Y (album)

Studio album by The Pop Group

Released

20 April 1979

Recorded

Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey, England

Genre

Length

40:11

Label

Radar

Producer

Dennis Bovell, The Pop Group

The Pop Group chronology

Y
(1979)

For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
(1980)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Y is the debut studio album of English post-punk band The Pop Group. The album was produced by dub musician Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell at Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey, and was released on 20 April 1979 through Radar Records.

Y initially received mixed critical reviews but has since received acclaim. Pitchfork Media ranked it at number 35 on its list of The Top 100 Albums of the 1970s.The Wire named included it in its list of "The 100 Most Important Records Ever Made.

Inspired by the energy of punk rock but disillusioned by its musical traditionalism, The Pop Group initially set out as funk band, drawing influence from black dance music, the avant-garde, and radical political traditions. Soon after forming, they began to gain notoriety for their live performances, landing them a contract with Radar Records and a cover of the NME. They issued their debut single, "She Is Beyond Good and Evil in early 1979."

To record their debut, group teamed with British dub reggae producer Dennis Bovell. Critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Bovell's mix of acid-rock wildness and dub wisdom made him [...] the ideal candidate for the not hugely enviable task of giving The Pop Group's unruly sound some semblance of cohesion," noting that he grounded the band's sound in its rhythm section while utilizing a variety of production effects. Writing for Fact Magazine, Mark Fisher characterized the album's sound as a "delirial montage of funk, free jazz, Jamaican audio-mancy and the avant-garde," describing it as "both carvernous and propulsive, ultra-abstract yet driven by dance music’s physical imperatives." He noted the "sonic alchemy" of Bovell's production work.PopMatters wrote that the group "sharpened the straightforward guitar lines of punk, the bounding throb of funk rhythms, and the sonic manipulation of dub and let them penetrate each other in ridiculously slapdash fashion."

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Wikipedia