Penis Envy (album)

Infobox Album | Name = Penis Envy
Type = Album
Artist = Crass


Released = 1981
Recorded = December, 1980
Genre = Punk rock/Anarcho Punk
Length = 32:50
Label = Crass Records
Producer = Crass
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:5cotk6ax9krg link]
Last album = "Stations of the Crass" (1979)
This album = "Penis Envy" (1981)
Next album = "Christ – The Album" (1982)|

"Penis Envy", released in 1981, was the third LP by anarchist punk band Crass.

Named as a reference to some of Freud's ideas concerning sexuality, this release marked something of a departure from the somewhat 'macho', 'hardcore punk' image that "The Feeding of the 5000" and its follow up "Stations of the Crass" had to some extent given the group, for it featured more obviously complex musical arrangements, as well as exclusively female vocals provided by Eve Libertine and Joy De Vivre (although Steve Ignorant remained a group member and is credited on the record sleeve as "not on this recording"). The album addressed feminist issues and once again attacked the institutions of 'the system' such as marriage and sexual repression.

One track, not actually listed on the album cover, was a deliberately sacharine (described in fact by the band themselves as "pure, unadulterated shit") parody of a "MOR" love song entitled "Our Wedding" [http://www.southern.com/southern/label/CRC/09410.html] . This was given away as a flexi disc with a teenage girl's romance magazine called "Loving" after having been offered it by an organisation calling itself "Creative Recording And Sound Services" (note the initials). A minor tabloid furore erupted once the hoax was revealed, with the News of the World going so far as to state that the album's title was "too obscene to print" (a leaflet giving the background to this Situationist-style prank was subsequently issued by the band [http://www.southern.com/southern/label/CRC/leaflet3.html] ). Now the disc is a collectors item fetching high prices on the collectors market.

During the mid 1980s copies of this album were seized, along with other records by Flux Of Pink Indians and The Dead Kennedys, by Greater Manchester Police from Eastern Bloc record shop, which was charged with displaying "Obscene Articles For Publication For Gain".

Track listing

#"Bata Motel"
#"Systematic Death"
#"Poison In A Pretty Pill"
#"What The Fuck?"
#"Where Next Columbus?"
#"Berkertex Bribe"
#"Smother Love"
#"Health Surface"
#"Dry Weather"
#"Our Wedding" (unlisted track, also released as a flexi disc (see above))

Line up

#Eve Libertine - Vocals
#Joy De Vivre - Vocals on "Health Service"
#Phil Free - Lead Guitar
#B.A.Nana - Rhythm Guitar
#Pete Wright - Bass
#Penny Rimbaud - Drums
#G - Harmonium on "What the Fuck?"
#CRASS Member not on this recording - Steve Ignorant.
#Paintings by G
#Design by Exitstencil Press.

External links

* [http://www.southern.com/southern/label/CRC/07006.html Crass Discography (Penis Envy)]
* [http://www.punkbands.com/lyrics/bands/crass/envy.htm Crass - Penis Envy lyrics]
* [http://members.tripod.com/~pdebow/cr1.html for lyrics]