Yes Sir, I Will

Last updated

Yes Sir, I Will
Yes Sir I Will.jpg
Studio album by
Released1983
RecordedMarch 1983
Studio Southern Studios (Wood Green, London)
Genre
Length43:53
Label Crass
Producer Crass
Crass chronology
Christ The Album
(1982)
Yes Sir, I Will
(1983)
Ten Notes on a Summer's Day
(1985)
Alternative covers
Crassical Collection Yes Sir.jpg
Cover of the remastered 'Crassical Collection' rerelease
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Punknews.orgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Select U+25A0.svgU+25A1.svgU+25A1.svgU+25A1.svgU+25A1.svg [4]
The Sleeping Shaman(mixed) [5]

Yes Sir, I Will was the fifth and penultimate album released in March 1983 by anarcho-punk band Crass. The album is a virulent attack on then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher and her government in the aftermath of the Falklands War and was set nearly wholly over a raging and an almost free-form improvised backing provided by the group's musicians. [6]

Contents

Content

Many of the lyrics from this album are extracted from Penny Rimbaud's extended poem Rocky Eyed. The original vinyl release presented the contents as one long piece split over both sides with no banding between songs, making it the longest punk rock song ever recorded. [7]

Rimbaud summarised the album in an interview with Radio Free France:

The boundaries increasingly ceased to have any relevance – prior to the Falklands War, one naively believed that there were separations between 'this' and 'that' and that if you dealt with 'this' then you could do 'that'... like songs – each song had its own little separate thing to deal with and Yes Sir, I Will is a statement about the fact that there isn't any separation – that it's all one and the same thing, that there is no single cause or single idea – there's no-one else to blame but yourself. That you can't say, "Well let's now concentrate on the Northern Ireland problem", "let's now concentrate on the problem of sexual relationships"... you can't do that – everything now is one major problem and that problem stems from yourself. [8]

Sleeve notes for the album include parts of Rimbaud's article The Pig's Head Controversy that originally appeared in the Crass-produced magazine International Anthem. [9]

The title, taken from a news report of a conversation between Charles, Prince of Wales and Falklands War veteran Simon Weston, is an ironic criticism. Charles, visiting the extensively, permanently burned Weston in the hospital, dryly told him to "Get well soon" and Weston's sincere reply is the album's cynical title. [10] Rimbaud, commenting on this, has said, "That was the hook. That was such an audacious thing to do at the time. Especially given that one had to feel compassion for Simon Weston." [11]

The album has an extreme disparity between the aggression of the music and the peacefulness of the message. In an interview about the nature of the anger that often crossed between passion and aggression on the album, Gee Vaucher said:

If you're going to rant and rave or be angry about anything, one does it because you have a vision of the opposite. We've worked the way we have done for the last seven years because it seemed that people weren't informed about what was happening in the world on a simple basis, especially a lot of young people. The feeling I got from a lot of young people was that there was something drastically wrong with the world – technically they didn't know how that was operating and obviously we've offered them information which hopefully gave them the possibility of deciding for themselves, and a broader outlook on their own lives. [8]

Rereleases

A film made by Crass member Gee Vaucher to accompany Yes Sir, I Will was shown at the UK National Film Theatre's Stuff the Jubilee festival of punk films in 2002, and the track was remixed in 2002 by Rimbaud to incorporate additional jazz instrumentation provided by Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone) and Julian Siegel (double bass) to augment the original performance. [12]

The Crassical Collection version of this release, including new artwork by Vaucher, remastered sound and liner notes by Steve Ignorant and Rimbaud, was released on May 17, 2011. The reissue also contains a second disc (entitled Why Don't You Fuck Off?), which has Rimbaud's 2002 remix of the album, featuring Laubrock and Seigal. [13] [14] No track titles appeared on the original versions of the album; however, the Crassical Collection edition gave the tracks titles. The first disc of the Crassical Collection edition is indexed incorrectly, with some tracks being shown longer or shorter than they were on the original release on the CD player's display, however the second disc is indexed correctly.

