''Heathen Earth'' is a live album by the English

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

band

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter (British musician), Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pi ...

, released in 1980 through

Industrial Records Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a nam ...

Background

Tracks 1–8 document their performance 16 February 1980 at the Industrial Records studio in front of a small, invited audience. The audience are all credited by name on the album, including Jonas Almquist of the

Leather Nun The Leather Nun are a Swedish rock group. Careening from garage rock to goth and pop-rock, Leather Nun became cult heroes in their native land and wide abroad. History The Leather Nun (a.k.a. "Lädernunnan") was formed in 1978 in Gothenburg, ...

Monte Cazazza Monte Cazazza is an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s. Career Cazazza, based primarily in San Francisco du ...

(who shot the video of the performance), Geoff Rushton and

Jon Savage Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage; 2 September 1953 in Paddington, London) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, ''England's Dreaming'', published in 1991. ...

. Included on the CD editions are bonus tracks taken from their 1980 7" singles "Adrenalin" and "Subhuman."

Release

''Heathen Earth'' was originally released in 1980 on the band's label

. The first pressing was limited to 785 copies on blue vinyl. The second pressing was on black vinyl. The first CD release was in 1991. Along with the rest of their albums, it was remastered by Chris Carter and re-released as a two-CD set in 2011. This edition divided the album into nine tracks instead of eight (track 6 was split in two) and listed official titles for the first time. The second CD consists of live recordings and single tracks.

Critical reception

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gave it an 8.0/10 grade, commenting that the album " oundsslightly stiff relative to the unhinged and abrasive live sound captured on the ''

TG24 ''TG24'' is a box set by industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle. Cassette set TG24 was originally released as a cassette boxed set in 1980. The set contained the first of Throbbing Gristle's 24 shows in addition to two C90 cassettes ta ...

'' boxset, which archives their scalding live gigs before frequently hostile crowds with less fidelity but more heart. ..But it's a testimony to their precision that, for all their influence, nobody quite sounds like them when they are truly on blast, as they are here."

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

called it "more cohesive and marshalled" than any of Throbbing Gristle's other live records, finishing that "it remains a brilliantly weird album."

Track listing

Personnel

; Throbbing Gristle *

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions arti ...

– bass guitar *

Cosey Fanni Tutti Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Carol Newby; 4 November 1951) is an English performance artist, musician and writer, best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey. Tutti first performed under the name ...

– cornet, lead guitar *

Peter Christopherson Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy, 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis. He also found ...

– cornet, tape * Chris Carter – drum programming, synthesiser ; Technical * "Sinclair/Brooks" –

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* Stan Bingo –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Charts

References

{{Authority control Live video albums 1980 live albums 1980 video albums Throbbing Gristle live albums Throbbing Gristle video albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis