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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
A twisted form of entertainment, 25 Oct 2004
Gang Of Four's Entertainment!,their debut album,has,like other albums of 1979- Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, PiL's Metal Box,and Talking Heads' Fear Of Music,to name a few-not dated at all,and has been a valuable influence on any number of genuinely great bands-R.E.M,Jane's Addiction,Fugazi/Minor Threat (And arguably many other Dischord bands),The Rapture,etc.
Entertainment! is one of the few LPs to be released that has no bad songs.A few random highlights? Opener Ether's talk of "dirt behind the daydream";At Home He's A Tourist's "two steps forward...Six steps back,six steps back...",the guitar playing,particularly on Return The Gift and Guns And Butter,the glorious anti-rockism displayed throughout,and perhaps most of all,the spectacularly bitter closer Anthrax.
This version of Entertainment! also features three bonus tracks,which surprisingly don't detract from the overall listening experience-in fact Outside The Trains Don't Run On Time is as good as the best of the original album.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
simply the best, 10 Feb 2004
Whenever anyone asks me what is my favourite record, I have no hesitation in saying Entertainment! by The Gang Of Four, it really is that good.
I am not someone who is living in the past and clinging to it, I still buy all the latest stuff and would love to find something that grabs me by the throat the way this album does. The closest anything has come is Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik by the Red Hot Chillis, which brings us back to this particular CD, because this is a re-issue which I bought to replace my over-played vinyl original, and inside the sleeve is a note from Flea saying how this album is "what shaped the sound of the rookie Red Hot Chilli Peppers." Michael Stipe also says in the sleeve notes "I Stole a lot from them."The later Gang of Four albums had their moments, but this one is all highlights from beginning to end. Everything just came together: the bass and drums give a solid and beat-perfect core to the sound and the guitars and vocals can only be described as scary. I saw the Gang play live years after their prime, with a replacement drummer and bassist but Andy Gill and Jon King were still as intense as ever. For me the magic is all about that juxtaposition of absolute, pounding, rhythm and stabbing, almost random at times, guitar and then those intense vocals over the top. And those angry, anti-establishment lyrics which struck such a chord in Thatcher's Britain are still relevent in today's world of anti-globalisation demonstrations. The three bonus tracks on this re-issue are nearly as good as the main album and the only complaint I could have is that the track Armalite rifle was not included as well. Even after all these years, Entertainment! still gives me two great pleasures. One is in listening to it (obviously) and the other is in introducing it to someone who has not heard it before and seeing their reaction.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Evisceratingly innovative, 14 April 2006
Looking back a quarter of a century, it's obvious now that with the preceding "Damaged Goods" EP (on the independent Fast label) and this album The Gang of Four were the most incisive and complete of Britain's post-punk, highly politicised groups. Perhaps only The Au Pairs came close to matching them.
The Gang of Four at this time were a heady, dancing and shattering mix; trenchant political lyrics, funk or reggae basslines coupled with propulsive drum patterns and dissonant, shearing, tearing guitar. The themes of alienation, dehumanising consumerism and political manipulation running through the words merged perfectly with their insistent sonic assault, producing a fitting soundtrack to the times and one of the most accomplished debut albums ever. I was fortunate enough to catch them just before it was released and "Entertainment!" also captures the potency of their live performance.
Unfortunately, the situationist subversion they intended by signing to EMI instead seemed to neuter The Gang of Four; not much they did after this was as good. However, this album is, along with Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures" and The Au Pairs' "Playing With A Different Sex", an indispensable document of music in late 70s/early 80s Britain. It is "Entertainment!".
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