No Fear of Tomorrow

The Pop Group : We Are Time

[Purchase]

On April 20, 1979 The Pop Group released Y, an album that went mostly unnoticed in America but is now regarded as one of the most important albums ever made by the likes of Pitchfork (Top 100 Albums of the 1970s) , The Wire (The 100 Most Important Records Ever Made) and Uncut (The 100 Greatest Debut Albums). At the time of its release NME described the album as "a brave failure. Exciting but exasperating." 

To me this album sounds like what happens when you tell every talented member of a band they should play their instruments the way Mike Garson played his avant-garde piano solo on David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane".

Since 1996 the album has started with their previously discussed  breakthrough single "She is Beyond Good and Evil". The most memorable of the tracks on the original debut album is "We Are Time". You wouldn't want to walk into a dark empty farm house with this playing on your headphones but it's catchy as hell. 

The album came out at a time when critics and music fans were wondering what would be the next step after punk. The older critics heard he influences of Captain Beefheart, Kratutrock, dub reggae, and Albert Ayler . They helped hype the band which landed supporting roles on tours with Pere Ubu and Patti Smith.

What you may miss the first few times you listen to Y is the radical political views of the band. In an interview with Simon Reynolds for his book of post-punk interviews called Totally Wired, leader Mark Stewart says they were questioning everything.

When we were ranting, we meant it from the heart – it was all coming out in a mad rush. But we were questioning so many things, and that questioning came out of punk. When I first heard the Pistols and Clash, I really thought they were questioning the value of everything. We felt we had to challenge with the music as much as through the lyrics. And really go for it. Talking to people, the power of some of those Pop Group shows . . . I still meet people to this day who say it gave them a shared fiery feeling. That there were other people who felt as frustrated as they did.