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RECORD REVIEWS OR SOUNDS TO BE SAVED
BY, BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!!!!!
F Through L
Included is a rating system that is from † to †††††
Well here it is Rancid's 4th record and no one seems to care and to be truthful they shouldn't care. Their time in the sun seems to have come and gone and in comes the clouds of sellout and hasbeens. Even if all the talk that has surrounded this band is all just bullshit and the ney sayers seem to have missed the point that they did stay with Epitaph when they could have made a hell of alot more money with everyone from Sony to Maverick. The thing that runs through my head is why the hell did they even bother. Is it really that bad or do I just think the Clash did it soooooooooo much better? Well, yes the Clash did it so much better. Yes what you've heard is true, this record can be summed up as Rancid's do the Clash's Sandanista without the filler.
††1/2
Epitaph Records 2798 Sunset
Blvd/Los Angels, CA 90026
86497-2
Social Distortion - Live at the Roxy
Ok
the biggest question is why SD hasn't done a live record before this. I mean
they've been around for like 20 years now. The first thing you notice about
this record is that if you've seen SD, Mike says the same shit between songs
everytime they play. Other then that, this is the tightest record they may have
ever done. With 14 of their best songs and their two best covers. Tt's Due in
part to the fact that this may will be the best line-up they have ever had.
Could it be that the reason "Somewhere......." sucked compared to "White
Heat..." is the addition of Chuck Biscuts (I heard he told Mike to Fuck off
when he told him to cut his hair. Cool I always hated the whole suckass greaser
Sick Boy shit.).
There is a good mix of old and new, much like they are live. You got the Old stuff that we all drunk cheap beer in darkend parking lots while bitching about how much our town sucked like Mass Hysteria, Another State of Mind, Telling them, Under my Thumb, 1945 and Mommy's Little Monsters. Also there's all the songs we sat on bar stools drinking Imported beer while bitching about how much our town sucked like Ball and Chain, Cold Feelings, Prison Bound, Let It Be Me, Bad Luck, I was Wrong and Ring of Fire. I've been seeing and listening to this band through all the phases of my life and I'll tell ya I've in one form or another lived these songs much in the same way as X.
††††
Time Bomb Records
70930-49516-2
The Teenage Frames - More Songs, Less Music
There is a few bands that
just shake you out of whatever shitty ass mood you may be in and put you into a
stupid, smile on your face mood. They have that hip mid 60s/70s mod sound that
made bands like the Who, the Stones and the Jam. The boys from Chicago have all
the Teenage anthems to shake away your blues.
The only complaint that I can give ya, is that recording levels are a bit low. Which means that this record must be played at high volume. Some of the power of their live (in person feel) is lost. In other words I don't feel the record shows their full potential. This of course has to be taken with a grain of salt, that this is a DIY self produced item. In many ways a tease and makes seeing them even better.
†††
CD01/ROCK & ROLL
RECORDS/2354 S Goebbert RD #2061/Arlington Hts., IL 600005/708-640-9112
I think we all grew a little
tired of all the Fat Wreck New School bands almost as quickly as we got sick of
the 8.000,000 Moon Ska Bands but there is always a few that out shine the rest
and Welt (even though they are not on Fat Wreck) do just that. There are those
that go through the motions or cover themselves in a blanket of politics and
then there are those that stand naked against the storm and let you in on what
is inside, Welt does just that, time and time again. They let you make their
songs your own and things seem a little less lonely. They make you understand
that we are all fighting the same battles. All over tight melodic punk
rock.
I think my favorite song on this CD is Pop Eater because of the line, "It happened just today, she looked at me that way and I just had to say can I have you all the time." Who hasn't felt that at least once in their life and then lost it. This is the hard part (the highlights) because there really is so many of them. So we'll just name 5: Better Days, Pop Eater, In My Way, Corner Sore, and Lose That Girl.
††††
DD0109/Doctor
Dream Records/841 W collins/Orange, CA 926766
OK, so I have some time to kill and I'm wandering through Best Buy (I know, I know, buying CD's at Best Buy isn't punk, but when you live in Des Moines you get music where you can) getting annoyed by the fact that I can't find anything worth buying. When like a star shinning from the heavens there it was the last release from Welt. Something on Doctor Dream in Best Buy? When's Fearless going to get to that level? So with shaking hands I pulled it from it's little shelf and checked the back to make sure it was the same Welt (how many times has the "Oh there's another band called_____" happened to you). Yes, it was in fact the same Welt so off to the check out and the dirty looks for paying cash in the land of Visa and Master Card.
