Ironic band names are always good fun. The Grateful Dead is a good example, wouldn't you think that they are a metal group? No, they're classic rock. What about Phish? Psychedelic group? Nah, they're jam. What about the more unknown Pop Group? A group of five guys singing in harmony to chessy synths and simplistic rhythm lines? Not at all, The Pop Group are a avant-garde post-punk band that have the groove of Talking Heads, dark sound of Joy Division and raw feel of Iggy Pop. Their debut album Y was released back in 1979 in the golden age of post-punk, one of the most interesting genres of the century.
Post-punk combines the rebellious inputs of contemporary punk with the experimental side of rock that the late '60s and early '70s were famous for. The Pop Group's haunting debut Y is a definite classic of the post-punk movement that swept the world in the late '70s and early '80s. Y definitaly has a hard and funky groove to it, but can a lot of loose it in the obscure sounds that The Pop Group bring do the sound waves. On the opening track "She Is Beyond Good and Evil" it has a very Talking Head-esque guitar line that counteracts the very groovy bass line and offbeat, yet driving high hat rolls.
If you tried to dance to The Pop Group's music, it would be quite a avant-garde scene. You wouldn't know how fast to dance because the speed changes so frequently. You'd have to just wave your arms and up and scream. Lead singer Mark Stewart's screams and distorted voice samples have a ghostly counteraction to the very groovy instrumentation of the rest of the group. Captain Beefheart must have been a very big influence on this band as traces of his very scary, abrasive saxophone solos litter "Thief of Fire".
A lot of the lyrics that Stewart lays out deal a lot with political topics. "But who do I trust?/When you're stealing from a nation of killers/Do I trust myself?". Stewart paints canvases of schizophrenic emotional train wrecks of stories that reek psychological distress. Especially on "Don't Call Me Pain", "Obey because you either love or hate/Mercy mercy mercy/Let the U.S. bleed happily/Let the U.S. bleed in peace." It's all very avant-garde.
Though it can be very hard to listen to at time, especially the abrasive horn solos on "Don't Call Me Pain" and "The Boys From Brazil". It's all a very funk-filled avant-garde experience with twists left and right. You never know where The Pop Group will be going next with their experimentation. The drumming of Bruce Smith is very Love-like (1960s psychedelic band), off-beat and unexpected high hat patterns. It may sound out of order and unfitting, but it all does fit very well within the confines of the groovy bass lines of Simon Underwood.
The strongest work on Y is "We Are Time" a six-minute epic that always grooves on and on through endless bass progressions and different bizarre chord changes. The hooks that are packed in the surf-rock guitar line that is present throughout. The Pop Group's genre crossing music is very interesting and addicting and you will find new things every time you listen to it. A lot like Trout Mask Replica from Captain Beefheart.
Overall: 9.2/10.0
Track Listing:
1. She Is Beyond Good and Evil - 9.5
2. Thief On Fire - 9.5
3. Snow Girl - 9.0
4. Blood Money - 8.5
5. We Are Time - 10.0
6. Savage Sea - 9.0
7. Words Disobey Me - 9.0
8. Don't Call Me Plan - 9.0
9. The Boys From Brazil - 9.5
10. Don't Sell Your Dreams - 9.0
Sample:
"We Are Time"
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