Sinister: Camber Sands.......now that got your attention!

[Colin Mowat]

Tuesday 29 February 2000
01:56


Dear People,

First of all - HAPPY LEAP YEAR'S DAY - now I can't say that here for another
four years

second, and just as important, I was in Oxfam (a charity shop) in Ealing,
West London today and for £1.99 I got a copy of (on cassette) Songs of the
Free by Gang of Four, now this is wierd because I, just two days ago,
ordered their first album called Entertainment from amazon. I used to own
both of these albums in the early '80's on vinyl (and I've no idea if there
were any center etchings - so no one ask me).......so what?  I hear in
chorus...well nostalgia is part of it, but it's also a great album, although
now deleted.

Entertainment was a better album, as far as I remember and I now can't wait
to hear it again. Anthrax was a brilliant track.

So what's so good about them.........?


"one the most powerful rhythm sections of the era, completed a line-up that
was soon in the post-punk vanguard"

"King's Marxist-intellectual lyrics drew much attention, but it was the
band's overall sound which startled - punky in its minimalism and attack,
but made distinctive by Gill's choppy, stroppy guitar style, involving
lashings of feedback - sometimes brilliant, sometimes awful - which were
fully incorporated into the songs, rather than as a mere climax to the
performance. (This technique anticipated the sonic assault of The Jesus &
Mary Chain in the mid-80s.) Of equal importance to the Gang's sound was the
inventive drumming of Burnham, and Allen's rich, driving bass, which
provided a watertight 'martial funk' basis for freewheeling voice and
guitar. The overall effect was of Dr. Feelgood and Sly And The Family Stone
rehearsing in the same room."

"Gang Of Four's rock-funk template was being widely adopted by everyone from
Talking Heads to The Pop Group"

"Entertainment shredded everything that came before it.
The Gang Of Four know how to swing. I stole a lot from them" Michael Stipe
REM


all quotes from The Rough Guide to Rock


If you get a chance take a listen (try your library), don't miss
out............and listen for influences on B&S.........Well I can't find
any but I had to metion B&S, didn't I Honey.


Anyone out there remember Gang of Four?.........go on admit it!

yeah, yeah so I also remember seeing Bill Grundy egging on the Sex Pistols
to swear on early evening telly in 1976.....(now that's a piece of
history)..........


Sinisteree 1 - "What's he going on about?

Sinisteree 2 - Don't ask me I wasn't even born in '76.

....as I said nostalgia..........try and avoid it - you can't - for me it's
Poggles Wood and UFO and my dad driving us to Camber Sands.......now you've
all heard of Camber Sands  (yeah, well it was there in 1970 as
well)....................

as I said nostalgia..............so what's your nostalgia?.........come on,
don't be shy!


sweet dreams

and sweeter dadreams   (that was supposed to be daydreams - must have been
thinking of Camber Sands).......by the way I take my kids there
now........well I used to anyway........hope to do it again this
year.........

the more that things change, the more they stay the same (can't remember the
French translation)

Colin



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