Solid Gold

• Artist: Gang of Four
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1981 05
• Genre: Rock

Review

Gang of Four's existence had as much to do with Slave and Chic as it did the Sex Pistols and the Stooges, which is something Solid Gold demonstrates more than Entertainment! Any smartypants can point out the irony of a band on Warner Bros. railing against systematic tools of control disguised as entertainment media, but Gang of Four were more observational than condescending. True, Jon King and Andy Gill might have been hooting and hollering in a semiviolent and discordant fashion, but they were saying "think about it" more than "you lot are a bunch of mindless puppets." Abrasiveness was a means to grab the listener, and it worked. Reciting Solid Gold's lyrics on a local neighborhood corner might get a couple interested souls to pay attention. It isn't poetry, and it's no fun; most within earshot would just continue power-walking or tune out while buffing the SUV. Solid Gold has that unholy racket going on beneath the lyrics, an unlikely mutation of catchiness and atonality that made ears perk and (oddly) posteriors shake. With its slightly ironic title, Solid Gold is more rhythmically grounded than the fractured nature of Entertainment!, a politically charged, more Teutonic take on funk. It's a form of release for paranoid accountants. Financial concerns form the basis of the subject matter; the hilarious but realistic "Cheeseburger" is a highlight with its thinly veiled snipe at America: "No classes in the U.S.A./Improve yourself, the choice is yours/Work at your job and make good pay/Make friends, great/Buy them a beer!" This is a nickel less spectacular than the debut, but owning one and not the other would be criminal. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Paralysed	Andrew Gill, Jon King	Gang of Four
What We All Want	Dave Allen, Hugo Burnham, Andrew Gill, Andy King	Gang of Four
If I Could Keep It for Myself	Gang of Four	Gang of Four
Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time	Gang of Four	Gang of Four
Why Theory?	Dave Allen, Hugo Burnham, Andrew Gill, Andy King	Gang of Four
Cheeseburger	Dave Allen, Hugo Burnham, Andrew Gill, Andy King	Gang of Four
Republic	Andrew Gill	Gang of Four
In the Ditch	Gang of Four	Gang of Four
A Hole in the Wallet	Andrew Gill, Jon King	Gang of Four
He'd Send in the Army	Gang of Four	Gang of Four

Credits

Gang of Four (Main Performer)

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