Throbbing Gristle - Heathen Earth FLAC download

The world remains as sad ever since, and this record did put it in a brutal rhetorical question. By far, "Heathen Earth" is a personal favourite collection of theirs - while from audio perspective I am not that fond of TG's live material, "Heathen Earth" is a smart exception of "recording live in the studio", adding interesting new (if entirely improvised on the spot) ideas with those reinterpreted to disinformation as the track list was deliberately obscured for a long time. Only in the era of the Internet, the tracks' titles from this LP finally seem to be revealed. Furthermore, there happen to be slight differences between the album and the video version that is "Recording Heathen Earth", on how certain numbers are re-arranged sound wise - which adds to confusion, suggesting a one-time only occasion, where a number of cult figures gathered in support for this project. The video itself may have documentary value, but altogether is a pretty dull watch (not to mention the sound quality is a total mess), witnessing an interesting moment in history but apart from being there in the flesh, seeing TG improvise and adding occasional gibberish to this conceptual adventure of theirs - unless you're head over heels into everything TG - isn't really that interesting. The album as such is by far of bigger recommendation.A creepy cornet splicing up opens the album, the introduction suddenly sliding into an all-out aural assault of "The Old Man Smiled", a syndrum/guitar clash of the titans (interesting that there is an earlier, and entirely different live rendition of "The Old Man" to this one; in fact here we hear an interesting (and more complete) variant of "Six Six Sixties", that originally appears on the group's studio album "20 Jazz Funk Greats"). "Improvisation" is also a total stereo deconstruction of what might appear to be a rendition of the group's amazing 20-minute creepy ambient piece "After Cease To Exist". "The World Is a War Film" tackles the ear with a steady, repetitive groove filtered through merciless echo delay, augmented by guitar drone/overdubs and Genesis' deadpan reading. Continuing is a rock solid "Something Came Over Me" in its voxless dub version. "Still Talking" (probably just a pun to the tour-de-force synth beat fest that is "Still Walking") combines spoken parts drenched in echo delay, along with "Bass", cutting off at its tail end with the brilliant "Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think" - a repetitive techno overdrive, light years ahead of its time. "Painless Childbirth" concludes the session on an "optimistic note", suggesting "Heathen Earth" a form of "positive therapy".The CD edition of the album adds two extras, the incredibly catchy "Adrenalin" (originally the accompaniment to "Distant Dreams") and in stark contrast, the shrieking closer - "Subhuman" (originally from the "Something Came Over Me" 7"). Still enjoyable for the sheer perversity of it - leaving the listener to his own devices, absorbed by the nightmarish concept that remains a truly unique TG's doing.

My copy's case belongs to cat# TGCD5 with Barcode#: 7 24596 10962 5. The CD however, belongs to this MUTE pressing.

An exceptional piece. TG started playing live in a studio right at 10 p.m. in front of a small selected audience. At 10:50 the playing stopped and without *any* post-production the tape went to the plant. Who believes that classic industrial is noisy and agressive only, will experience TG at their most contemplative and sometimes almost jazzy recording. Wonderful.

Agreed. Just listening to this for the first time and it's hitting all my right places. Wasn't expecting them to rock out either.

Thank you for your insight on the TG´s releases. I love those little details you mention.