Wow, I was sure that I was the angriest person in the world about this album, but I doff my hat to you, Buick6.
My initial reaction was that I wanted to vomit -- I mean I felt actual nausea -- and then to hit Andy Gill very, very, very hard. Such violent impulses are vanishingly rare for me and in any case never acted upon, but this was...special.
They've turned into some awful old whores, haven't they? Clear Channel, VH-1 Classic, Hard Rock Cafe -- apparently there's nothing they won't do now.
I agree that SR was much too nice in the Slate piece, the writing of which was (he tells me via e-mail) prompted in part by the incoherently enraged e-mail I sent asking his opinion after hearing three songs from this atrocity on Gang of Four's Myspace page a couple of months ago. (Incidentally that e-mail of mine is where the "covers / tribute band" notion in the Slate article came from. Not that I really mind. Just sayin'.)
Without knowing SR's exact intent or thoughts, I can also imagine that a writer who considers himself a diehard fan might feel that there's not much of a constructive point in being as publicly scathing about something like this as it deserves. Anyway SR's just said on his blog that outtakes from the article will be posted soon, and I'm very curious to see them.
SR quotes Jon King on Return the Gift: "It is our way of reasserting ownership of our own material" (apparently they earned zero money from their records at the time and still have unrecouped advances, such that a rerelease would earn them nothing). All right, moral high ground and all that, undoubtedly, but to what end, for what artistic purpose, would one reassert ownership of one's work in such a way, if indeed any artistic agenda exists -- that is, any reason apart from the imperative to finally make it pay off, in terms of potential fiscal gain and/or media attention? And DID THEY HAVE TO FUCK IT UP QUITE SO HORRIBLY? This thing isn't gonna sound dated in 2007 -- it sounds dated NOW. Also I can't believe that no one has mentioned how much Jon King's voice has changed since the 90s, nearly past recognition.
At the same time, as an extremely old person myself, I can't help being a LITTLE pleased by Gang of Four's return, even in such degraded form. If I were them I would want to get onstage and scream "WE WERE RIGHT GOD DAMN IT!! SO THERE!! RUBBERS RUBBERS RUBBERS!!" Maybe in a sense that's what they are doing.
I used to be an enormous fan of Gang of Four, going back to 1982 when I was 18. Nowadays I'm more like the loyal opposition, if such a thing can be said to exist -- by which I mean that I still love and respect their original achievements, while being beyond appalled at what they're doing now.
In another interview Jon King noted that two-thirds of their current audience are between 15 and 25. Gang of Four, as far as I can tell, have totally written off their original fans in favor of new ones who haven't got any sort of historical perspective on the band.
They are likely to record something new for the soundtrack to V for Vendetta, and an entirely new album is under discussion. I don't know whether to be hopeful or terrified. Probably the latter.
Even so, I went to see them last week. I found it an incredibly fuckin' cheesy and gross Rock Spectacle(tm), their "severity" now just a selling point. Serves me right for being such a sucker for a nostalgia act. Silly of me, but I left my comment on the stage at the end of their set: a white sheet of paper bearing a photocopied image of a dollar bill.
"Rock and roll swindle...rock and roll swindle...rock and roll swindle...rock and roll!" -- Sex Pistols, "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle"