It’s often said that in hindsight some of the greatest inventions were so bleedin’ obvious that it was a wonder that no-one had ever thought of them before. In many ways that same logic applies here; given the dub chromosomes that, from the very offset, were nestled within The Pop Group’s DNA, it’s a forehead-slapping revelation that dub remixes of them, particularly this album, weren’t attempted years ago.
The Pop Group
6 posts
Mute Bristol in 1979 saw the emergence of one of the most beloved and influential bands of the punk era. Reformed again in recent years after a prolonged period of dormancy, decades after their serial appearances on the front covers of a number of influential music papers such as Melody Maker, NME and Sounds, they continue to draw in devoted audiences still in thrall to the energy and […]
Freaks R Us The Pop Group‘s reissue project continues apace with the release of their classic 1980 LP For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? This, their second studio album (and their last for 35 years) saw their overt politicisation, as the title will attest. To the cynical and jaded ears of someone coming to this in 2016, like me for example, there’s an endearing, almost […]
Freaks R Us See, I managed to miss The Pop Group, though this is kind of forgiveable given that I would have been like eight years old or something at the time. Slightly less forgiveable is the fact that I managed to continue missing them for the next thirty years. Which is weird, because not only was I a big fan of bands who had been influenced by […]
Camber Sands, Sussex 29 November-1 December 2013 So it came, as the subtitle says, to the very end of an era for All Tomorrow’s Parties on the English coast. Returning full circle to Pontin’s at Camber Sands where it all kicked off 13 years ago (barring the festival’s origins with Belle and Sebastian‘s Bowlie Weekender a year earlier in 1999 at the same spot), ATP brought out its […]
The Garage, London 11 September 2010 Reanimated musical corpses aren’t much of a news story these days – after The Velvet Underground and Throbbing Gristle reformations, nothing comes as a surprise. I was shocked then to realise just how stunned I felt to hear that The Pop Group had got back together to allegedly “blow the dust off the old songs and pick up where we left off…” […]