Oil & Gold

Shriekback | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1985
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fontana Island
• ASIN: B000001FW0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,217 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered and expanded two CD edition of this 1985 album from the British Post-Punk featuring by former XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews and former Gang Of Four bassist Dave Allen. This enhanced edition comes with a newly remastered bonus disc of b-sides, some never before released on CD, as well as a enhanced booklet with new notes. Lemon. 2011. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An example of what was good about 80's music., September 18, 2003

By 

Gregory Mills "Greg" (Grosse Pointe Farms, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oil & Gold (Audio CD)

My first exposure to Shriekback was seeing them open for Simple Minds. My friend and I walked in mid-set and we both were stunned with what we saw. It was like Fela Kuti being covered by Kurt Weill. Eclectic, beautiful music that had a very explicit menance. Needless to say, Jim Kerr's flaccid Bonoisms were eclipsed. We were tempted to walk out on Simple Minds, having decided that we had seen all we were going to see that night.

I rushed out to get the LP the next day, struggling mightily to remember the wacked out melody of the "Parthenogenesis" song.

What I found was the band was almost weirder on LP than on stage. The music is Worldish without getting all Peter Gabriel sappy on you [butt]. Their song lyrics, while not exactly narrative, follow their own self-contained logic and mine the same tropes over and over again. But it never gets boring. The alien landscapes they depict are so lush with sexed up lizards and menancing linguists that you never quite get your bearings. Great, trippy stuff.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars perfect marriage between difficult-arty music and dance pop, September 17, 2003

By 

D. H. Richards "ninthwavestore" (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oil & Gold (Audio CD)

Picture this, 1985, fall, a massive "kegger" rush party at a frat house. I am an 18 year old freshman and "Nemesis" comes on over the sound system and EVERYONE rushes to the dance floor. I could hardly believe my eyes, but I could NOT believe my EARS! The sound coming from those speakers was unlike ANYTHING I had ever heard. A mixture of funk, Eno's ambient found sounds, rock, jazz and world music all rolled up into a catchy dance floor filler. And the rest of the album is even better.
The Fish Below the Ice - haunting, Everything That Rises Must Converge- another floor filler like Nemesis. This Bi gHush and Faded Flowers are quiet "storms" that have more energy packed into their hushed tones than a whole album of Van Halen.

This is the perfect marriage between "difficult" arty music and dance pop. You can dance all night to most of this or sit and listen on headphones, taking a trip without breaking any drug laws.

Fans of Talk Talk, Kate Bush, heck even Funkadelic will love this album!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable, December 8, 2005

By 

B. Lynch "BigFella" (LA CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oil & Gold (Audio CD)

"Oil and Gold" was the first album I ever loved. It mixes so many genres and emotions that I don't know how anyone could not help but fall in love with it.

This is a decidedly dark CD, without any hint of upbeat bubbliness. The only song that could be considered upbeat is "Everything That Rises Must Converge" still has a strange darkness to it, despite being a perfectly danceable tune. "Nemesis" is huge, over the top, and beautifully evil song.

While these giant, thumping tracks are the meat of the album the ballads are what flesh it out. Easily the best is "Faded Flowers" which is in stark contrast to many of the tracks around it. It is a minimalist duet that has masterfully been worked in among the other heavier songs and manages to only enhance the flow.

If you want to hear one of the best albums of all time, this is it. It is near flawless in production value and musicianship.