Search - Throbbing Gristle :: First Annual Report

INTENSE

J. Brady | PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC United States | 04/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On my way to a party in Athens, Georgia one night, driving throught the dark countryside, stoned out of my mind, the track "Very Friendly" came on the college radio station WUOG. "There's been a murder.....Ian Brady, very friendly.." on and on it went, for over 15 minutes. Gruesome details of an axe murder were part of the lyrics, delivered by Genesis P Orridge in a monotone, deadpan delivery. Scared the hell out of me. I had to pull over at the next well lit convenience store and go inside. True story. What remains on this album is much the same. Anti-pop. Truly scary, intense music, with no regard to traditional song structure or melody. This is one of the few bands that I consider not only radical and alternative, but also incredibly influential. Possibly not the best place to start, if you are new to Throbbing Gristle ( I'd recommend DOA or 20 Jazz Funk Greats, as they are slightly more accesible). But an enjoyable, if unsettling listen, nontheless."

Always A Rumour...

Salah Hassanpour | Toronto, ON CANADA | 03/26/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For years, the first Throbbing Gristle album was 2nd Annual Report, and in hindsight, it would be just like the band to call their first album a "sequel," just to mess with your head. Some didn't buy that, and went looking for The First Annual Report. To their dismay, the suspiciously small number of copies of the album (a hundred or so at most), led people to believe that it never did exist, or that it was an early concert bootleg (It didn't help that the band stayed hush-hush about it). So when it go re-released this past year (I forget if it was remastered - I've lent my copy), what suprised everone was the original release date: 1975! And it's almost all percussive noise blasts (If you catch a synth melody, or Cosey Fanni Tutti's guitar-work, it's a rare treat) and it can really make you feel physically ill. First Annual Report has none of the Neu!-inspired synth melodies of Jazz-Funk Greats. The 18-minute long first track, Very Friendly, is about a sexual encounter/axe murder with Genesis P-Orridge repeating "Ian brady, very friendly" and "There's been a murder" for minutes on end. It'll make you sweat with panic, give you an ulcer, make you short of breath. So not unlike 1975's other mythical noise album, Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, First Annual Report is for the boldest fans of the Gristle and/or DHR Records only."

Very early industrial

dxm | Toronto | 06/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've taken a liking to this group ever since I heard a couple songs a couple week ago. I notice that the group has a very different sound from this far back in the day. The music itself is very,very primitive compared to even the 80's standards. But this group basically helped that movement alot by creating "industrial".



I like the sound of Very Friendly but GPO sounds so creepy I cant really listen to the noise, only the graphic details of an axe murder. Noise-wise it is something that could catch yr attention but the static-ness enahances it a bit. Very f*cked up is more like GPO's point of view. Dead Bait is a boring but kinda interesting exprimentation with the small sounds throughout the song. 10 Pence I never cared for, I don't like the static analog sounds being randomly used. It does sound like something, disturbing though. Whorle of Sound is dark noise-smaple crap with some interesting sounds. I like Final Musak alot for some reason, the percussive background sounds like a broken acoustic guitar, yet it still feels dark. Scars of E is nicely done with REAL instruments and synth noises. Only if GPO could sing though. "He" sounds downright evil at times throughout "his" music.



Assume Power Focus has better stuff then this. and those tracks were pretty early on in their time. Worth hearing Very Friendly and Final Musak."