Kangaroo?
| Kangaroo? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Recorded | Studio 80, London, England | |||
| Genres | ||||
| Length | 39:37 | |||
| Labels | Rough Trade (original release)[2] Drag City (reissue) | |||
| Producers | ||||
| The Red Crayola with Art & Language chronology | ||||
| ||||
| The Red Crayola chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Kangaroo? | ||||
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Kangaroo? is the second collaboration between the experimental rock band the Red Crayola and the conceptual art group Art & Language, released in 1981 by Rough Trade Records.[3][4] The album was reissued on CD by Drag City in 1995.[5]
Reception
[edit]| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | A−[6] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10[8] |
The Rough Guide to Rock wrote that the album contained "quirky, ramshackle songs."[9] The Spin Alternative Record Guide called it "interesting, but ... sort of brittle and too intellectual for its own good."[8]
Charles Hayward of This Heat stated, "But when they did Kangaroo? I just couldn’t get into it. Red Crayola went off into this thing of polemic with musical accompaniment. That's the way with stylistic movements such as punk, by the end they tend to cut off one part of your body and over-emphasise one other part. That's what happened to punk when it became post-punk."[10]
Track listing
[edit]All tracks are written by Art & Language and Mayo Thompson.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kangaroo?" | 1:35 |
| 2. | "Portrait of V. I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock, Part I" | 2:55 |
| 3. | "Portrait of V. I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock, Part II" | 4:47 |
| 4. | "Marches No's 23, 24, 25" | 2:28 |
| 5. | "Born to Win (Transactional Analysis with Gestalt Experiments)" | 1:21 |
| 6. | "Keep All Your Friends" | 2:11 |
| 7. | "The Milkmaid" | 1:57 |
| 8. | "The Principles of Party Organisation" | 2:38 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prisoner's Model" | 1:56 |
| 2. | "The Mistake of Trotsky" | 3:14 |
| 3. | "1917" | 1:15 |
| 4. | "The Tractor Driver" | 2:36 |
| 5. | "Plekhanov" | 3:13 |
| 6. | "An Old Man's Dream" | 2:27 |
| 7. | "If She Loves You" | 4:29 |
Personnel
[edit]- Musicians
- Ben Annesley – instruments
- Epic Soundtracks – instruments, production
- Gina Birch – instruments
- Lora Logic – instruments, production
- Allen Ravenstine – instruments
- Mayo Thompson – instruments, production
- Production
- Adam Kidron – production
- Tim Thompson – engineering, mixing
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Rovi. "Kangaroo?". AllMusic. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
- ↑ Reynolds, Simon (July 21, 2006). Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. Penguin. ISBN 9780143036722 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Kenny, Glenn; Grant, Steven; Robbins, Ira (2007). "Red Crayola". Trouser Press. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
- ↑ Thompson, Dave (July 21, 2000). Alternative Rock. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780879306076 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "The Red Krayola: Kangaroo?". Drag City. 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Red Crayola with Art & Language: Kangaroo?". Robert Christgau.com. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
- ↑ Larkin, Colin (May 27, 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958 – via Google Books.
- 1 2 Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 322–323.
- ↑ The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides Ltd. 1999. p. 808.
- ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2009-02-11). "This Heat Interview By Simon Reynolds: A Totally Wired Outtake". The Quietus. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
