Customer Reviews

Entertainment! (Expanded)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This record skids, thumps, and bristles with painfully aware excitement and agitation. Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen together comprise one of postpunk's most inspired and immediate rhythm sections - filled with exclamation points, yet by turns churning and slinky. Andy Gill's rabid, rhythmically daring (to the point of seeming improvisational) guitar lends the perfect counterpoint to such solidity. Finally, Jon King's declamatory wail reads in the smoothness of his tone like they all know something that you don't. They do. One of the most exciting works of art ever created.

This album is freakin awsome. Its one of the the greatest punk/funk albums ever. the guitar work is so alienated.It sounds like the great guitar works of the 80s.

This is going to be a bit of a rambling review, but I promise to make it worth your while.

You see, I was in my crappy Volvo tonight, driving around town, blasting Entertainment!, and pretty much feeling as cool as Kevin Bacon in the opening scenes of Footloose. I rarely give a five star review, but any album that makes me feel like Kevin Bacon deserves either a five of a zero. Kevin Bacon in Footloose? A five for sure as long as it's not a Kenny Loggins record that puts me in the mood.

Now, there are a lot of so-called "seminal punk albums" that are either overly simplistic or purely unlistenable. Many are good time capsules, but little else. However, Entertainment! is none of these things. The crisp, clean songs sound more like the Clash than anyone else, but where the Clash was influenced by reggae and early ska, Gang of Four rode improbably on the back of disco - quite a feat for a group that was one of the pathologists dissecting the "disco is dead" movement. While the connection between Gang of Four and disco is not strong, it is fully evident in the band's bouncy bass lines which give the music more energy and immediacy than a lot of its droning contemporaries. The bass work also gave birth to a legion of disciples, ranging from Fugazi and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to dance punk outfits like The Rapture.

Some other Gang of Four albums, like the recently re-released Hard/Solid Gold compilation fit squarely into the "time capsule" category, but Entertainment! is consistently clean and engaging. In addition to the great bass and tight drums, hard, haltering, funk-infused guitar chops round out the backing music while John King's vocals are passionate without ever getting sloppy or obnoxious. Perhaps this album's greatest asset is that is continually listenable.

As I was driving around singing along with "Natural's not in it" -- this heaven gives me mee-graine - a migraine headache was the furthest thing from my otherwise tortured little mind. I parked my car in a pretty sketchy neighborhood, and went to see a mediocre show by a band who ought to be paying royalties to Gang of Four. When I came out, the window to my car was smashed, and though I had tons of stuff lying around my car, the only thing that was gone was my stereo. But on the passenger seat, placed carefully and unscratched, was Entertainment! I don't know why the thief left Entertainment! (or any of my other stuff) behind, but I'd like to think it was because he respected my choice in music. I'm a little pissed about the broken window and lost stereo, but as I sit here listening to the song "5.45," I know things could be worse.

It would be a pretty bizarre idea to say that James Brown studied with the Frankfurt School, yet that's the only way I could describe Gang Of Four to friends. Some groups have great technical ability but lack musical force, some have great anger but without lyrical insight and yet others refuse to take away from the poigiancy of their words and use an undynamic backing. Go4 were suberb players with impecable timing, lyrical broadsides that were a college education in themselves and enough power and anger to start a small guerrilla war.

On 'Entertainment' the dehumanizing effects of mass consumerism have never sounded so good! On 'Ether' Jon King deals with the then explosive situation in Northern Ireland, evoking a time when paramilitary conflict was as frequent as the football scores on British television. Although primarily identified as a punk band, 'Natural's Not In It' is an exercise in pure funk with King drawing inspiration from situationist slogans.

My favourite track on the album is 'Damaged Goods'. There are few rock tracks on which you can say the guitar plays backing rhythm and the bass plays lead, but here it is! Dave Allen's bass is sometimes so spontaneous it threatens to overwhelm the track. 'Glass' could almost be a minor Samuel Beckett play portraying as it does the mundane alienation of everyday life. The Go4 were supposed to appear on the BBC chart show 'Top Of The Pops', performing 'At Home He's A Tourist', but were denied because they wouldn't change the lyric about 'the rubbers you hide'. '5.45' was warning us about the dangers of news as entertainment a decade before it became widely appreciated.

And all the way through you just can't stop stomping!

I have owned this album since the late 70's, when it came out, and it still hits the spot today. The lyrics are subversive, alienated, and intelligent. The music is spare; an almost abstract presentation of interactive punk elements, very well done. The musicians are sharp, playing with minimal repetitive head banging. Entertainment cuts to the core. Unfortunately, its themes are still painfully true today. "All this talk of blood and iron, It's the cause of all my shaking". Entertainment comes on strong; you will love it or hate it.

No need to mince words. Entertainment! is one of the greatest albums ever made. I've been listening to it for more than 20 years. Gang of Four has such a unique and edgy sound that you never tire of it. Load it in the car cd-changer and never take it out!

I bought this record when I was 16 in 1980. At the time I was listening to all the 'new' music: the Jam, the Buzzcocks, the Clash, the Dead Kennedys and many others. This album stood out. It had a left wing bent that was unrelenting (see the cover) and which rang true to an idealistic teen. Now I am almost 40 but I still think about (and listen to) this album. All great albums freeze a moment in time. This one, on the eve of Ronald Reagan's (have I mis-spelled his name?)time in the 80's (a very dark time indeed)froze that moment particularly well.

Although a 1979 release, its power to capture new audiences remains undiminished, with the rhythmic guitar workouts that made ï¿Joy Divisionï¿ such a delight, and the dynamic spoken / Shouted lyrics slightly reminiscent of one of their influences ï¿The Sex Pistolsï¿ with the typical sneering vocal that so characterised the Pistolsï¿..Part Post-Punk, Part Alternative Rock, the songs themselves are easy to follow, but donï¿t let that deceive you from the deceptively literate lyrics, such as ï¿I Found The Essence Rareï¿, which refers to politicians by saying: (ï¿The last thing they'll ever do?? / Act in your interest"), and for something so musically varied (they chuck everything from ï¿Guitar Feedback soundscapes, Shouty Punk, Sombre ï¿Joy Division-esqueï¿ Introspection, New Wave, and elements of Psychedeliaï¿ all to magnificent effect. So much so the running time of the Cd seems to sometimes actually fly by, and before your even really taken it all itï¿ï¿it over!!, but it's utterly fantastic while it lasts.

Just read the quotes on the liners from people who admire this album: everyone from Michael Stipe to Flea of the Chili Peppers. You can hear little droplets of influence in a lot of bands that followed (whether they knew it or not!). Really a classic record and one that sounds just as fresh today. Essential post-punk.

One of the few (maybe the only) times when theory meets rock and roll and actually works. The album combines lacerating political commentary with explosive guitar work. And it's often very, very funny---the album cover is a riot. The band takes the inchoate fury of the Pistols and the Clash and thinks it through---past the lyrics into the music. A political screed with jangling, in-your-face guitars AND solid melodies. What results is a listen that has brains but can still turn your bowels to jelly, and how often does that happen?
'Entertainment' was the peak for this band. They released some EP's before this record that were excellent (check out the songs 'Armalite Rifle' and 'Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time')but ran out of gas after this one. Their later song, 'I Love a Man in a Uniform' is a pale shadow of the greatness heard here.
I had the good fortune to see them in 1980 (and a couple of times later, but that was the only show that counted). As the show wound down a guy was crawling on the floor next to me. The person in front of me saw him, turned to me, and said 'this music appeals to people on a number of different levels.' A spectacular joke, and a great commentary on a band that earned its place in the pantheon on the strength of this record.