Let the Tribe Increase

Mob | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 25, 1997)
• Original Release Date: March 25, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Broken Rekids
• ASIN: B000003868
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,470 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Another Day, Another Death

2. Cry of a Morning

3. Dance On (You Fool)

4. Prison

5. Slayed

6. Our Life Our World

7. Gates of Hell [Live]

8. I Wish

9. Never Understood

10. Roger

11. Witch Hunt

12. Crying Again

13. Youth

14. Witch Hunt

15. Shuffling Souls

16. No Doves Fly Here [Live]

17. I Hear You Laughing

18. Mirror Breaks

19. Stay

20. What's Going On [Live]

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the Anarcho-Punk band's 1983 album including bonus tracks. Let The Tribe Increase was an album that saw them moving away from the constraints of the Punk sound as they continued to push the musical boundaries. The Mob's involvement with the counterculture saw them playing gigs with archetypal hippies Here & Now and Androids of Mu as well as being actively involved in the Persons Unknown and Centro Iberico anarchist centers and the Black Sheep Housing Co-operative. Eventually The Mob dissolved with Joseph Porter joining Zounds before founding Blyth Power. Overground. 2010. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really solid stuff., August 6, 2002

By 

C. Burkhalter - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Let the Tribe Increase (Audio CD)

Though 1983's "Let the Tribe Increase" was and is a great album, the real reason to pick this up is the collection of bonus tracks culled from the Mob's earlier singles. This is less polished material than the "Tribe" songs, a little crustier, a little more garage-y, and a lot more energetic. Songs like "Witch Hunt," "Crying Again," "Youth," and "Shuffling Souls" are essential to any good punk collection.

The Mob had close ties to bands like Crass (who they recorded with), Flux of Pink Indians, Dirt, and the ever-underrated Zounds (who they lived with). Other than those bands, the Mob gets a lot of comparisons to Joy Division and Gang of Four. My long obsession with Go4's "Entertainment!" is what eventually turned me on to the Mob, as well as Zounds. Lyrically speaking, the Mob are a bit more bleak, playing a number of horrific post-apocolyptic anti-war songs. The Mob take some criticism for not writing particularly complex, focused, or mature songs. That, to me, always seemed unfair. The Mob kept specific political agendas out of their music (partly because their handle of anarchist politics wasn't especially strong), tending instead to rely on evocative lyrical imagery. As a result, their songs have a more timeless appeal now than some of the more didactic punk of other political punk bands of their time.

This is a great and impressively comprehensive CD - well worth your purchase dollars. And for your reading pleasure, Lance Hahn wrote a great article chronicling the history of the Mob, with lots of great interviews, in the July 2001 issue of Maximumrocknroll. Check it out.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MOB RULES, December 7, 2001

By 

GRAEME YOUNG (uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let the Tribe Increase (Audio CD)

After reading some of the reviews of this magnificent album, I feel that some of you must have missed the point completely. The Mob depressing, downbeat, morose? Whilst I agree that these are definate aspects of their music, they are ultimately positive aspects. From the soul searing beauty of 'Our Life Our World' to the quiet anger of 'Raised In A Prison' these are ultimately songs about hope. The Mob's lyrics displayed on this album are of a rare and unique intelligence that can best be described as darkly poetic, whilst the musicianship was and is world's apart from any other band of that genre and time. Indeed, I still marvel at the bass line that defines the entire mood of album track three 'Dance On You Fool.' I suggest anyone who hasn't bought the album to do so and those of you who found it 'downbeat' to listen again. This is a moving, lush and breathtaking album. In short - The Mob rule!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mob - my world, December 10, 2003

By 

Jokke Thenaerts (Leuven, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let the Tribe Increase (Audio CD)

I first heard them on the local radio in my (very small) hometown somewhere in Belgium when I was 17: Never understood, The gates of hell and The witchhunt. The music was more intense even when not being so hard as most punkbands. Their songs had the same feeling as Joy Division would put in theirs. The way they made that bass sound, oh man...Spizz Energi was another band with the same rawness/beauty. After buying the cd (my first, being a vinyl freak) and hearing 'Our life our world' and 'The Mirror breaks', 'Youth'...it had it all. Before going out I still play 'The mirror breaks' a couple of times and everything feels bareable.
I often wonder what became of those guys.
Anyway...The Mob for me is what music is al about...play it as you feel it.