Throbbing Gristle - Heathen Earth: The Live Sound Of Throbbing Gristle

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Ant on Fri 18 Nov, 2011.

Here it is! The stupendous monolithic mother of 'em all! TG's 'Heathen Earth' remastered and reissued in all it's menacing glory. Everything about the record just ticks every box for me, from the cover art bearing the number twenty three and the Charles Manson "Can the world be as sad as it seems?" quote and the shots of the band, with Sleazy looking like some sort of secret agent. This is of course the live sound of TG and was performed to a select audience and filmed by Monte Cazazza back in 1980 and then released on VHS. If you've not seen the performance then do track it down. I think what the record does is quite possibly document the group at their absolute peak. When they tear into 'Six Six Sixties' I get goosebumps every time. It's a blistering alternative vocal with Genesis uttering the Manson quote and the seething lyrics "Do you love me with a knife against your throat" while a veritable shit storm of noise cacophony rips through the sound spectrum. It almost feels like being in the jaws of a T Rex. Then of course are the totally weird alien bits which sound like they are being transmitted from some void or alternate dimension. As influential as they have been I feel there hasn't been an artist/ group that comes close to what TG achieved here. What a bunch of characters they were too, all offering idiosyncratic individual components to the sound which as a whole is simply flooring. In many ways this can be considered their masterpiece and as a friend recently put it "A monumental classic". That clanking rhythm and deranged cornet towards the end still gives me such a buzz while Genesis utters the immortal line "Don't do as you're told, do as you think". ASTONISHING!

For the first time in 30 years Throbbing Gristle are now back on their own original Industrial Records label. To mark the occasion we are pleased to announce the rerelease of TG's first five albums on vinyl & CD. Each album has been restored and remastered specifically for each format by Chris Carter from 24bit 'baked tape' digital transfers of the original first generation analogue master tapes. Vinyl - The newly cut 180-gram vinyl editions include painstakingly restored cover artworks, using original source material from the Industrial Records visual archive. In addition each of the vinyl releases include an exclusive large format 8-page colour booklet featuring an abundance of Throbbing Gristle archival material, including some previously unpublished photos of the band. Each vinyl release is limited to 2000 copies. COMPACT DISC Each of the CD special-editions are presented in a gatefold sleeve featuring restored and remastered cover artworks and an integrated 8-page booklet (* the booklets feature different artworks and content
to the vinyl editions). While the CD releases feature the same track count and running order as the vinyl editions each CD special-edition also includes an exclusive bonus CD containing content from the year of the albums original release. This additional content includes TG live tracks and remastered singles. The Greatest Hits CD special-edition also includes two previously unreleased Throbbing Gristle mixes from the 1980s'. The vinyl & CD’s will be released weekly in chronological order from 31st October.

Tracklisting:

Vinyl -

1. Cornet
2. The Old Man Smiled
3. Improvisation
4. The World Is A War Film
5. Something Came Over Me
6. Still Talking
7. Bass
8. Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think
9.Painless Childbirth.

CD - Disc 1

01/Cornet
02/The Old Man Smiled
03/Improvisation
04/The World Is A War Film
05/Something Came Over Me
06/Still Talking
07/Bass
08/Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think
09/Painless Childbirth

Disc 2

01/Introduction-Sheffield University 1980
02/Trained Condition Of Obedience-S036 Club Berlin 1980
03/Heathen Earth-Sheffield University 1980
04/An Old Man Smiled-S036 Club Berlin 1980
05/Auschwitz-Rafters, Manchester 1980
06/Devil's Gateway-Rafters, Manchester 1980
07/Punished-Sheffield University 1980
08/Tortured Smiles-Sheffield University 1980
09/We Said No-Sheffield University 1980
10/Subhuman - 7" Single 11/Adrenalin - 7" Single