It's generally understood that box sets are intended for two types of consumer: neophytes and/or completists/zealots. Neophytes want a representative overview of an artist's work, while completists want all the rarities and unreleased material contained in most box sets (what's the point in buying music you already have). A 100 Flowers Bloom will appeal to some GOF disciples because it does contain a some previously unavailable material (previously unreleased songs, re-mixes, live recordings, etc.). But for neophytes, this is a disorganized and largely redundant collection of music.

First, it's at best questionable that GOF deserve a box set. It's generally agreed by all but the most zealous fans that GOF made two essential albums: Their debut, Entertainment! (1979) and it's slightly weaker (though still excellent) follow-up, Solid Gold (1981). GOF's subsequent albums range from marginal to lousy. Since much of Entertainment! and Solid Gold is available on the excellent single-disc compilation, A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (1990), is an 140-minute, two disc box set really necessary?

The first problem with 100 Flowers is it's sequencing. Unless, I'm missing a really subtle theme or plan, the tracks aren't sequenced in any meaningful order, but seemingly at random. If they were arranged chronologically, we could at least see more clearly how GOF developed over time. Instead, the sequencing seems disorganized, without regard to time, theme, or anything else. Secondly, 100 Flowers draws more or less equally from all GOF's albums; we get an over-generous amount of great, mediocre, and egregious material. Ultimately, 100 Flowers is too unnecessarily long and haphazardly arranged for the neophyte.

What about the completist? While I'm sure some will defend this release because it does contain previously unavailable tracks, that material is probably of limited interest, even to the most devoted zealot. GOF was supposedly formidable in concert, but you wouldn't know it from the live tracks assembled here; most are languid compared to their studio counterparts (the poor sound quality doesn't help either). And the remixes? While one or two definetly improve on the original version (notably, "I parade myself"), most aren't terribly interesting. The previously unreleased songs? A couple are worthy of GOF's early work (though none are as good as anything on Entertainment!), but they only compose a minimal amount of the material in this bloated collection.

Apart from the tracks taken from Entertainment! and Solid Gold, the only other worthwhile aspect of 100 Flowers is the accompanying booklet by fan Jon Savage, who describes GOF's history with great detail and insight. I'm sure most completists already have this, so I'll direct my closing comments to neophytes:....A Brief History of the Twentieth Century is a more economical and efficient introduction. Even an import copy of Entertainment! (which costs nearly as much) is still a better value than this unnecessary box set.

First of all let me just state for the record that Gang of Four is one the greatest bands of any era, in any genre. As Michael Stipe put it, "Entertainment (Go4's first album) shredded everything that came before it."

The absolutely must have Gang of Four CD is the Entertainment release on American that includes the yellow EP. They got *most* of the good stuff on this, but I can't live without "Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time" and the missing tracks from Entertainment.

BTW, it sure is cool they got Hugo Burnham's comments up here. I'm a drummer and Hugo changed my life. Nice job Amazon.

Really loved it! The unreleased music proved enlightening. Theykicked on "If I could keep it for myself." This song sums up the Gang of Four's superfunk talent. "Anthrax" is especially hot! The band meshed vocals and instrumental ordinance with precision and textured with controlled feedback from Gill's guitar. "He'd Send in the Army" proved the band's musical unity. The song is painstakingly fragmented, rythmically disjointed, yet totally cohesive.

Okay, so I'm not a die-hard Gang of Four fan. In fact, this package is the first of their recordings I've ever owned. I'll preface this review with that tidbit of info. And having said that, I think it's a great collection.

I'm one who's all for career-spanning retrospectives. I like to know a history of a band, to hear their evolution. And ultimately, there's gonna be stuff in a band's career that perhaps isn't up to par with other stuff, but, it's still a part of their history. Besides, can you name any band that has 5-star stuff their whole career? And anyway, I like a lot of the newer stuff that's on here, like "Better Him Than Me" and a couple of others.

And in comparison to "A Brief History of the 20th Century" yes it's more expensive, but you get twice the music, and with the exception of "We Live As We Dream, Alone" you get everything from that CD on this one (albeit that song seems to be somewhat glaring in its omission). You get some different versions here and there, but certainly not bad ones.

And for all those complaining about the sequencing - who cares?! Good lord. It's more interesting to hear it jump from album to album anyway...

All in all, you get a complete history of the band, plus a great booklet, too.

Whilst I can understand the previous reviewer's viewpoint, I cannot agree with it. GANG OF FOUR are one of the most enduring of bands from Britain's Punk explosion of the late '70's. All of their albums had plenty to offer, to a greater or lesser degree, right up to and including 1995's "Shrinkwrapped" [which is possibly my fave].

From my persepctive their material is represented in proportion to its merit, hence "Mall" gets only minor exposure whilst tracks from their first and last albums get much greater prominence. I'm not much for remixes or old material that was never considered worthy of release in its time so these offerings do little for me. Their earlier compilation would get my thumbs up except that it does not include tracks from their later work which is easily as good as their original releases. This double CD is a great insight into the strength and power of one of the most influential groups of the modern era.