I love this LP. It holds a treasured space in my memory of certain days way back when. For some reason, this record was very well known in parts of my residence during my undergraduate degree. The first time I heard a few tracks, I raced out to the nearest record store and found a copy, along with some other releases from this band. It's a weird record, but very interesting.
This is a crazy, freaky record. I cannot describe it. In truth, I prefer Guest List and the 7" EP better, but this is unquestionably some music that challenges and it needs to be heard.
The Government had an association with
the VideoCabaret theatre company, so this record is something of a soundtrack, albeit an odd one, to a video. I have no idea if the video still exists.
I was nowhere near Queen Street west during this time, so all I have are the records. I wish I had been able to see this band, I hadn't heard of them until way too late.
For more information on this record, I recommend the following brief article:
I know I said I wasn't going to discuss my 7" record collection, but this is one I have to include, mostly because it's an EP with 4 tracks, rather than the usual 2 tracks. I do have other 7" records like this. The other odd thing is that it plays at 33 ⅓ rather than the usual 45 RPM for small records.
I'd call this a punk band, though some have seen fit to use the term post-punk. Either will do. Just don't call them a new wave band. It's almost impossible to describe the music on this record, so I'm going to insist that you listen to the youtube content, below. All I can say is that it's awesome. My copy is a minty fresh piece of vinyl. I recently saw a used copy on the shelf of a local record store with a $30 price tag attached to it. I know I paid about $5.
Side A:
Flat Tire
Get You Sleepin'
Side B:
Zippers of Fire
Sponge
Wikipedia has a brief entry for Andy Paterson, the lead singer of the band. He also has a website.
