LISTEN TO IT #26: CHANGE THE LOCKS, CHANGE YR LIVES

I mentioned in my Best of 2010 round-up – and in the previous installment of the series – that for all my talk about “new” music, I’ve reached a point where the best music I hear these days seems to come either from bands who have been around for 30 years or more, or who borrow heavily from those bands.

Which brings us to Wire and Gang Of Four.

Both were seminal post-punk bands at the end of the 1970s, both have reformed in recent years, and both have new albums out, both or which are streaming in their entirety on the Interwebs. (Wire’s Red Barked Tree is here, and Gang Of Four’s Content is here.)

I should mention at this stage that whilst I first heard Wire before I heard Gang Of Four, I’ve always been generally more impressed with the latter band. Wire is all right, but Go4 just pushes the right buttons for me – maybe it’s because they’re funkier, or because they lace their politics with a sense of humor (see song titles: “At Home He’s A Tourist”, “I Love A Man In Uniform”, etc).

So it’s only to be expected that the new Go4 album is making a bigger impression on me. Which it is – and which, I should add, is an accomplishment in itself, given that, as a rule, new albums by bands with influential back catalogs who haven’t recorded anything new for at least ten years (or 16, in this case) tend to fail to live up to that legacy.

Which isn’t to say Content is as great as Go4’s first few albums. On the other hand, it’s no disgrace, either. So I’m digging it, me.

Anyway, as Wire doesn't seem to have released a video for their new album on the YouTubes yet, here’s one from Go4.

I found that essence rare,

This is dF

BEWARE THE HYPNOTIC VOODOO RHYTHM

The following is a Public Service Announcement from Unusual Adult Party Items:



It’s true.

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins knew this better than anyone.

Bless him.

I ain’t lyin’,

This is dF

I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE

From Fredericks Of Hollywood circa 1962 [via vintage_ads ):



We’ve come a long way since then, of course.

Still, I always have the same reaction: you know, someone’s going to be disappointed sooner or later.

What you see is what you get,

This is dF