Kangaroo?

Kangaroo?
Studio album by
the Red Crayola with Art & Language
Released1981
StudioStudio 80, London, England
Genres
Length39:37
LabelsRough Trade (original release)
Drag City (reissue)
Producers
The Red Crayola with Art & Language chronology
Corrected Slogans
(1976)		 Kangaroo?
(1981)		 Black Snakes
(1983)
The Red Crayola chronology
Soldier-Talk
(1979)		 Kangaroo?
(1981)		 Black Snakes
(1983)
Singles from Kangaroo?
  1. "An Old Man's Dream / The Milkmaid"
    Released: 1981

Kangaroo? is the second collaboration between the experimental rock band the Red Crayola and the conceptual art group Art & Language, released in 1981 by Rough Trade Records. The album was reissued on CD by Drag City in 1995.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStar
Robert ChristgauA−
The Encyclopedia of Popular MusicStarStar
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10

The Rough Guide to Rock wrote that the album contained "quirky, ramshackle songs." The Spin Alternative Record Guide called it "interesting, but ... sort of brittle and too intellectual for its own good."

Charles Hayward of This Heat stated, "But when they did Kangaroo? I just couldn’t get into it. Red Crayola went off into this thing of polemic with musical accompaniment. That's the way with stylistic movements such as punk, by the end they tend to cut off one part of your body and over-emphasise one other part. That's what happened to punk when it became post-punk."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Art & Language and Mayo Thompson.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Kangaroo?"1:35
2."Portrait of V. I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock, Part I"2:55
3."Portrait of V. I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock, Part II"4:47
4."Marches No's 23, 24, 25"2:28
5."Born to Win (Transactional Analysis with Gestalt Experiments)"1:21
6."Keep All Your Friends"2:11
7."The Milkmaid"1:57
8."The Principles of Party Organisation"2:38
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Prisoner's Model"1:56
2."The Mistake of Trotsky"3:14
3."1917"1:15
4."The Tractor Driver"2:36
5."Plekhanov"3:13
6."An Old Man's Dream"2:27
7."If She Loves You"4:29

Personnel

Musicians
Production

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rovi. "Kangaroo?". AllMusic. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  2. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (July 21, 2006). Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. Penguin. ISBN 9780143036722.
  3. ↑ Kenny, Glenn; Grant, Steven; Robbins, Ira (2007). "Red Crayola". Trouser Press. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  4. ↑ Thompson, Dave (July 21, 2000). Alternative Rock. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780879306076.
  5. ↑ "The Red Krayola: Kangaroo?". Drag City. 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  6. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Red Crayola with Art & Language: Kangaroo?". Robert Christgau. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  7. ↑ Larkin, Colin (May 27, 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
  8. 1 2 Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 322–323.
  9. ↑ The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides Ltd. 1999. p. 808.
  10. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2009-02-11). "This Heat Interview by Simon Reynolds: A Totally Wired Outtake". The Quietus. Retrieved 2026-02-25.