Song Of The Day No.2

She Is Beyond Good And Evil

by The Pop Group (Y, 1979)

Existing for just two years in the post-punk era, The Pop Group launched it all with this single. The song does indeed incorporate the post-punk sound of the time but it also has room for what is the more typical The Pop Group sound. Avant garde, noise rock, free jazz and punk-funk all influence their sound to varying degrees.

A simply choppy, sharp and jagged guitar riff greets you with an abrasive, if welcoming, smile and remains ever present throughout the song. The bouncy bass line, taken from punk-funk idioms, give the song its rhythm and movement while percussion is kept to a minimum with dinking cow bells and tssking cymbals taking preference in the mix. Mark Stewart presents his lyrics in a shouty-spoken-whispered-announced mixture layering them with varying degrees of echo. Other additional sound effects come into play at various points in the song especially when it reaches a noisy kind of climax towards the end. Here the song calms itself down and the lyrical repetition of first, “Western values mean nothing to her” and then the title bring the song to a satisfying end.

AR

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