To celebrate the anniversary of the release of their 1979 debut LP Entertainment!, Gang of Four will perform the album in it's entirety during an upcoming UK tour this fall. For their appearances in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leamington Spa, and London, the band will also "air tracks from their back catalogue."
Of the band, Paul Lester, longtime contributing journalist to The Guardian said in 2008, "Gang of Four is one of the most radical, and radically important, rock groups of the last 30 years." Their music, said Lester, "offered a danceable solution to the problem of where four-piece guitar bands could go next after punk." Gang of Four "were the first white rock group to come up with the idea that using contemporary funk and reggae rhythms might be an interesting way forward for rock'n'roll, a way out of punk's cul de sac."
In 2003 Rolling Stone ranked Entertainment! #490 on the list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time, and in 2005 Q magazine voted "At Home He's a Tourist," from Entertainment!, #52 in its list of 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
The original Gang of Four lineup of Jon King, Andy Gill, Dave Allen, and Hugo Burnham reformed in 2004 and in October 2005 released "a new disc featuring new recordings of songs from the albums Entertainment!, Solid Gold, and Songs of the Free, entitled Return the Gift, along with an album's worth of remixes."
Gang of Four bassist, Shriekback co-founder, and now Portland music blogger Dave Allen, along with drummer Hugo Burnham, announced in May 2008 that they were leaving the band to pursue other interests. Mark Heaney replaced Burnham on drums, and Thomas McNiece took over for Allen on bass.
Material: nme.com, gangoffour.co.uk, and wikipedia.org
