Go Bang!
	Produced by Richard James Burgess
	Released on 1988
	US CHART INFORMATION #169
	Find it at GEMM
7 90949-2 cover [high resolution scan]

W ell, don’t they look like a fun bunch of what the hell is going on here? Someone at Island decided that Shriekback and their dark nightmares should lighten up a little bit, maybe shell a few more records fer the company, that sort of thing. (And somewhere, an organ grinder weeps for his monkey.) So producer Richard James Burgess (Spandau Ballet, When In Rome, why not just hire Arif Mardin?) hammers another nail in punk’s coffin, turning Shriekback into Simple Minds. Not everyone hated the results; Trouser Press thought it was “winning.” (I don’t know what they thought it won.) But it didn’t sell more records and Island dropped Shriekback from the label. The record did generate a few popular club singles, including a cover of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight.” Barry Andrews raps on it. Presumably at gunpoint. At least Dave Allen got out in time. In my opinion, punk’s devolution into disco was the biggest musical blunder of the ‘80s. Big Audio Dynamite, PiL, Pete Shelley, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, what did it all add up to except trading rifles for clubs? Shriekback had at least harnessed elements of disco for a deeper purpose. That is, until Go Bang! Now Andrews’ observations about religion and man’s animal nature are packaged into dance-friendly packets. You have to wonder if producer Burgess even listened to the lyrics. And that’s the trouble with club music: people don’t pay attention to it. They don’t know what your name is, they don’t care what you’re saying, and they’re not going to buy your record. It’s the antithesis of punk. Go Bang! isn’t a terrible record, it’s just antithetical to what Shriekback is all about. Sacred City, now there’s a scary record. Go buy that instead.

7 90949-2 gatefold sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. INTOXICATION    3:44
2. SHARK WALK    3:57
3. OVER THE WIRE    3:28
4. NEW MAN    3:47
5. NIGHTTOWN    4:11
6. GO BANG    2:21
7. BIG FUN    3:11
8. GET DOWN TONIGHT    (Harry Wayne Casey/Richard Finch)    3:26
9. DUST AND A SHADOW    4:35
   
   All songs written by Shriekback unless noted

CREDITS

BARRY ANDREWS -- voice and keyboards
MARTYN BARKER -- drums and percussion, Linn 9000 preprogramming and preproduction
MIKE COZZI -- guitars
SARAH PARTRIDGE -- backing vocals
WENDY PARTRIDGE -- backing vocals
Lou Adams -- trumpet
Chief Inspector Sylvester George -- trombone
Andrew Hunter -- tenor sax
Doug Wimbish -- bass guitar
Richard Burgess -- additional programming
Mike Nielsen -- additional programming
Rick Newton -- Linn 9000 preprogramming and preproduction
Stuart Bruce -- engineer
Stylorouge -- design/art direction
Simon Fowler -- photography

return to SHRIEKBACK discography

For more discographies visit...

© 2007 Connolly & Company. All rights reserved.