Come Away with ESG

Come Away with ESG is the 1983 debut album by American rock band ESG. Released by 99 Records, the album incorporates songs from ESG's first EPs, ESG and ESG Says Dance to the Beat of Moody.

Come Away with ESG
Studio album by
ESG
Released1983 (1983)
Recorded1981–1983
GenreAvant-funk, post-punk,[1] no wave, dub disco
Length32:08
Label99
ProducerEd Bahlman
ESG chronology
Come Away with ESG
(1983)		 ESG
(1991)

In conjunction with its 35th anniversary, Fire Records reissued the album to glowing reception in 2018.[2]

Come Away's critical resurgence has led it to be held in high esteem. It is regarded as a seminal work in no wave and post-punk music, as well as a key influence for the development of dance-punk and hip hop music.

Background

Ed Bahlman discovered ESG while serving as the judge for a talent show and became the band's unofficial manager.[3][4] Tony Wilson from Factory Records approached the band after a performance at Hurrah in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and three days later they began recording with Martin Hannett. The recordings helped bring Bahlman's focus to the band.[4] He formed a partnership with Factory so that his 99 Records label could release ESG's eponymous debut EP in 1981.[3]

ESG was a minimalist take on funk music, removing brass, saxophone, and synthesizers to leave vocals, bass, and percussion.[5] The New York Times placed ESG second on its list of the best EPs and cassettes of 1981,[6] and The Village Voice placed the EP third on its Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[7]

"Moody" was released off of ESG as the band's debut single. A 12-inch remix single followed, and both versions found popularity at clubs in New York and London.[8] Because of the single's release through Factory, many New York DJs assumed ESG was a London-based act.[9] Paradise Garage listed the song in its top 50 all-time tracks.[10] It became a foundational track for the emerging house music scene.[3]

ESG released a second EP titled ESG Says Dance to the Beat of Moody in 1982. It includes "Dance" and "The Beat", which reappear on Come Away with ESG. The EP placed ninth on that year's Pazz & Jop list.[12] As several of its post-punk contemporaries were breaking up, the band continued to keep some amount of distance from the music business.[13]

Composition

Come Away has been stylistically aligned with the avant-funk, no wave, and post-punk movements. Paste called its sound dub disco with punk's edge.[14] Resident Advisor said it fused disco, funk, and punk with avant-garde's flair.[2]

Release and legacy
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[11]
Mojo[15]
Paste8.4/10[14]
Record Collector[16]
Uncut[17]

ESG recorded the rest of Come Away with ESG at Radio City Music Hall in 1983 and released the album through 99 Records later that year.[4] The band's first performance after the release was at Danceteria. Around half of the tracks on the album are instrumentals. The songs that do include vocals focus on danceable chants.[18] Shortly after the release of Come Away with ESG, the band became inactive for several years, in part because of the closure of 99 Records.[19]

Decades after its release, Come Away with ESG saw a critical resurgence.[20] It was named the 84th greatest album of the 1980s by Pitchfork.[21] The album became influential for post-punk, dance, and hip hop acts.[11] Kathleen Hanna stated that it influenced her work with Le Tigre.[22] Royal Trux member Jennifer Herrema has also cited Come Away with ESG as an influence.[23]

NPR Music dubbed the songs "prescient" for their time. They also felt Come Away proved disparate sounds like Latin funk and post-punk could be fused successfully.[24] PopMatters argued that "all funky rock music was chasing after [Come Away]" after 1983, the year of its release.[25] Treble ranked the album #23 on their list of post-punk's best albums. They claimed the album cemented ESG's legacy in the early '80s no wave scene. The band's "buzzy [and] rug-cutting" rhythms were seen for being essential to NYC dance-punk's future generation.[26] Chicago Reader echoed this, seeing their "stark" genre fusion trickle into the scene's 2000s bands like Liars and the Rapture.[27] Resident Advisor called it "an essential dance music blueprint", noting that its "party chants" prefigured aspects of house music.[2] Paste wrote that G-funk, a form of gangsta rap started in the late '80s, was anticipated through "About You"'s "eerily twisting" synth.[14]

Accolades
Publication Year List Rank Ref.
NPR Music 2017 The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women
104
[24]
Pitchfork 2002 The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s
84
[28]
2018 The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s
50
[29]
PopMatters 2020 The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums Ever
32
[25]
Treble 2018 The 100 Best Post-Punk Albums
23
[26]
Vinyl Me, Please 2017 The 10 Best No Wave Albums To Own On Vinyl
—
[30]

Track listing

All songs written by ESG.

