The Pop Group
Y

THE REVIEW

"Well, in front of us we have the greatest pop group of all time, madonna took lessons from them, britnei spiarrrss had her boobs done by them (maybe she wasn’t even born yet?), even cristina akilera was jumping on the bed naked with a track by the pop group playing?" NO, the pop group, THEY ARE NOT A POP GROUP (if they can be defined as a real group), and if they are, then Bush is actually George Michael...

It's 1979, the Italian government is in disarray, Saddam Hussein is elected president of the republic in Iraq, meanwhile Mother Teresa of Calcutta receives a Nobel Peace Prize and finally Sid Vicious is found dead... "Y" is released (pronounced why, for those who only speak Aramaic), an aboriginal and grotesque photo affirms their ideas about tribal societies where alienation and repression do not exist, in contrast to Western society, made of lies and injustices, a y written in blood and the group's name written vertically, thus presents the very strange cover.

The group is formed by Mark Stewart on vocals, John Waddington on guitar, Simon Underwood on bass, Bruce Smith on drums (he would also become a drummer for the Slits who shared the same ideals as Stewart and co.), and Gareth Sager on saxophone, guitar, and piano. Mark is about 18 years old, with a great political knowledge, permeated by an apocalyptic passion for something that is happening or about to happen, a faint and intimate voice, but full of energy and continuously exploding, the bass is very prominent, swirling slaps that provoke increasingly intricate feelings, with jolts and noisy squeals of very new wave guitar. A tribe in continuous celebration, an ever-open dance, a debt to black Africa. The CD reissue opens with their first single She's Beyond Good And Evil, where the cult of the entire album, but especially of the entire group is clearly understood. The now crumbling funk can be heard in Thief of Fire, accompanied by schizophrenic sounds, voices, cannibalistic screams, and disruptive sax vocalizations. Shrieks, noises, dirty punk sounds, mutated free-jazz traits, the torture in the lyrics, pain, fear, madness, and paranoia... the unabated hatred towards the society surrounding it, words of disdain similar to spits come out of Stewart's mouth, who feels part of another world, of a tribe isolated from everything and everyone. It's a utopia, a fierce expressive desire for truth that is felt in every track until the terminal collapse. Noises, dispersive electronics, and a majestic free-form style charge accompany Snowgirl... The moment arrives for Blood Money, an almost slow piece that fades away, with extroverted and hidden screams, and then again a delirious funk comes to light in every piece, as in the magnificent track We Are Time and also in Savage Sea.

Everything melts and mixes, forming strange fusions between tribalism and postmodern avant-garde. The album (followed by For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? also a great album) thus remains a unique, indisputable, and significant event in the history of rock. Sole definition: Milestone.

GENRE: funk-punk