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Step Outside" and "Rocky Eyes"5:30
2."Anarchy's Just Another Word"2:36
3."Speed or Greed"1:00
4."The Five Knuckle Shuffle"2:08
5."A Rock 'n' Roll Swindler"6:47
6."Burying the Hatchet"5:41
7."Taking Sides"20:08
Crassical Collection edition, disc one
No.TitleLength
1."Step Outside"0:43
2."Rocky Eyes"4:42
3."Anarchy's Just Another Word"2:36
4."Speed or Greed?"1:01
5."The Five Knuckle Shuffle"2:09
6."A Rock 'n' Roll Swindler" and "Burying the Hatchet"12:28
7."Taking Sides"20:07
Crassical Collection edition, disc two (Why Don't You Fuck Off?)
No.TitleLength
1."Bird of a Nation"1:49
2."Step Outside"0:40
3."Rocky Eyes"4:26
4."Anarchy's Just Another Word"2:38
5."Mouthing the Words"1:01
6."The Five Knuckle Shuffle"2:09
7."A Rock 'n' Roll Swindler"12:47
8."Taking Sides"20:16

Personnel

Quotes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dial House, Essex</span>

Dial House is a farm cottage situated in south-west Essex, England that has been a self-sustaining anarcho-pacifist open house since 1967. The house is located in the countryside of Epping Forest in Ongar Great Park. It has been used as a base for a number of cultural, artistic, and political projects ranging from avant-garde jazz events to helping found the free festival movement.

Anarcho-punk is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcore punk, folk punk, and other styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gee Vaucher</span>

Gee Vaucher is a visual artist.

<i>The Feeding of the 5000</i> (album) 1978 studio album by Crass

The Feeding of the 5000 is the first album by the anarcho-punk band Crass. The album was recorded on 29 October 1978, by John Loder at Southern Studios and was released the same year. It was considered revolutionary in its time due to what was considered an extreme sound, frequently profane lyrical content and the anarchist political ideals in the lyrics. The album also saw the introduction of Crass's policy of ensuring cheap prices for their records. This album is considered one of the first punk albums to expound serious anarchist philosophies.

<i>Stations of the Crass</i> 1979 studio album by Crass

Stations of the Crass is the second album by Crass, released in 1979. The record, originally released as a double 12", includes live tracks from a gig recorded at the Pied Bull pub in Islington, London, on 7 August 1979. The first three sides contain the studio tracks and play at 45 rpm, while the final side comprises the live material and plays at 33 rpm. The album's title is not only a pun on the Catholic rite of the Stations of the Cross, but is also a reference to the graffiti campaign that the band had been conducting around London's underground railway system, the cover artwork depicting a wall at Bond Street tube station that had allegedly been 'decorated' by them. Although the album met mixed critical reception at first, it managed to sell at least 20,000 copies within two weeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crass Records</span> British record label

Crass Records was an independent record label that was set up by the anarchist punk band Crass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Ignorant</span> British singer and artist

Steve Ignorant is a singer and artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penny Rimbaud</span> Musical artist

Penny Lapsang Rimbaud is a writer, poet, philosopher, painter, musician and activist. He was a member of the performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and in 1972 was co-founder of the Stonehenge Free Festival, together with Phil Russell aka Wally Hope. In 1977 with Steve Ignorant, he co-founded the seminal anarchist punk band Crass and served as its drummer. Crass disbanded in 1984. Until 2000 Rimbaud devoted himself almost entirely to writing, returning to the public platform in 2001 as a performance poet working with Australian saxophonist Louise Elliott and a wide variety of jazz musicians under the umbrella of Last Amendment.

<i>Penis Envy</i> (album) 1981 studio album by Crass

Penis Envy, released in 1981, was the third LP by the anarchist punk band Crass. The album was included at #36 on Rolling Stone's "40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time" list in 2016.

