Customer Reviews

100 Flowers Bloom: Anthology

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's generally understood that box sets are intended for two types of consumer: neophytes and/or completists/zealots. Neophytes want a representative overview of an artist's work, while completists want all the rarities and unreleased material contained in most box sets (what's the point in buying music you already have). A 100 Flowers Bloom will appeal to some GOF disciples because it does contain a some previously unavailable material (previously unreleased songs, re-mixes, live recordings, etc.). But for neophytes, this is a disorganized and largely redundant collection of music.

First, it's at best questionable that GOF deserve a box set. It's generally agreed by all but the most zealous fans that GOF made two essential albums: Their debut, Entertainment! (1979) and it's slightly weaker (though still excellent) follow-up, Solid Gold (1981). GOF's subsequent albums range from marginal to lousy. Since much of Entertainment! and Solid Gold is available on the excellent single-disc compilation, A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (1990), is an 140-minute, two disc box set really necessary?

The first problem with 100 Flowers is it's sequencing. Unless, I'm missing a really subtle theme or plan, the tracks aren't sequenced in any meaningful order, but seemingly at random. If they were arranged chronologically, we could at least see more clearly how GOF developed over time. Instead, the sequencing seems disorganized, without regard to time, theme, or anything else. Secondly, 100 Flowers draws more or less equally from all GOF's albums; we get an over-generous amount of great, mediocre, and egregious material. Ultimately, 100 Flowers is too unnecessarily long and haphazardly arranged for the neophyte.

What about the completist? While I'm sure some will defend this release because it does contain previously unavailable tracks, that material is probably of limited interest, even to the most devoted zealot. GOF was supposedly formidable in concert, but you wouldn't know it from the live tracks assembled here; most are languid compared to their studio counterparts (the poor sound quality doesn't help either). And the remixes? While one or two definetly improve on the original version (notably, "I parade myself"), most aren't terribly interesting. The previously unreleased songs? A couple are worthy of GOF's early work (though none are as good as anything on Entertainment!), but they only compose a minimal amount of the material in this bloated collection.

Apart from the tracks taken from Entertainment! and Solid Gold, the only other worthwhile aspect of 100 Flowers is the accompanying booklet by fan Jon Savage, who describes GOF's history with great detail and insight. I'm sure most completists already have this, so I'll direct my closing comments to neophytes:....A Brief History of the Twentieth Century is a more economical and efficient introduction. Even an import copy of Entertainment! (which costs nearly as much) is still a better value than this unnecessary box set.

The basic problem for any discerning Gang of Four fan is resolving the difference between the astonishing music they recorded from 1978 to 1982 with the virtually unrelenting dreck they put out from 1983 to 1995. The inclusion of most of the later product dooms a project like "100 Flowers Bloom". For a much better idea of what Gang of Four meant to a post-punk fan in the early eighties, or what their legacy is, the compilation to have is 1990's "A Brief History of the Twentieth Century". While everyone lamented the misguided attempt at R&B on 1983's "Hard", the unspoken reality is that the last two albums ("Mall" and "Shrinkwrapped") are soaked in ugly American-style rock that owes as much to Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine as the original sound owed to James Brown. What is especially puzzling is the compilers' failure to include the only redeeming songs from "Hard" and "Mall", namely "A Man With A Good Car", and "Cadillac". And why include an inferior remix of the best "Shrinkwrapped" track, "I Parade Myself"? And while I'm at it, this would have been a great place to give a real release to the enigmatic flexi-disc track "Lord Make Me a Cowboy" from 1982. The book and packaging are nice, but this box is too out of focus to be a deserving Go4 memorial.

First of all let me just state for the record that Gang of Four is one the greatest bands of any era, in any genre. As Michael Stipe put it, "Entertainment (Go4's first album) shredded everything that came before it."

The absolutely must have Gang of Four CD is the Entertainment release on American that includes the yellow EP. They got *most* of the good stuff on this, but I can't live without "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" and the missing tracks from Entertainment.

BTW, it sure is cool they got Hugo Burnham's comments up here. I'm a drummer and Hugo changed my life. Nice job Amazon.

Brilliant. Provocative. And damned funky. This is darkly energetic, edgy music to clean the commodity culture plaque out of your veins. Sure, the early stuff like "Damaged Goods" and "At Home He's a Tourist" can't be topped, but a more recent track like "FMUSA" still packs a punch to wherever you keep your ideology. It's also very well put together by Rhino, which is rapidly becoming my favourite label. Enjoy.

Really loved it! The unreleased music proved enlightening. Theykicked on "If I could keep it for myself." This song sums up the Gang of Four's superfunk talent. "Anthrax" is especially hot! The band meshed vocals and instrumental ordinance with precision and textured with controlled feedback from Gill's guitar. "He'd Send in the Army" proved the band's musical unity. The song is painstakingly fragmented, rythmically disjointed, yet totally cohesive.

I can always fully support these 'best of ' collections,specially sometimes EVEN if they are of a band that I'm not all that familiar with.Because it serves as a great introduction to the artist.2-CD box set with forty songs to cover Gang Of Four's heyday from 1980-84.After which they had disbanded.To best describe GOF is incredible hard pop with an edge to it.With forty tunes intact,it might be tough to list the best.But here it goes,I took notice of "I Parade Myself",the somewhat eerie "Paralysed","Natural's Not In It",the powerful "Anthrax"(probably one of the best of the entire set),a great live 1981 cut of "What We All Want" and "Everybody Wants To Come".I also liked "At Home He's A Tourist","Why Theory" and the well written "Armalite Rifle"(a great sounding demo).Comes with a nicely assembled 50 page booklet that tells GOF's life story and includes many cool photos and rare memorabilia.

Okay, so I'm not a die-hard Gang of Four fan. In fact, this package is the first of their recordings I've ever owned. I'll preface this review with that tidbit of info. And having said that, I think it's a great collection.

I'm one who's all for career-spanning retrospectives. I like to know a history of a band, to hear their evolution. And ultimately, there's gonna be stuff in a band's career that perhaps isn't up to par with other stuff, but, it's still a part of their history. Besides, can you name any band that has 5-star stuff their whole career? And anyway, I like a lot of the newer stuff that's on here, like "Better Him Than Me" and a couple of others.

And in comparison to "A Brief History of the 20th Century" yes it's more expensive, but you get twice the music, and with the exception of "We Live As We Dream, Alone" you get everything from that CD on this one (albeit that song seems to be somewhat glaring in its omission). You get some different versions here and there, but certainly not bad ones.

And for all those complaining about the sequencing - who cares?! Good lord. It's more interesting to hear it jump from album to album anyway...

All in all, you get a complete history of the band, plus a great booklet, too.

Underrated group from the late 70s have their best song showcased here in a nice remix. Fate is not fair; these guys should have been idols.

Whilst I can understand the previous reviewer's viewpoint, I cannot agree with it. GANG OF FOUR are one of the most enduring of bands from Britain's Punk explosion of the late '70's. All of their albums had plenty to offer, to a greater or lesser degree, right up to and including 1995's "Shrinkwrapped" [which is possibly my fave].

From my persepctive their material is represented in proportion to its merit, hence "Mall" gets only minor exposure whilst tracks from their first and last albums get much greater prominence. I'm not much for remixes or old material that was never considered worthy of release in its time so these offerings do little for me. Their earlier compilation would get my thumbs up except that it does not include tracks from their later work which is easily as good as their original releases. This double CD is a great insight into the strength and power of one of the most influential groups of the modern era.

I saw Gang Of Four in my hometown after Solid Gold album and that was best concert ever!