Well I don't even have to sum up this record cause Welt does it for me with"I'm not going to change for anyone/I'm who I am till I'm dead and gone" from Stand. Though the first Track Broken is a little slower paced then some of the older stuff they still pack a punch that send you spinning toward tomorrow. Sticking to the tried and true 5 highlights I'd say that Lazy, Feel the Same, Everything's Ok Can't believe and Stand shine brightly.
††††
44688-0131-2/Doctor Dream
Records/16331 Gothard St/Suite D/Huntington Beach,CA 92647
X - Beyond And Back/The X Anthology
OK, what can be said about this band that
hasn't already been said? They were such a power in so many lives in the punk
movement. They had and still have been unlike anything that has happened to
music before, now or ever. I remember sitting in my car with my friend Jett
trying to figure out who was the best band from LA and three bands came up over
and over X, The Weirdos and the Germs. It always came down to a three way tie.
When X was at it's best it was not just the greatest punk band on the face of
the earth but the best band on the face of the earth hands down. Even when they
we're going through their less then great points they were still better then
90% of the bands out there. They reported not only what was happening around
them but left in the feeling and background of what was going on in the corner
of their eye. You get the feeling that not only are you experiencing a little
of their life but that you know exactly what it would be like to be there
living those things. Though they have often been labeled with that easily
tossed off title of sellout, they still laid down the truth each and everytime.
Unlike many of their peers of the time and of today they looked past the
political drip and good time rock and wrote about life. I think that I could
talk about Los Angels, Wild Gift or Under the Big Black Sun but why, when the
highlights are all here.
This a 2 disc set that covers from their 1st singel on Daqnger House Records "Adult Books" to "Unclogged". Weighing in at 45 songs it gives a good impression to their over all history. They even threw in a track from the Knitters album (Call of the Wreckin' Ball) and one track from the Knitter's Demo (Someone Like You), (Knitters was a country side project with the Blasters Dave Alvin). There is also some never released songs like YR Ignition, Heater, & Dealt 88. This is full of demos, outtakes, live tracks and releasal tracks. The liner notes are by Who's Who of the LA punk and music scene (Mike Ness, Charlotte Caffey, Henry Rollins, Matt Freeman,Keith Morris, Dix Denney, Falling James,Annette Zilinkska, Jane Wiedlin, Dave Alvin, Rodney Bingenheimer, Pat Smear, Chris D, and etc...). One of the nice added things to this is the band in their own words tell a little bit about the songs. So this makes this a bit more of a historical document then just another "Damn the Balloon payment on the comdo is due" cash in Anthology.
††††
#62403-2/Elektra
Records
When you hear
Zeke for the first time you wonder if these guys can play any faster. The
answer is no. Straight ahead seat of the pants Punk Rock. There is not a thing
about these guys that says new school not a pair of baggy pants in the bunch.
This is the band that would scare all the grungers out of the club. Which is
only fitting since they hail from Seatle (and you thought all the bands from
Seatle played metal riffs and shot herion). This record breaks out ahead, out
of the gate with "Slut", "Quick Sand", heads south with "Runnin' Shine", put a
call in for some "Action" and then slows down for the turn for "Mainline". This
band makes DRI seem like they're driving a Geo 3 banger. So everyone put the
high octane fuel in, buckle up and hit play.
†††
I.F.A. Records/607
Eastlake/Seatle, WA 98109/206-622-7168
O.K. I've been
hearing, for like 2 years, that this record was coming out. The reason may have
something to do with what's going on at Epitaph with Bret and all I've heard
about his "problem". Anyway it's out and it is almost all it promised, fast and
solid punk-n-roll with that Zeke break neck speed. I said almost, because yet
another band has fallen into that bottomless pit of the Kiss cover. I'm sorry
people but I must give you this bitch slap, Kiss is, was, and always will be a
metal band. Make-up or no make-up they still bore the living shit out of me.
Don't justify this love of Kiss by saying that in 74 they were rocking out and
all of that shit because it's not 74 it's 1998. Next you'll be making it OK to
do Great White or Poison covers. It doesn't fit the rest of the songs and
leaves a giant whole in the album. I guess that proves my point if Kiss can't
hold up to a punk band from Seatle they must not be that great. Other than that
this is a must have. 17 songs in about 20 minutes says it all. They're really
one big stand out except for the Kiss cover the songs are all of ther best
quality and speed.
†† (because of the Kiss cover,
otherwise it would have been ††††)
Epitaph Records/2798
Sunset Blvd/Los Angelis,CA 90026
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