"In The Beginning, There Was Rhythm"

The first sentence of the 40-page booklet that accompanies this discreads "This record features the groups that grew out of punk in the UKand embraced Dance music." Yeah, right, that's exactly how I'd [not]describe Throbbing Gristle and This Heat. Souljazz Records,self-proclaimed re-releaser of hard-to-find dance music, has expandedtheir dub-and-reggae filled catalog by compiling 11 songs from 9 late70s UK bands, including the two bands mentioned above, Gang of Four,early Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, A Certain Ratio, theSlits, and the Pop Group.
The music is great, there's no doubt aboutit, but at the price this disc is going for ($18 in New York) it'sreally not worth buying, especially since the tracks are mostlyavailable on other discs (I think This Heat's first album, whichcontains "24 Track Loop," is still out of print, but you can find itused for $10 if you try). Maybe this is an OK comp for someone who'snever heard of any these bands, but I wouldn't recommend "20 Jazz FunkGreats" as quintessential Throbbing Gristle or "To Hell With Poverty"as a good start to your Gang of Four collection. The most infuriatingelements of this release, though, are the ridiculous liner notes, inwhich everything is talked about in terms of its relation to "Punk,"which is always capitalized for some reason, and its treatment of JohnLydon as some sort of musical god. Example: "Whilst appearing tocelebrate chaos, or rather because of it, [the Sex Pistols] inspiregroups to form wherever they play." That doesn't even make grammaticalsense, and it's an absurd statement to make. Incidentally, the word"whilst" is used about 20 times throughout the booklet, and the writer(Stuart Baker) changes tense from past to present every few sentences.From the section about Throbbing Gristle: "Although Throbbing Gristlecome into existence at the same time as many Punk bands such as The SexPistols and The Clash, and indeed share some of their values, the musicis a million miles away from them. Often described as anti-music,Throbbing Gristle experimented with sound like no one else beforethem." It's quite frustrating. You can get better ideas about the bandsfrom allmusic.com, and if you gave me an hour and the internet I couldmake a better, more thorough intro to the "second wave of Punk." Theonly good thing that might come out of this release is if people whobuy it actually follow through and buy these bands' actual records. Butif you are curious about any of these bands, forget this disc, pick oneor two of the bands you're really interested in and go buy theiralbums. It will be time and money better spent.

samples:

• A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
• This Heat - 24 Track Loop
• Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats

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