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For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?

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For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
Studio album by
The Pop Group
Released21 March 1980
StudioFoel Studios, Llanfair Caereinion, Powys
Genre
Length31:57
LabelRough Trade, Y
ProducerThe Pop Group
The Pop Group chronology
Y
(1979) 		For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
(1980) 		We Are Time
(1980)

For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? is the second studio album by English post-punk band The Pop Group. It was released on 21 March 1980 through the record labels Rough Trade and Y.[1]

Initially released to mixed reviews, the album has received critical acclaim in recent years. After being commercially unavailable for several decades, it was reissued in February 2016.[2]

All Japanese Rough Trade CD editions were identical to the original LP, but the UK Freaks R Us CD is incomplete, replacing the track "One Out of Many" with the stand-alone single "We Are All Prostitutes". The 2016 reissue also uses this tracklisting.

Background and music

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For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? was recorded at Foel Studios. The photo on the cover is the photograph Two Gypsies by André Kertész.

Mark Fisher described the album's mix of "murky funk, free jazz squalls, dub diffraction, howls and shrieks" as "the sound of a society falling apart."[2] Comparing it to the group's debut, AllMusic wrote that "the lean, blunt sound of this album connects with even greater ferocity, starting with a guitar-driven variation on James Brown's primal funk sides of the late '60s and adding elements of free jazz, atonal experimental music, and found noises until the music begins to sound like some sort of riot pouring out of your stereo."[3]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
PopMatters9/10[4]
Record Collector[5]

Upon its release in 1980, For How Much Longer received mixed reviews, with publications at the center of post-punk discourse (such as the NME) dismissing its agit-prop didacticism in favor of the fevered mysticism of the group's debut album, Y.[2][6]

In recent years, however, writers have lauded the album's musical and political radicalism. PopMatters called the work "a genre-defining (and genre-defying) epic, as fearsome and fearless as popular music can be."[4] AllMusic opined that "Gang of Four's stellar early work sounds meek and toothless compared to the Molotov cocktail that is For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder."[3] Mark Fisher, writing for Fact, stated that "the debates provoked by For How Much Longer rehearsed some of the disputes over aesthetics and politics that had exercised revolutionaries throughout the twentieth century. Was the message the most important thing, or was it formal innovation that made artworks revolutionary? The remarkable thing about For How Much Longer is that it refuses to choose".[2] In 2016, Record Collector described the album as "highly relevant" and "frighteningly prescient," stating that "the post-punk Bristolian radicals did actually succeed in synthesising something fierce, funky and fantastic from their unholy mash-up of Ornette Coleman, Funkadelic and heavyweight, Channel One-style dub.[5]

Accolades

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Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Rockerilla Italy Albums of the Year[7] 1980 11
Uncut United Kingdom The 50 Greatest Lost Albums[8] 2004 35

Track listing

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All tracks are written by The Pop Group

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Forces of Oppression"2:33
2."Feed the Hungry"4:15
3."One Out of Many"1:52
4."Blind Faith"4:03
5."How Much Longer"4:57
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Justice"3:06
2."There Are No Spectators"4:13
3."Communicate"4:40
4."Rob a Bank"2:18

Personnel

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Adapted from the For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? liner notes.[9]

The Pop Group

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

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Chart (1980) Peak
position
UK Indie Chart[10] 1

Release history

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Region Date Label Format Catalog
United Kingdom 1980 Rough Trade, Y LP ROUGH 9, Y 2
Italy Go International SER 02
Japan 1981 Japan Record RTL-1
Italy Base Record Rough 9 Y5
Japan 1994 TDK Core Co. Ltd. CD TDCN-5153
1996 TDCN-5575

References

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  1. ^ "For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder LP". thepopgroup.net. 2014. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d Fisher, Mark. "The Pop Group's How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?." Fact. February 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Dougan, John. "The Pop Group: For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  4. ^ a b Fisher, Devon (16 March 2016). "The Pop Group: For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?". PopMatters. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  5. ^ a b Peacock, Tim. "THE POP GROUP - FOR HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE TOLERATE MASS MURDER?". Record Collector, 2015. [1]
  6. ^ Penman, Ian. "[the Phantoms of] TRICKNOLOGY [versus a Politics of Authenticity]". The Wire, March 1995. [2]
  7. ^ "Albums of the Year - 1980". Rockerilla. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  8. ^ "The 50 Greatest Lost Albums". Uncut. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  9. ^ For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? (sleeve). The Pop Group. London, United Kingdom: Rough Trade Records. 1980.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ^ Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
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