Solid Gold (album)

Solid Gold is the second album by the British post-punk band Gang of Four, released in 1981. Two of its tracks, "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" and "He'd Send in the Army", are re-recordings of songs previously released as a single in the UK.

Solid Gold
Studio album by Gang of Four
Released	March 1981
Recorded	January 1981
Studio	Abbey Road (London)
Genre	Post-punk dance-punk[1][2]
Length	38:43
Label	EMI Warner Bros.
Producer	Dave Allen Hugo Burnham Jimmy Douglass Andy Gill Jon King
Gang of Four chronology
Yellow EP (1980) Solid Gold (1981) Songs of the Free (1982)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Christgau's Record Guide	A[4]
Pitchfork	9.5/10[5]
Record Mirror	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	9/10[9]
Uncut	[10]

The album was issued in an CD expanded version by the EMI Records and Infinite Zero Archive/American Recordings labels in 1995, which added the songs from Another Day/Another Dollar EP.

Pitchfork listed Solid Gold as 24th best album of the 1980s.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Jon King; all music is composed by Gang of Four, except as indicated.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Paralysed"	Andy Gill, King	3:22
2.	"What We All Want"		4:59
3.	"Why Theory?"	Lyrics: Gill, King	2:33
4.	"If I Could Keep It for Myself"		4:09
5.	"Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time"		3:19

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Cheeseburger"	Lyrics: Gill, King	4:05
2.	"The Republic"	Music: Gill	3:21
3.	"In the Ditch"		4:22
4.	"A Hole in the Wallet"	Music: Gill	4:05
5.	"He'd Send in the Army"	Lyrics: Gill, King	4:28

On the original EMI (UK) pressing of the LP, "Why Theory?" is track 5 rather than track 3.

The EMI Records and Infinite Zero/American 1995 reissue includes songs from the Another Day/Another Dollar EP.

CD reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"To Hell With Poverty!"		4:59
12.	"Capital (It Fails Us Now)"	Gill	4:04
13.	"History's Bunk!"	Gill, King	2:59
14.	"Cheeseburger" (Live)		3:40
15.	"What We All Want" (Live)		5:24

Personnel

Gang of Four

• Dave Allen – bass guitar, vocals
• Hugo Burnham – drums, vocals
• Andy Gill – guitar, vocals
• Jon King – vocals

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Billboard Pop Albums	190

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	"What We All Want"	Billboard Club Play Singles	30

References

1. Lester, Paul (2008). Gang of Four: Damaged Goods. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857120205. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
2. "SPIN Magazine iss. 5 vol. 19". 2003. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
3. Kellman, Andy. "Solid Gold – Gang of Four". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
4. Christgau, Robert (1990). "Gang of Four: Solid Gold". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
5. Tangari, Joe (9 February 2003). "Gang of Four: Hard / Solid Gold". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
6. Ludgate, Simon (7 March 1981). "So Four, so good". Record Mirror. p. 14.
7. Miles, Milo (6 August 1981). "Gang of Four: Solid Gold". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 April 2003. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
8. Considine, J. D. (2004). "Gang of Four". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 321–22. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
9. Kreilkamp, Ivan (1995). "Gang of Four". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 163–64. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
10. "Gang Of Four – Solid Gold". Uncut. No. 216. July 2004. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2020.