Throbbing Gristle

2024 repress: The third studio album of the British industrial-band Throbbing Gristle, was originally released in 1979 and is often referred to as the band's masterpiece. Originally released in 1979, 20 Jazz Funk Greats is Throbbing Gristle's pop-influenced masterwork. It's hard to believe the beautiful, conventionally-attractive Cosey Fanni Tutti on this album's front cover previously gave herself milk and blood enemas in front of a live audience. Additionally, the song "Hot On The Heels Of Love" is far removed from the dissonant nihilism of the previous TG albums. It's a sleek, minimal synth-pop song that foreshadows Tutti's later work as Chris & Cosey. Still, 20 Jazz Funk Greats is underpinned by a profound distance from accessibility. The breezy luminosity of "Persuasion" and "Six Six Sixties" is still marked with casual bits of distortion and absurdism. Preceding dark synth-pop (and everything else), TG's third album is far ahead of its time and still sounds as relevant as ever. The CD version includes a bonus CD of live recordings, including two versions of the manic classic, "Discipline." The 8-page full-color book includes visual ephemera and previously-unpublished photographs. Cover artwork has been painstakingly restored from the original source material.