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Re: (TV) Gang of Four/Television/Dr Feelgood

I love Andy Gill's comment: "In the wake of the Damned and the Sex Pistols, it was heavy metal but faster and not as well played.  Certainly Gang of Four, 
Television and Talking Heads weren't interested in going down that road at all.  So there was a kind of sparseness about the guitar stuff, it was more staccato with space around it."

"Sparseness ... staccato ... space": That's as good a description of what I love about all that stuff as I've ever heard. I was just listening to Sleater-Kinney, who also have a lot of that sound. (Not surprising, as they've cited Television as a favorite band.) Also XTC - especially early XTC - and Pylon. I suppose there are many more.

I saw Gang of Four in Boston on their 2005(?) reunion tour and was disappointed. The performance seemed ... petrified: There was no looseness, no freedom. Admittedly it's pretty tightly constructed music, but still, I felt almost like I was watching a Go4 cover band.

One of the strangest bills I've ever seen was Dr. Feelgood opening for Gentle Giant in, I guess, 1977. (Also on the bill were Australian band the Dingoes.) At the time punk had yet to "break" (I might have read something somewhere about "pub rock," probably in reference to Graham Parker), and my friends and I were utterly dumbfounded by Dr. Feelgood - or more straightforwardly, we really didn't like them. I've often wondered how I would like them now, so it was interesting to look at those Youtube videos. Definitely a sound I'm more accustomed to now, and elements that I like a lot - though the lyrics weren't blowing me away.

- Jesse
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