Solid Gold / Another Day Another Dollar E [Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered]

Gang of Four | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 3, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B000024IMC
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,932 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #25 in Music > Imports > Alternative Rock

Track Listings

1. Paralysed

2. What We All Want

3. Why Theory?

4. If I Could Keep It For Myself

5. Outside The Trains Don't Run On Time

6. Cheese Burger

7. The Republic

8. In The Ditch

9. A Hole In The Wallet

10. He'd Send In The Army

11. To Hell With Poverty

12. Capital (It Fails Us Now)

13. History's Bunk!

14. Cheese Burger (Live)

15. What We All Want (Live)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required listening, May 7, 2005

By 

sleep no more (Royal Oak, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solid Gold / Another Day Another Dollar E (Audio CD)

Gang of Four's second album is a far more jagged affair then their classic debut "Entertainment". Solid Gold is a much more bass and drum oriented record with Andy Gill's static slashing hoving above. Solid Gold has held up as my favorite GOF album. With the addition of "Another Day Another Dollar" this is a must have - To Hell with Poverty is a classic dance club track from the mid-eighties and the live version of "What we all want" with it's 'in the face' bass brought to the front of the mix are fantastic. Just for clarification, Solid Gold and Another Day were the combo released first (by Rollins), then the mix of SG and Hard which I thought a bit confusing as it skipped "Songs of the Free" which was GOF's third album and quite a strong release (dave allen left and formed Shriekback with Barry Andrews (ex of XTC) and Sara Lee (League of Gentlemen with Robert Fripp) took over the bass duties -

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb follow up to entertainment! and the version to buy, January 20, 2005

By 

Jimbo Jones (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solid Gold / Another Day Another Dollar E (Audio CD)

I am so glad I waited to buy this album again on cd as it also includes the another day another dollar EP. The 1981 follow up is just as good an album that entertainment was in terms of writing. I think the delivery of lyrics is as good as well. For some odd reason this has been released recently and paired with the not so great album Hard (Dave Allen had left by then) stay away from that unless you liked that pairing of albums. This had been released by the now defunct label infinite zero (Rick Rubin and Henry Rollins ran it I believe). There second best album and their swan song as follow up albums weren't as great. I would definitely recommnend this to any gang of four fan. This is a budget priced release so look around for a better price (I did).

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy it for Solid Gold, Skip Hard at all costs, October 21, 2004

By 

Dan Manning "(mostly independent) music fan" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solid Gold / Another Day Another Dollar E (Audio CD)

I bought this CD a little over a year ago and, having already been a huge fan of Gang of Four's Entertainment! album, I was eager to hear what other sounds this band had in store for me. As I drove out of the Amoeba parking lot, I chose Hard/Solid Gold out of the many purchases I had made that night to listen to first on the drive home (a place of no small distinction). Words can't describe my disappointment--rather than hearing a band even similar to the one I heard on Entertainment!, I instead got some cheesy post-disco 80's pop that clearly had the same singers as the Gang of Four that I knew and loved, maybe even some similar guitar work, but all in all, left me feeling flat and empty with it's faux Motown backup singers and drum machine beats. If I wanted a GOOD version of this sound, I would have purchased a New Order album.
Rather than attempting to return this CD (it was a used purchase) and let some other poor sap pick it up and continue the cycle of disappointment, I threw it in the back of my car, where it fell under the seat and remained for over a year, occasionally enjoying the company of a gum wrapper or spare change. I knew that the quality of a band's output has some ebb and flow, but I didn't want this sound to taint my love of the Entertainment! album.
Although I realized at the time that this CD had two albums on it, I naively figured that whoever put the package together would have put the better album first. Thus, if Hard was placed at the beginning, then I didn't even want to bear witness to the supposed horrors that would have been lying in wait for me on Solid Gold . . . what a foolish mistake.
Last week, I found that CD under the seat in my car and decided to give it another try. Sure enough, the first few tracks of Hard sounded just as miserable as I remembered, but when I skipped ahead to track 10, "Paralysed," the first track on the Solid Gold album, I found the Gang of Four I knew and loved. Here was the next logical progression after Entertainment!, from the original lineup featuring Andy Gill on guitar and vocals, John King on melodica, Hugo Burnham on drums, and Dave Allen on bass. Even artier and weirder than its predecessor, Solid Gold had everything I wanted from this band, pushing the formula to newer and greater places. Taking cues more from Entertainment! tracks like "Anthrax" and "Not Great Men," as opposed to more melodic numbers like "Return the Gift" (great song), "I Found that Essence Rare," and "Glass," Solid Gold is what a sophomore release from a band should be.
Describing why I like Solid Gold is a bit of a challenge . . . it's somewhat of an indescribable aesthetic, but if you listen to the way Gill scrapes his guitar strings at the end of "Cheeseburger," the Burnham's stuttered beats on songs like "What We All Want," the unbridled energy of "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time," King's direct, often staccato vocals and liberal use of the melodica, the interplay between the bass and drums, or the way each song picks you up, then you'll get it. If you liked aspects of Entertainment! that pushed the envelope a bit, you should get it too.
Also, the lyrics are still great, continuing to touch on themes like urban alienation, the slavery of work, social politics, gender issues, and a general confusion/obsession with the inner workings and failings of human social interaction.
As many others have already astutely observed, countless bands that owe a debt of gratitude and maybe even a few royalties to the sound that Gang of Four forged on Entertainment! and Solid Gold. There's a whole slew of newer, soon to be forgotten bands that carry the Gang of Four influence like a badge; the earlier (and better) Rapture albums certainly borrow a bit from G.o.4., and of course we currently see many other Anglo-beat bands that ride that trend as well. The best of the batch, with the longest potential, Q and Not U from Washington D.C., have developed a sound that bears many similarities as well, especially when they use the melodica. Indeed, there's plenty of others, too many to list, who don't necessarily fall into this niche, but borrow certain aspects of the G.o.4 sound and approach-the Minutemen, Mission of Burma, and Fugazi, to name a few.
Anyways, what are you still reading this for? Get out there, pick up a copy of Hard/Solid Gold, immediately skip to track 10, and enjoy!