  1. "Come Away" – 3:15
  2. "Dance" – 4:32
  3. "You Make No Sense" – 2:20
  4. "Parking Lot Blues" – 2:53
  5. "Chistelle" – 1:54
  6. "About You" – 2:05
  7. "It's Alright" – 2:38
  8. "Moody (Spaced Out)" – 4:18
  9. "Tiny Sticks" – 3:02
  10. "The Beat" – 2:17
  11. "My Love for You" – 2:54

Personnel

Credits adapted from Come Away with ESG liner notes.[31]

ESG
  • Renee Scroggins – lead vocals, guitar
  • Deborah Scroggins – bass, backing vocals
  • Marie Scroggins – congas, backing vocals
  • Valerie Scroggins – drums, backing vocals
Additional musicians
  • Tito Libran – congas
Production
  • Ed Bahlman – production
  • Howie Weinberg – mastering
  • Don Hünelberg – engineering

Notes
  1. Reynolds 2006, p. 273.
  2. Lynch, Will (August 21, 2018). "ESG - Come Away with Me • Album Review / RA". Resident Advisor. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  3. Reynolds 2006, p. 272.
  4. Krimper, Michael (March 2, 2012). "The unidentifiable dance grooves of ESG". San Francisco Bay Guardian. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  5. Palmer, Robert (May 5, 1982). "Anger Gone, Graham Parker Is Back". The New York Times: C23. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  6. Palmer, Robert (December 30, 1981). "A List of the Year's Best, Including Albums, Singles, and EP's". The New York Times: C9.
  7. Christgau, Robert (1982). "The 1981 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  8. Sarig 1998, p. 177.
  9. Beta, Andy (September 13, 2006). "Get Purely Physical". The Village Voice. 51 (37): 86. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  10. Rubin, Mike (September 2000). "ESG: A South Bronx Story". Spin. 16 (9).
  11. Glazer, Joshua. "Come Away with ESG – ESG". AllMusic. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  12. Christgau, Robert (1983). "The 1982 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  13. Williamson et al. 2008, p. 81.
  14. Howe, Brian (October 11, 2010). "ESG: Come Away with ESG". Paste. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  15. Wilson, Lois (January 2007). "ESG: Come Away with ESG". Mojo. No. 158.
  16. Bent, Grahame (January 2007). "Come Away With ESG | ESG". Record Collector. No. 332. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  17. "ESG: Come Away with ESG". Uncut. p. 97. [They] blazed a singular trail with a blend of loose polyrhythms, walloping bass licks and whooping vocals.
  18. Pareles, Jon (October 19, 1983). "ESG, Bronx Family, Finally on an Album". The New York Times: C23. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  19. Kellman, Andy. "Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  20. Eakin, Marah (August 20, 2013). "Not Murmur: 36 great but underappreciated records from 1983". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  21. "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. November 20, 2002. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  22. Day, Adrienne (February 2005). "The Records That Changed My Life". Spin. 21 (2): 26.
  23. Herrema, Jennifer. "101 Albums To Hear Before You Die". NME. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  24. "Turning the Tables: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women". NPR Music. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  25. Fitzgerald, Colin (April 7, 2020). "The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums Ever: Part 2, The B-52's to Magazine". PopMatters. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  26. Treble Staff (October 22, 2018). "The 100 Best Post-Punk Albums". Treble. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  27. Warwick, Kevin (June 30, 2017). "ESG's stark blend of funk and postpunk influenced an army of dance-punk bands in the 2000s". Chicago Reader. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  28. Pitchfork (November 21, 2002). "The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s - Page 2". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  29. "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s - Page 8 | Pitchfork Media". pitchfork.com. September 18, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  30. Zeger, Eli (August 9, 2017). "The 10 Best No Wave Albums To Own On Vinyl - Vinyl Me, Please". Vinyl Me, Please. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  31. "ESG – Come Away with ESG (1983, Vinyl)". Discogs.

References
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