The last time Gang of Four released an album Yahoo had just had its global takeover, O.J. Simpson was still on trial and Bill Clinton was still President. Since the start of their career in 1979, they’ve released seven full-lengths and influenced bands in the better half of five different decades. One has to wonder if the recent popularizing of bands such as Franz Ferdinand or Bloc Party would have ever been possible had it not been for Gang of Four. Hell, even Kurt Cobain describes Nirvana as starting as a “Gang of Four…ripoff.” Their thumb print on music is cannot realistically be minimized as fleeting.
However, like most bands 15 years removed from the scene, Gang of Four’s reemergence is absolutely a hit or miss occurrence. While they crank out a few fairly catchy post-punk numbers at the start of Content, such as “She Said You Made a Thing of Me” and “Who Am I,” the B-side seems pretty compact with fairly forgettable tunes. I found myself extremely unimpressed with the overly repetitive“A Fruitfly in a Beehive” which reminds me of simplified version of a bad Police song. Things shift even further south on the follow up track, “It was never going to turn out too good.” With robotic vocals placed over ignorable guitar riffs signifies not only the album at its worst, but possibly also the band’s career.
It is always rather disheartening to witness the unraveling of such a historic band. However, while life long fans of this band will be happy to have a few new titles to add to their catalog, I have no doubt they will be disappointed with the bulk product that Content is. At some point, songs which damage the overall credibility of a band’s legacy outweigh the benefits of a few new songs. Sadly, it might just be that time for Gang of Four.
