In the rapidly splintering post-punk landscape of the late 70s few groups carried such a seismic sound and raging message as Bristol’s The Pop Group, who can now be seen as the most dangerously vital band to emerge from the whole era, influencing many even before they imploded in 1981, not least Killing Joke and the Birthday Party.
For a band so epoch-making, TPG have been ill-served by reissues but that’s set to change as their catalogue is reissued for the first time in all formats, bolstered by rarities and previously unreleased nuggets.
1980’s We Are Time roped together early studio and live recordings in a churning onslaught of Stooges brutality, mutant funk and blistering social comment on tracks such as Genius Or Lunatic and Amnesty Report.
Cabinet Of Curiosities is a new compilation described by frontman Mark Stewart as like a lost Pop Group album, which starts with the thermonuclear skronk of 1980 single Where There’s A Will before the original Andy Mackay-produced version of landmark single She Is Beyond Good And Evil kicks off a newly gathered collection of Peel sessions and previously unreleased tracks. Two crucial documents capturing the real sound of anarchy in the UK.
