Editing Gang of Four (band) (section)

=== Later years (1980–1983) ===
In 1981, the band released their second LP, ''[[Solid Gold (album)|Solid Gold]]''. Like ''[[Entertainment!]]'', the album was uncompromising, spare, and analytical. King's lyrics in such songs as "Cheeseburger", "He'd Send in the Army" and "In the Ditch" exposed the paradoxes of warfare, work and leisure. Van Gosse, in a ''[[The Village Voice|Village Voice]]'' review said: "Gang of Four embody a new category in pop, which illuminates all the others, because the motor of their aesthetic is not a 'personal creative vision.'"

Dave Allen (who later co-founded [[Shriekback]], [[King Swamp]], [[Low Pop Suicide]] and [[the Elastic Purejoy]]) had left in 1981, and had been briefly replaced by [[Busta Jones|Busta "Cherry" Jones]], a sometime player with [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]], [[Brian Eno]] and [[Talking Heads]]. After working with Gang of Four to complete their North American tour obligations, Jones left and was replaced by [[Sara Lee (musician)|Sara Lee]], who was [[Robert Fripp]]'s bassist in [[the League of Gentlemen (band)|the League of Gentlemen]]. Lee was as good a singer as bassist, and she helped give the band's third studio album, ''[[Songs of the Free]]'', a more commercially accessible element. Although "I Love a Man in a Uniform" from the album was the band's most radio-friendly song, it was banned in the UK shortly after its release because Britain went to war in the Falkland Islands. In the spring of 1983, Burnham left the band after the release of ''Songs of the Free'' and formed [[Illustrated Man (band)|Illustrated Man]]. Gill and King continued Gang of Four, releasing ''[[Hard (Gang of Four album)|Hard]]'' in 1983.

After that, the band broke up, and Lee moved to the United States where she has worked with a number of artists, including [[The B-52's]], [[Ryuichi Sakamoto]], and [[Ani DiFranco]].

1986 saw the release of ''The Peel Sessions'', a collection of rawly rendered material recorded during the period 1979 to 1981 for British radio BBC. [[Melody Maker]] dubbed the album "a perfect and classic nostalgia trip into the world of gaunt cynicism."