Only a British band could do this. The Americans have no sense of irony and the Europeans get to intellectual about this sort of thing. No only a British band could takes it’s reputation as the wreckers of civilisation and turn it on it’s head with an album titled 20 jazz funk greats. Not only that but have promo pictures taken at a local beauty spot dressed like perennial English roses. Most amusing. But as you would expect behind the carefully scripted ironic stance and superficial appearance of this album lie a very warped and sinister piece of work. All this despite this being without doubt TGs most accessible work. Less noise more subtlety is the order of the day. The first track 20 jazz funk greats is just that a funky bass driven track with Gen whispering words like “Jazz……..Yeah……Nice” every now and then. It’s with the second track Beachy head that the sinister vive begins to creep in. Beachy head is a cliff top most known as a suicide spot. And this track does carry a distinct desolate lonely atmosphere conveying well the feeling of isolation of both the cliff and the suicide contemplating individual staring over the edge. Still walking is a fairly straight forward electro distortion driven song but with hushed male female vocals recounting an event. Again sinister, inviting the listener to look beneath the surface.
Tanith moves into a sort of twisted lounge style electronic mood with tinkling bells and bouncy bass. Again lulling the listener into a false sense of security and doubt. Convincing people is one of my favourite TG tracks. The music is quite simple with a looped synth beat and various guitar distortion popping in and out. It’s Gens vocals that make the track what it is. The lyrics while simple are wonderfully to the point, it’s all about convincing people. Government, TV news broadcaster or band leader, it’s all about convincing people. Exotica seems like a more sinister version of Tanith. Hot on the heels of love should have been released as a single, I think it could have been a hit, and I would have loved to have seen TG on top of the pops. Cosey sings the simple lyrics “hot on the heels of love, im waiting for help from above”. Persuasion is my favourite TG track, sinister, ironic, comic it’s all of that. It’s simply about persuading people. A simple slow beat drags Gens vocals forward as sampled tape manipulation and various guitar effects bob around. Half way through the song Gen breaks the rhythm and just chats as if speaking strait to you about getting you to do some naked photos for him. It’s both funny and creepy at the same time. Especially relevant now in this age of internet grooming of children by paedophiles. Walkabout is a trademark Carter keyboard workout, can’t say im to fond of these, just a bit to repetitive. What a day is a pretty angry distorted rant from Genesis, repetitive lyrics and pulsing beats emphasise his boredom with day to day life. Six Six sixties is the music from track two of Heathen earth with different lyrics, more restrained but working on a similar level to the Heathen earth version. The CD version has two versions of another TG classic Discipline on the end. One recorded in Berlin and one in Manchester. Banging beats and effects make this track a real jump up and down number. Gens lyrics are both baiting and comic.
