Hold the record like a gun.
squarehawk2 | Wisconsin | 04/12/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
""It was a very young attempt to mix up poetic, existensialist stuff with political yearnings. The idea of love as a revolutionary force-the way it kind of switches on a light, makes you hope for a better world" - Mark Stewart.
I remember back early in my teens about how older hipsters would tell us that the Sex Pistols record sparked it all for punk as we know it, so I sought out a copy post haste. I listened to it with interest, but somehow it wasn't that wild to me (had I been there at the start, I'm sure I'd eat my words). But once I got a copy of "Y", I was floored. I had found what would have been my "Never-mind The Bollocks...".
Should there be any chance you don't have an idea about the sound, it is a Frankensteins monster of stitched musical styles (free jazz, funk, dub, punk, etc.) which explode, boil and simmer all in one. It was rumored that John Cale was to produce their first effort, but that he dropped out and Dennis Bovell stepped in instead (who did an amazing job). Their contemporaries were The Glaxo Babies, This Heat, Slits, 23 Skidoo and Alternative TV's "Vibing Up A Senile Man". Imagine if Coleman's Prime Time ensemble made a punk record with a teenage Rimbaud on vocals, thats close as I could pin it. The message was political, all though it didn't speak it as much as you felt it. But no matter what you compare it to, nothing comes close to actually hearing it.
This edition is an improvement overall compared to the Japanese import. It features a bonus instrumental "3.38" (previously could only be found on the "Jazz Satellites" comp.) that was the flip for "She is Beyond..". Rhino's re-master is pretty good, giving the sound more punch, however it would have been crazy to hear album in a 5.1 Surround Sound mix (oh well). But the best of all is the mere fact that the record is available.
Given that I believe we will never witness a force this uniquely challenging in music, I cannot recommend this record enough. If you've looked this far into it, go further and experience something once in a lifetime."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1