Gang of Four: Hard (EMI)

THESE DAYS the barricades are thinly manned. Back in '79 Rock was Against Everything and The Gang Of 4 provided a soundtrack of surgical firepower and a quirky line in socio-political analysis. But nowadays they seem bent on flogging themselves round the US college-circuit in the guise of Angry Young Men of the New British Invasion. GO4's fourth album Hard fits logically into this phase of their career.