<i>Christ – The Album</i> 1982 studio album by Crass

Christ – The Album is the fourth album by Crass, released in 1982. It was released as a boxed-set, double-vinyl LP package, including one disc of new studio material and another, entitled Well Forked.. But Not Dead, a live recording of the band's June 1981 gig at the 100 Club in London along with other studio tracks, demos and tape fragments. The box also included a book, A Series of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums, and a large poster painted by Gee Vaucher. The album was well received and the band considered it their best.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Last Amendment</span>

Last Amendment, formerly known as The Crass Collective and Crass Agenda, is the working title of a series of collaborations by ex-members of the anarcho-punk band Crass and others. Although Crass had formally split up in 1984, Penny Rimbaud, Gee Vaucher, Eve Libertine, Steve Ignorant, Andy Palmer and Pete Wright came together in November 2002 to put on a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in opposition to the at that time proposed War on Iraq. Although they did not all appear on the stage at the same time, most of the ex-members of Crass participated in the event under the name of The Crass Collective, along with other performers such as Ian MacKaye, Goldblade, the English Chamber Choir, Fun Da Mental, and Nabil Shaban, among others.

<i>Acts of Love</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Penny Rimbaud

Acts of Love is an album of 50 poems by Penny Rimbaud of the anarchist punk band Crass, set to classical music composed and arranged by Penny Rimbaud and Paul Ellis, and performed by Steve Ignorant and Eve Libertine. Released in 1985 on Crass Records, the record was accompanied by a book of 50 paintings by artist Gee Vaucher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve Libertine</span> English singer (born 1949)

Eve Libertine is an English singer.

This is an overview of the Crass Records discography. (NB, dates refer to initial UK releases, many of these records have since been re-issued in CD format)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crass</span> English punk rock band

Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, advocating direct action, animal rights, feminism, anti-fascism, and environmentalism. The band used and advocated a DIY ethic approach to its albums, sound collages, leaflets, and films.

<i>There Is No Authority But Yourself</i> 2006 Dutch film

There is No Authority But Yourself is a Dutch film directed by Alexander Oey documenting the history of anarchist punk band Crass. The film features archive footage of the band and interviews with former members Steve Ignorant, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher. As well as reflecting on the band's past the film focusses on their current activities, and includes footage of Rimbaud performing with Last Amendment at the Vortex jazz club in Hackney, a compost toilet building workshop and a permaculture course held at Dial House in the spring of 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">N. A. Palmer</span> Musical artist

Andrew "Andy" Palmer, also known as N. A. Palmer, is a British musician and artist. He was the rhythm guitarist for anarcho punk band Crass.

<i>This Is Your Captain Speaking</i> (EP) 1981 EP by Captain Sensible

This is Your Captain Speaking is a three-track EP by English musician Captain Sensible, released on 2 November 1981 on Crass Records. It was Sensible's first release as a solo artist, while still being a member of rock band the Damned. It reached No. 3 in the UK Indie Chart.

David Anthony King was an English American artist, (graphic) designer, and musician, a "significant figure in design history" best known as the designer of the symbol for the band Crass, "one of punk’s most recognizable and powerful designs".

References

  1. Old Shatterhead (1983). "No Crass, I won't". Punk Lives. No. 7.
  2. Allmusic review
  3. Brandon (2007-03-27). "Crass - Yes Sir, I Will". punknews.org. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  4. Finlay, Leo (October 1990). "Their Only Silver Discs". Select . No. 4. p. 126.
  5. Stygall, Ollie (2011-10-05) (5 October 2011). "Crass - Yes Sir, I Will". thesleepingshaman.com. The Sleeping Shaman. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  6. Glasper, Ian (2007). The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980 to 1984. Cherry Red Books. pp. 61–62. ISBN   978-1901447705.
  7. "CRASS Yes Sir I will". Southern Records.
  8. 1 2 Berger, George (2008). The Story of Crass . Omnibus Press. pp.  244–245. ISBN   978-1-60486-037-5.
  9. The Pig's Head Controversy
  10. Mark Titchner (9 April 2009). "Mark Titchner's top 10 songs about liberty". Whitechapel takeover. The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  11. Phil Newall (20 June 2011). "Crass 'Yes Sir, I Will'". Louder than War. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  12. "Anarcho-punk legends' free jazz odyssey". Record Collector Mag.
  13. "CRASS Yes Sir I will". Southern Records.
  14. Newall, Phil (2011-06-11) (20 June 2011). "Crass 'Yes Sir I Will'". louderthanwar.com. Louder Than War. Retrieved 13 May 2017.