Here is the second EP that I have managed to hang on to over the years (see also Spiral Scratch EP blog post). Damaged Goods is a song, and EP name, by English post-punk band Gang of Four. I love the mix of post-punk, funk and politics. Acting as their debut single, it was released on 13 October 1978 through independent record label Fast Product. Co-produced by Fast Product owner Bob Last under the alias "Fast Product", the single received critical acclaim, prompting the band to sign to major label EMI.
Saw them live in London in early 80s and they were brilliant. Gill on guitar and King on vocals both careered across the stage, sometimes colliding with intent. For me Gill was an innovative and exciting guitarist. Got to hear lots of stories about some of them from the Scritti Politti entourage on Carol Street in my 80s squatting days; there was a Severn Oaks cross-over.
"Gang Of Four had a truly unique sound which featured Andy Gill's shattered glass guitar phrases and Dave Allen's thick as syrup thud bass lines. "Damaged Goods" the title track has a razor sharp punk/punk edge that is truly brought to life by the pulverizing rhythm section. Lead singer Jon King also shines with his out of control speed freak vocals (which may have influenced Mark Stewart of The Pop Group.)" Headheritage.
"The back cover [above] features a tear-out from a newspaper of a female matador spearing a bull and an extract from the band's letter to Bob Last on how they wanted the single sleeve to be. The letter demanded Last to also include a word-for-word transcription of a conversation the band had with a stripper and a comedian as a caption to the newspaper tear-out. Last ignored the band's demands and designed the different sleeve, which included both the tear-out and an excerpt from the letter". Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaged_Goods_(song)
Simon Reynolds, the author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984, stated that the band "found a totally new way of negotiating that thorny danger zone known as 'politics-in-rock.'" Reynolds also further commented: "Abrasive but accessible, Gang of Four avoided both Tom Robinson-style preachy protest and forbidding didacticism of avant-gardists like Henry Cow. Radical form, radical content; yet you could dance to it." Music journalist Paul Lester considered it as "arguably the first post-punk record."
i loved them too, saw them a few times.
this was realeased on my 18th birthday, I didnt know that til your post!
Significant number 18 … yeah fab band … Shame Andy Gill passed a year or so ago … music lives on …