Barely at times a band, let alone a pop group. The song She Is Beyond Good & Evil has a shambolic slack quality to it, as though something monstrous is forming right before your eyes, made up on the spare of the moment. Huge success evaded them, or more likely was unconsciously evaded by there own instinctive actions. The Pop Group were formed in Bristol by the late Mark Stewart in 1977. Like many post punk bands they picked eclectically from a wide range of musical influences and sources - dub, free form jazz, avante funk and welded themselves this massive yet fragile sound, always teetering on the edge of falling completely apart. Unsurprisingly none of their output even brushed the outer edges of any national chart. Because this may be pop, but with a disconcerting integrity and menacing grist.
They did, however, prove hugely influential and an inspiration on countless bands, Nick Cave for one being deeply impressed with their uncompromising bravado, how they stuck to their guns. Former band members went on to form Pigbag (Simon Underwood)and Rip Rig & Panic (Gareth Sager). The latter's stylistic borrowings from The Pop Group taken one step further into almost a stream of consciousness type of free improvisations.
The Pop Group set the template for what any post punk band should be. Punk had all too quickly fossilised into a formulaic genre. Post Punk, picked up and carried the anarchic flag forward, furiously uncompromising, musically adventures, independently minded, strident in the politics they espoused, highly critical of society and contemporary culture. The Pop Group's first iteration from 1977-1981 produced two albums and three singles. They reformed in 2010 and were still active up until Stewart's untimely demise, producing two more albums and four singles.
She Is Beyond Good & Evil, is a quintessential track by The Pop Group from their first period of activity. The snappy dub infused snare drum, rumble bass and choppy funk guitar, over which Mark Stewart moans, intones and decries with an atypical discomforting intensity. Was this man entirely sane? Accompanied by a video composed of filmed live performances, which at times may or may not be of them performing this song. Its representative of their visual style, all cut up and collage like, sound and visuals out of sync, with a super 8 type unfocused quality, rough hewn,fuzzy edged imagery. It makes a suitable companion as an extension of the music's own improvised haphazardly thrown together modus operandi.
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