Trap / Thief Of Fire / Genius Or Lunatic / Colour Blind / Spanish Inquisition
Kiss The Book / Amnesty Report / Springer / Sense Of Purpose / We Are Time
Hope you do not mind I have ripped the following text off the FURIOUS.COM site because I have so much to do and very little time to sit here and write similar stuff!
Exactly when did The Pop Group split up? I’ve read 1980, 1981 and 1982. I’m pretty sure it was 1981. 1982 seems a bit late, post Pop Group happenings were going on by then, and since I’ve read of gigs by the band throughout the year 1981, I’ll assume they certainly hadn’t split by 1980.
All that said, their last effort, their We Are Time LP, from 1980, is considered a posthumous effort and is indeed a grab-bag effort of assorted demo songs and live tracks. Whilst such a description may lend the assumption of unwanted-dogthrowaway material that isn’t worth the time of day, such is not the case here.
We Are Time features various live versions of songs from Y, such as “Thief of Fire” and “We Are Time” – both of which sound excellent and powerful, especially the latter, which emphasises their most obvious Beefheart/free jazz leanings with sax going mad – several never-released live tracks (“Genius or Lunatic,” “Spanish Inquisition”), and numerous previously unreleased studio efforts (“Kiss the Book”, “Sense of Purpose”, “Trap”, a different version of “Amnesty Report”, all of which are exceptional and worthy in their own right of being released as “official product”). Curiously, many of these tracks were recorded in 1978, though they sound vastly different to the sort of material that wound up on their debut LP. Musically, everything moves along in the same direction set by the For How Much Longer… LP, a tight, angular unit steeped in punk, dub, free jazz, funk and Beefheart. Musically, such references have almost become a cliche in this day and age, as every band and their mother go on about their deep love for Miles Davis and Stockhausen and Lee Perry and whoever else, but context is the point here.
The Pop Group were not following a well-trodden blueprint, they were helping to create it. Sure, there were contemporaries like The Fall and Pere Ubu who were mining similar territory, or obvious roots in their sound like the Last Poets, Ornette Coleman and Red Crayola, but it was their unique synthesis of these influences, coupled with their sense of naivety, commitment and passion that makes The Pop Group still stand out today. There were other exceptional bands of the day that combined radical politics with inventive music, whether it was done in a surreal manner like the Swell Maps or in an overt manner like the Minutemen, and brilliant as both of those bands may’ve been, there’s a certain undecipherable angle to The Pop Group’s work. Their lyrics, their sounds, are presented in riddles not merely for the sake of being “artistic.” Rather, they beg you to decode them. Their music is scorching, unrepeatable, timeless and essential.
kaplan
May 28, 2008 at 8:21 ama fantastic album.the best one with “Y” of course….can’t forget “colourblind” once you heard it…
Nic
May 28, 2008 at 8:57 amFantastic group, great record…
Raucous funk, Free Jazz skronk, Dub aesthetics, hectoring politics – what more could you want?
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All the best stuff comes from the provinces…
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My favourite on this album is ‘Thief of Fire’ (which was the subject of two excellent cover versions by the Good Missionaries and Loop)…
The Pop Group – along with The Fall – were (apparently) the reason the Birthday Party moved to England…
Someone on ebay is selling the old ‘Thatcher flicking the V’s’ T-Shirt with the slogan ‘We Are All Prostitutes’: the dayglo-screen printed is so evocative of the period…
1981 for the split, Penguin…
kaplan
May 28, 2008 at 9:53 amthe best place ever built on the P.Group :
http://www.wedigdixon.com/public_html/pop_group/index.php
Graham Burnett
May 28, 2008 at 9:57 amThought it was great that We Are All Prostitutes, the teeshirt and poster and even the Rough Trade single with authentic black and white typed sleeve, turned up in the recent ‘Ashes To Ashes’ TV series – I think they even played a bit of the record, much to Gene Hunt’s disgust… Shame Crass never got referenced in the series though…
Graham Burnett
May 28, 2008 at 10:07 amRemember that the Pop Group pinched the Crass broken gun logo for thier own ‘Fight Conscription’ graphic?? Does anybody remember that even in the deepest, darkest days of the Thatcher/Reagun cold war, imminent nuclear winter era, that the threat of reintroduced conscription was ever seriously on the political agenda beyond the ramblings of a few Tory colonels and Dail Mail editorials?? Even during the Falklands War (by which time the Pop Group were long dead and gone) conscription was never mentioned in any terms beyond maybe being a good idea?? Or is my memeory wrong yet again??
kaplan
May 28, 2008 at 10:09 amha mate ! you have brought back every good memories of my life…
the C.N.D campaign..Reagan & his “empire of evil”…better red than dead…
all sounds sweet now…
Farmer Glitch
May 29, 2008 at 5:29 pmBloody excellent LP – along with all other recorded output they produced – living in the South West I managed to stumble upon them live on numerous occasions – the most memorable being a sun-drenched 1979 Glastonbury festival – they played mid-afternoon to much bemusement from the masses all waiting to see Steve Hillage later that evening …
New Mark Stewart LP out as we speak and very fine stuff it sounds too …
alistairliv
May 29, 2008 at 6:34 pmExpletive, expletive. Went to dig out Y to hear Thief of fire, Snow Girl etc and can’t find my copy. So listening to Mass Murder instead. The music is timeless.
Phil
May 29, 2008 at 8:50 pmAlistair> this album(Y) has been re-released on C.D. Ive seen it in a shop in the west end for a fiver..Bargain ! I’ll get it for you and stick it in the post if you want.
alistairliv
May 30, 2008 at 12:17 amThanks Phil, but it is probably just hiding in the wrong sleeve. My vinyl collection is very jumbled up…
bebopdave
September 15, 2009 at 9:13 pmCan’t believe I’ve just stumbled across this to download (not used to that kind of synchnopation…but my interest ran deeper – shit I’ll be reciting the half deciphered lyrics for another……….29 years ??)
I’m very very grateful for this – my vinyl copy long gone as are my Pop Group Live gig tapes..might just have a copy of Where There’s A Will somewhere – might even be worth buying a deck to play it on
If anyone knows where I can get a download of the Mass Murder CD I’d be forever in their debt.
Thanks again
lewin0001@msn.com
Dave
Nic
September 15, 2009 at 10:32 pmbebopdave:
Try typing in the following to Google –
“Pop Group How Much Longer blog”
It will bring up a bunch of DL links for the album…
There are a fair few Pop Group live tapes floating around for DL on the nookienet as well…
(It’s a great record: ‘There Can Be No Spectators’ – oh yes!)
Nick Hydra
April 15, 2010 at 9:43 amSee Nick Cave talking about “We Are All Prostitutes” here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uucx82PfAuY&feature=channel
I don’t think The Pop Group were the reason The Birthday Party came to the UK, but I think it’s fair to say they were a significant influence.
david shen
September 9, 2012 at 3:29 pmThere is a feature-length film about Subway Sect playing in October at the raindance film festival.
As you probably know Pop Group were influenced by Subway Sect, as were loads of great bands..
d x