Gang Of Four: The Peel Sessions 1979-1981 [ROOM ON FIRE]

Why you'll love it

This LP gathers all three of Gang of Four's BBC sessions for John Peel, from January and July 1979 and March 1981. Eleven songs catch the Leeds band at full tilt, from the Entertainment! era through "To Hell with Poverty."

About the album

John Peel had an ear for bands that sounded like nobody else, and in early 1979 few sounded less like anybody else than four students from Leeds. Jon King's barked vocals, Andy Gill's jagged, stop-start guitar, Dave Allen's elastic bass and Hugo Burnham's taut drumming mixed punk, funk and dub into something lean and nervy, and their debut Entertainment! would later rank fifth on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest punk albums.

The first two sessions arrived either side of that debut, and they're full of its songs: "At Home He's a Tourist," "Natural's Not in It," "Ether," "Not Great Men," "Return the Gift" and "5.45," played live in the BBC studio with all the bite of the stage. The 1981 session moves into the leaner, more danceable sound of their next phase, with "Paralysed," "History's Bunk" and the single "To Hell with Poverty."

David Fricke of Rolling Stone once called them probably the best politically motivated band in rock and roll. Dave Allen's bass on these could rearrange the furniture, and on a decent system it very nearly does.

Also at Kops: more Gang of Four on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Room on Fire (cat# Room196).