Gang of Four

Entertainment!, the album that made the word "angular" immortal, has gone in and out of print a number of times since 1979, but it has never had any trouble finding new ears. Copies of the original issue on vinyl, the Infinite Zero/American reissue on CD, and thousands of worn-out dubs on cassette have been passed around throughout the years. It's one of those gateway albums that cracks open a new perspective for people who hear it for the first time, often dropping new converts down the post-punk rabbit hole -- on to Joy Division, Wire, PiL, Magazine, the Slits, the Pop Group, Swell Maps, and maybe all the way down to bIG fLAME. Whether first heard in 1979, 1985 (after Big Black, the Minutemen, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers), 1995 (after Fugazi, Jawbox, and Rage Against the Machine), or 2004 (after the Rapture, the Futureheads, and Franz Ferdinand), Entertainment! has always startled. When Michael Azerrad pulls a Natalie Portman, mentioning in his liner notes of this reissue that the album is life-changing, he might not be exaggerating. This, Rhino's 2005 spin on the album, is a minor improvement on Infinite Zero/American's 1995 edition. Like its predecessor, it includes the four-song Yellow EP (featuring the essential "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time"). Raw alternate versions of "Guns Before Butter" and "Contract" are added, as well as a pair of live cuts: "Blood Free," an insignificant song that never made it past the stage, and a roll through the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane." If you have the 1995 reissue, you can hold off without missing much. Better yet, pick this up and give your old copy to someone you love, as long as he or she promises to not start a band that sounds anything remotely like Gang of Four. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide