https://youtu.be/wmdUsiQ2qro
Discography
Gang Of Four - Songs Of The Free (1982)
The third studio album by Gang of Four. Written by Andy and Jon King and co-produced by Andy, Jon & Mike Howlett, whose previous production credits included leading new wave artists like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark as well as The Teardrop Explodes and Tears for Fears.
The album was recorded at Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey, England in March 1982 and released in late May. Sara Lee joined Gang of Four as bass player for this album, replacing Dave Allen, who had left the band part way through an American tour in 1981. Jon Astrop also played bass on some tracks.
It has been re-issued several times with bonus tracks, most notably CD in 1996 and on coloured vinyl for Record Store Day 2015.
The album included I Love a Man in a Uniform, which climbed the charts until the BBC decided to deny it airplay during the Falklands War, presumably on the grounds that it might be considered critical of militarism.
This wasn’t the first time BBC sensibilities interfered with Gang of Four’s chart success. Asked to perform At Home He’s a Tourist on Top of the Pops, the band initially tried to accommodate concerns about the lyrics, as Andy explained in a 2015 interview: “When we were initially asked to change a [lyric], we did. We changed the word ‘rubbers’ to ‘packets’… The BBC felt that the show was a family show and any reference to contraceptives would disgust people. But they then wanted us to change the word ‘packets’ to the word ‘rubbish’ so that the censorship would be concealed. That was what we most objected to and that’s why we walked off. It is extraordinary how the BBC gets very politically involved. We also had our song I Love a Man in a Uniform banned when the Falklands War was taking place. We in the UK criticize countries that have state-run media, but we should probably look a little closer at our own. As an artist, it’s not always easy making these decisions because we do want to get our material in front of people so they can be aware of it, but we also do not want to tacitly endorse that kind of moralistic censorship.” – Antigravity Magazine, October 2015.
Album reviews:
“You can count on the Gang of Four to provide fervent left-thinking rhetoric and kinetic rhythms, and Songs of the Free has a full quotient of both. On their third album, the Gang attacks nostalgia (It Is Not Enough), macho militarism (I Love a Man in a Uniform) and the consumer mentality (Call Me Up), coining a few good slogans in the process, like ‘Save me from the people who would save me from myself’ in Muscle for Brains. Guided by new producer Mike Howlett (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), the group has extended its basic sound toward what might be construed as pop. The songs use longer, marginally more tuneful vocal lines, sometimes answered by multitracked choruses sung by new bassist Sara Lee, while vocals and instruments are separated and reverbed in a mix that makes Entertainment! and Solid Gold seem two-dimensional by comparison. There’s even a ballad, Of the Instant, in which the Gang tries to reconcile sex and politics… For the Gang of Four, the fancy sound on Songs of the Free is simply gilding the dynamo.” – Jon Pareles, Rolling Stone, July 8th, 1982.
“What I love about their records is the very thing that keeps me from playing them much – the guitars are so harsh, the rhythms so skewed, the voices so hectoring, the lyrics so programmatic that they function as a critique of casual hedonism. Their pleasure is like Barthes or forward bends – good for you, in a limited way. A-” – Robert Christgau, The Village Voice, 1982.
“Originally released in 1982, Gang of Four’s third album found them pursuing a poppier direction, albeit with their skewed rhythms and intelligent lyrics intact. It’s a step down from Entertainment! and Solid Gold, but I Love a Man in Uniform gives an idea of what the Human League might have sounded like had they been strident pacifists.” – Phil Mongredien, The Guardian, Aug 10th, 2008 (re-issue review).
Discography
Gang Of Four - Songs Of The Free (1982)
https://youtu.be/wmdUsiQ2qro
The third studio album by Gang of Four. Written by Andy and Jon King and co-produced by Andy, Jon & Mike Howlett, whose previous production credits included leading new wave artists like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark as well as The Teardrop Explodes and Tears for Fears.
The album was recorded at Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey, England in March 1982 and released in late May. Sara Lee joined Gang of Four as bass player for this album, replacing Dave Allen, who had left the band part way through an American tour in 1981. Jon Astrop also played bass on some tracks.
It has been re-issued several times with bonus tracks, most notably CD in 1996 and on coloured vinyl for Record Store Day 2015.
The album included I Love a Man in a Uniform, which climbed the charts until the BBC decided to deny it airplay during the Falklands War, presumably on the grounds that it might be considered critical of militarism.
This wasn’t the first time BBC sensibilities interfered with Gang of Four’s chart success. Asked to perform At Home He’s a Tourist on Top of the Pops, the band initially tried to accommodate concerns about the lyrics, as Andy explained in a 2015 interview: “When we were initially asked to change a [lyric], we did. We changed the word ‘rubbers’ to ‘packets’… The BBC felt that the show was a family show and any reference to contraceptives would disgust people. But they then wanted us to change the word ‘packets’ to the word ‘rubbish’ so that the censorship would be concealed. That was what we most objected to and that’s why we walked off. It is extraordinary how the BBC gets very politically involved. We also had our song I Love a Man in a Uniform banned when the Falklands War was taking place. We in the UK criticize countries that have state-run media, but we should probably look a little closer at our own. As an artist, it’s not always easy making these decisions because we do want to get our material in front of people so they can be aware of it, but we also do not want to tacitly endorse that kind of moralistic censorship.” – Antigravity Magazine, October 2015.
Album reviews:
“You can count on the Gang of Four to provide fervent left-thinking rhetoric and kinetic rhythms, and Songs of the Free has a full quotient of both. On their third album, the Gang attacks nostalgia (It Is Not Enough), macho militarism (I Love a Man in a Uniform) and the consumer mentality (Call Me Up), coining a few good slogans in the process, like ‘Save me from the people who would save me from myself’ in Muscle for Brains. Guided by new producer Mike Howlett (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), the group has extended its basic sound toward what might be construed as pop. The songs use longer, marginally more tuneful vocal lines, sometimes answered by multitracked choruses sung by new bassist Sara Lee, while vocals and instruments are separated and reverbed in a mix that makes Entertainment! and Solid Gold seem two-dimensional by comparison. There’s even a ballad, Of the Instant, in which the Gang tries to reconcile sex and politics… For the Gang of Four, the fancy sound on Songs of the Free is simply gilding the dynamo.” – Jon Pareles, Rolling Stone, July 8th, 1982.
“What I love about their records is the very thing that keeps me from playing them much – the guitars are so harsh, the rhythms so skewed, the voices so hectoring, the lyrics so programmatic that they function as a critique of casual hedonism. Their pleasure is like Barthes or forward bends – good for you, in a limited way. A-” – Robert Christgau, The Village Voice, 1982.
“Originally released in 1982, Gang of Four’s third album found them pursuing a poppier direction, albeit with their skewed rhythms and intelligent lyrics intact. It’s a step down from Entertainment! and Solid Gold, but I Love a Man in Uniform gives an idea of what the Human League might have sounded like had they been strident pacifists.” – Phil Mongredien, The Guardian, Aug 10th, 2008 (re-issue review).