HEATHEN EARTH

Throbbing Gristle recorded an intimidating number of their early live shows, but the twin issues of less advanced live recording technology (particularly at their budget) and highly variable recording conditions meant that the resulting mass of cassette releases ended up being highly variable in quality. Heathen Earth seems to have been an attempt to produce a "definitive" live album by simply not quite recording it live; by performing in their own studio before a select group of fans, they could control the recording conditions far better than they could in some unfamiliar sports hall somewhere.

That said, I think the exercise reveals Throbbing Gristle as a band of emperors without clothes; it feels less than the sum of its parts, like their particular noise-sickness industrial schtick had already run its course. The impending breakup and reconfiguration into various subsequent projects could not have come at a better time.