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| Image source: amazon.com |
Album: Entertainment!
Artist: Gang of Four
Release Date: September 25, 1979
Genre: Post-Punk
Track Listing:
1. Ether – 3:52
2. Natural's Not in It – 3:09
3. Not Great Men – 3:08
4. Damaged Goods – 3:29
5. Return the Gift – 3:08
6. Guns Before Butter – 3:49
7. I Found that Essence Rare – 3:09
8. Glass – 2:32
9. Contract – 2:42
10. At Home He's a Tourist – 3:33
11. 5.45 – 3:48
12. Anthrax – 4:23
Rating: 9.6/10
Let me say this now: Gang of Four is not well-known. They are so underrated that their lack of recognition and mainstream success should be a crime.
Entertainment!, like the band, is a hidden gem that not many people realize had a far-reaching influence with many bands that exist today. Groups like Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and The Rapture are a few of the many post-punk revival bands who drew their sounds from the familiar bass and beat progressions that are easily identified to be those of Gang of Four. This album is the epitome of their iconic dance-punk style mixed in with elements of funk and dub with an aggressive twist that popular post-punk revival bands have borrowed and incorporated into their music.
The first time I have ever listened to Gang of Four was through the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, which featured the song "Natural's Not In It." For some reason, I wasn't that impressed with the song. Perhaps this had to do with it being lost within the rest of the film's soundtrack since there are a few other good songs in there as well, but that's another review for another time. It wasn't until I went through a post-punk phase back in 2013 when I began to seriously listen to Gang of Four. It was at this time when their sound really began to settle upon me.
When I initially listened to this album, it took me only one sitting to make it through the entire thing, which is really good since, on average, it takes me at least 3 tries to listen to an album in its entirety before I can formulate a solid opinion about it. But from this one sitting, I immediately had good things to say.
A majority of the songs on Entertainment! are social and political commentaries/criticisms that mainly pertain to cynicism and socialist ideals. What does that mean about Gang of Four? Are they automatically socialists and grumpy old men just because they criticized about the problems of Britain at the time? Who knows, because whether or not they are socialists and/or cynical does not change the fact that this album was the bridge between punk and post-punk.
Although Entertainment! is, in my very personal opinion, their best and most well-known album they have created, there is only one thing that I did not like about it that prevented me from giving this a perfect 10 out of 10: the sound quality of "At Home He's a Tourist."
"At Home He's a Tourist" is one of their strongest and most critical songs that it is such a shame the sound quality does not do it any justice. The best version of this song would have to be the band's performance on the Peel Sessions where the bass and guitar progressions are not toned down. I can tolerate listening to the album version, but most of the time I end up going somewhere else to listen to the Peel version.
The sound that Gang of Four emphasizes in this album is what I personally consider to be their signature style. Andy Gill (guitarist) has a very distinct way of playing the guitar where he is fond of progressions that are chaotic and disorienting. His approach by playing this way does a good job of expressing the dissociative attitude that defined post-punk and this album, which leads to it being one of the most pivotal pieces of work in the genre.
Entertainment! is an album that lives up to its name as an entertaining group of songs that are far from optimistic yet exceptionally captivating to the unfamiliar listener. It's difficult enough to dance to post-punk, but Gang of Four manages to find a way to get even the shyest of people to move with this album. Hopefully, this band will one day gain the recognition they deserve for being one of the leading figures behind a movement and for being one of the greatest bands that made a huge impact on the direction of post-punk revival. For now, Entertainment! continues to be punk with a purpose and the antithesis to confidence in society.
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