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Andy Gill RIP

glad i got to see them in the original lineup at least once. then saw them a few years ago with old man gill fronting the young ones ... not at all the same somehow. I have to say though I was always a bit disappointed their career tapered away the way it did - with the first album being so good and all and the second being OK etc and everything after being ... kind of uninspired ... but each act has it's own trajectory i suppose
 
They were my favourite band when i was 16 loved the single damaged goods and the album entertainment. Saw them around 1980 at Hammersmith palace with Pere Ubu and Delta 5. One of my first proper gigs and still one of the best. Fond memories of being right up the front of the gig and them darting around the stage. So much power and energy. Truly great band and Andy Gill will be missed. Makes me feel very old and sad and reminds me of jumping around my bedroom listening to them.
 
A special band Gang of Four
Entertainment superb

Armalite rifle maybe their best is on the US version. Single only here I think
 
For some reason Gang of Four went under my radar when I first bought vinyl around 1980, so I don't have any vinyl records in my small collection. However, I remedied that by buying copies of "Entertainment" and "Songs of the Free". More to come, I'm sure.
 
I first picked up ‘entertainment’ shortly after it came out ... pretty sure I listenened to it thirty odd times in a few days
 
I go to see Wire at the Brudenell Road Social, and then Andy Gill dies the next day....

Very sad - "Entertainment" is an astonishing record.

Very interesting that this was on the main BBC news yesterday evening though.
 
RIP Andy Gill.
Must admit haven't played Entertainment! in a while, shall be putting that right very shortly.
 
Saw Gang of Four in 1981 at Oxford New Theatre and it was about a third full if I recall, but I was blown away by the energy of the band.
Saw them again in 1982 in Bristol, venue I forget, they had a girl on bass I think?
Seems a long time ago but I loved the first two albums back then.
RIP Andy.
 
Fuller said:
Saw Gang of Four in 1981 at Oxford New Theatre and it was about a third full if I recall, but I was blown away by the energy of the band.
Saw them again in 1982 in Bristol, venue I forget, they had a girl on bass I think?
Seems a long time ago but I loved the first two albums back then.
RIP Andy.
Click to expand...

Pere Ubu and Delta 5 were support at Oxford - just googled it.
I always remember that day as it was the first ever London Marathon which I saw on TV earlier that day. Funny how some things stick in your mind.
 
The first few Gang of Four albums were great on every level and Andy Gill was an excellent and idiosyncratic guitarist. The band's influence on Nirvana, REM and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, illustrates the power of their reshaping of modern music.

RIP Mr Gill.

Jack
 
Just spun 'Entertainment' for first time in a while, think most of the house heard it. Definitely an album you need to be in the mood for, not sure I was. No denying their influence.
 
Just picked "Entertainment" and "Songs of the Free" up today, and I am listening to "Entertainment" - just my kind of dissonant pleasure on another rainy day:
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EDIT:
Did not realize that I bought "Songs of the Free" as splattered colour vinyl. This album is far more polished and sounds closer to The Human League than "Entertainment!".
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The Sunday Times Relative Values feature this week was...Andy Gill and his wife. Obviously written before he died but with a postscript from his wife. Terribly sad.
 
Jonathan said:
would be a BIT on the early side wouldn't it - what - two years before?
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He died in February this year!

PS I’d be amazed if C19 wasn’t in the UK, US etc within days of it hitting Wuhan given the amount of high-tech corporate travel from that area (Wuhan is a world-leading IT manufacturing area, Foxconn etc). I experienced this volunteering a day a week at a museum on a vintage computing exhibit as there were always groups of Chinese corporate/business tourists fresh from or on their way to the airport.
 
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