loved a Man ". The former topped the Billboard Hot 100, while latter reached the top 10.
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.
It's Hard is the tenth studio album by English rock band the Who. Released on 4 September 1982, it was the final to feature bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002. It was also the second and final Who studio album with drummer Kenney Jones, as well as the last to be released on Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was released on Polydor Records in the UK, peaking at No. 11, and on Warner Bros. in the US where it peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The US rights to both this album and Face Dances subsequently reverted to the band, who then licensed them to MCA Records for reissue. The album achieved gold status by the RIAA in the US in November 1982. It was their last album for over two decades until Endless Wire in 2006.
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All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes is the third solo studio album by English rock musician Pete Townshend, released on 14 June 1982 by Atco Records. Chris Thomas produced the album and it was recorded by Bill Price at three separate recording studios in London, England, which were Eel Pie, A.I.R. and Wessex. The album peaked at No. 32 on the UK Albums Chart, and at No. 26 on the US Billboard 200.
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Bad Brains is the debut studio album recorded by American hardcore punk/reggae band Bad Brains. Recorded in 1981 and released on the cassette-only label ROIR on February 5, 1982, many fans refer to it as "The Yellow Tape" because of its yellow packaging, much in the way that the Beatles' self-titled record is often called "The White Album". Though Bad Brains had recorded the 16 song Black Dots album in 1979 and the 5-song Omega Sessions EP in 1980, the ROIR cassette was the band's first release of anything longer than a single.
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Smash Your Head Against the Wall is the debut solo studio album by English rock musician John Entwistle, released in May 1971 by Track Records in the UK and Decca Records in the US. Smash Your Head Against the Wall was the first solo album by any member of rock band the Who, born out of Entwistle's frustrations within the band, namely not having as many of his songs featured on their albums as he would've liked, and it features a guest appearance by the Who's drummer Keith Moon on one track, as well as strong musical influences from the band's work.
Shoot Out the Lights is the sixth and final album by British husband-and-wife rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was produced by Joe Boyd and released in 1982 on his Hannibal label. A critically acclaimed work, AllMusic's Mark Deming noted that Shoot Out the Lights has "often been cited as Richard Thompson's greatest work, and it's difficult for anyone who has heard his body of work to argue the point."
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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 honour 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.
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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.
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