ARTIST: Gossip 
TITLE: That’s Not What I Heard
YEAR RELEASED: 2001
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: None
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Just Kill Rock Star label fanatics, no doubt, have heard this.
LINEUP: Beth Ditto, Brace Paine, Kathy Mendonca
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Original garage punk album from the now-popular (in the UK) trio.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Rough, raw, ragged and raucous. Those are the words that come into mind when hearing Gossip’s debut. Ditto was already a force in her vocals, proudly stating her world-view as loudly and boldly as possible.
This record got them lumped into the same area code as the early White Stripes, which I can hear a little bit of. It’s true that both bands use stripped down instrumentation to make their clatter – but Gossip’s songs are more direct and less varied, at least on this record.
After a while, the songs blur and whir together which kind of lessens their impact. Ditto and crew don’t really have much of a change-up – fastballs all the way.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: They had an earlier EP on K records, which was even rawer.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B-: There’s some hot cuts, but it wore on me after a while.
