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Yes Sir, I Will

 
Album Review: Yes Sir, I Will

  • Artist: Crass
  • Rating: StarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: 1983
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Wound up to an even more vicious fury of rage and sorrow due to the Falklands War, Crass completely exploded on the awesome Yes Sir I Will, its bitter title taken from an encounter between a gruesomely wounded veteran of that conflict and Prince Charles. The most concise sonic assaults against the war and the role of Margaret Thatcher's government -- "Sheep Farming in the Falklands" and "Gotcha!" -- aren't included among the seven untitled tracks here, instead appearing as separate singles. What is here, though -- essentially one long piece divided up into six shorter pieces and a lengthy second side/second half -- is, as a collective artistic expression, one of the strongest indictments of a society and its government ever. As always, Crass mixes things up in the recording studio, from beautiful string/piano pieces (the "what did you know?/what did you care?" passage, with flat-out lovely vocals from Ignorant) to amped-up roars of rant and rage. Ignorant, Libertine, and De Vivre trade off lead throughout, creating an ever-evolving piece that more than most sounds like the expression of a full society needing to simply say the truth at long last. Musically, the fierce power of the band doesn't let up (Rimbaud's drumming sounds better than ever, punchy and full, as does Wright's bass, while Free and rhythm guitarist N.A. Palmer keep up the electric aggression). The war isn't the only subject under discussion: everything from the Thatcher government's complicity in allowing U.S. cruise missiles to be based in Britain to the exploitation/packaging of musical traditions in the guise of "world music" gets a look in. Even Crass rip-off pseudo-anarchy groups go under the knife. But as the group says early on in the recording, "Everything we write is a love song," and extreme as it all seems, there's no doubt Crass wanted to help humanity up from where it was at. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
[Untitled Track] Crass (5:30)
[Untitled Track] Crass (2:36)
[Untitled Track] Crass (1:00)
[Untitled Track] Crass (2:08)
[Untitled Track] Crass (6:47)
[Untitled Track] Crass (5:41)
[Untitled Track] Crass (20:08)

Credits

Eve Libertine (Vocals), Paul Ellis (Strings), Judy (Typing), N.A. Palmer (Vocals), Penny Rimbaud (Vocals), Penny Rimbaud (Drums), Pete Wright (Bass), Gee (Voices), Crass (Producer), Gee (Artwork), Phil Free (Guitar), Steve Ignorant (Vocals), John Loder (Engineer), N.A. Palmer (Voices), Joy DeVivre (Vocals), Paul Ellis (Piano), Gee (Artwork), N.A. Palmer (Guitar (Rhythm)), Gee (Voices)
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Wikipedia: Yes Sir, I Will
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Yes Sir, I Will
Studio album by Crass
Released 1983
Recorded 1983
Genre Anarcho Punk
Noise rock
Length 43:53
Label Crass
Producer Crass
Professional reviews
Crass chronology
Christ The Album
(1982)
Yes Sir, I Will
(1983)
Best Before 1984
(1986)

Yes Sir, I Will, released by Crass in 1983 (see 1983 in music), was the band's penultimate 'official' album. The record consists of one continuous piece of music spread over the two sides of the original vinyl release (the CD release split the album into 7 tracks), making it the longest punk song ever recorded [1], although this is intercut with two brief interludes; a section of self-parody ("And What if I Told You to Fuck Off?") and a ballad-style piano section sung by drummer Penny Rimbaud. The album was essentially a bitter and virulent attack on then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her government in the aftermath of the Falklands War, set nearly wholly over a raging and an almost free-form improvised backing provided by the groups' instrumentalists. Many of the 'lyrics' of this piece, which can be read at [1], are extracted from Rimbaud's extended poem Rocky Eyed. Sleeve notes for the album include parts of Rimbaud's article The Pig's Head Controversy [2] that originally appeared in the Crass produced magazine International Anthem.

The title of the record is ironic, taken from a news cutting reporting a conversation said to have taken place between Charles, Prince of Wales and a badly burned soldier (Simon Weston) who had returned from the Falklands;

"Get well soon," the Prince said. And the heroic soldier replied "Yes sir, I will".

Penny 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." [3]

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 has been recently remixed by Penny Rimbaud to incorporate additional jazz instrumentation provided by Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone) and Julien Seigal (double bass) to augment the original performance.

Contents

Personnel

Quotes

  • "The listener experiences and shares the performer's exhaustion as voices crack, the beat wanders, energy flags and returns" - George McKay describing the album in Senseless Acts of Beauty (Verso, 1996)

Tracks

CD release

  1. "Yes Sir, I Will" – 5:30
  2. "Yes Sir, I Will" – 2:36
  3. "Yes Sir, I Will" – 1:00
  4. "Yes Sir, I Will" – 2:08
  5. "Yes Sir, I Will" – 6:47
  6. "Yes Sir, I Will" – 5:41
  7. "Yes Sir, I Will" – 20:08

References


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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Yes Sir, I Will" Read more