Everybody's A Liar

The Brood
In Spite of It All

There was a band called The Brood that formed sometime in the mid-80s that featured a few guys who would later be in Suicidal Tendencies. This isn't that band. These guys/gals also formed in the mid-80s, but were pretty far removed from the California crossover scene. An old friend of mine turned me on to these guys when we were talking about The Dwarves once. He told me The Brood weren't too far removed from early Dwarves. Upon first listen, I thought he was nuts, but then I realized he meant early Dwarves. Like Horror Stories-era Dwarves. So yeah, he was totally right. Warbly, creepy, sleazy garage rock, slathered in reverb.

In Spite of It All

You & Me (Less than Zero)

Various
Less Than Zero OST
1987

I've been on a bit of a Danzig kick for a week or so. It started as a Samhain kick, and then before I knew it I was full on into the Danzig years. I'm trying to listen to everything after Danzig III with an open mind, as I've never paid any attention to that stuff. Love those first three records, though.

Anyway, this soundtrack features Glenn Danzig in full-on schmaltzy night club singer mode, doing a sort of precursor to Lucifuge's "Blood and Tears". The Power Fury orchestra backing Sir Glenn is the original lineup of Danzig, minus Eerie Von and plus George Drakoulias.

Other notable tracks here are Slayer's cover of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (seriously), The Bangles' fantastic "Hazy Shade of Winter" cover, and Poison fucking "Rock'n'Roll" right in the pooper. Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise" is here without Scott Ian whiting it up. Oh shit, "Goin' Back to Cali" is on here too, so it's got that going for it.

All in all, this is a typical shitty soundtrack, but the Danzig and Slayer tracks are shit you gotta hear.

Less than Zero

Big Green Monsters

Various
Make The Collector Nerd Sweat
1989

Here's a classic late-80s punk comp for your ears. This is the shit that was going around when I was first getting into punk rock, and to this day few sounds bring back the nostalgic feeling of being in 8th grade like Jeff Ott's voice over some gnarly Crimpshrine rockout.

But anyway, you know these bands. Mr. T Experience, Crimpshrine, Samiam, Jawbreaker, and The Offspring are household names (in my household anyway). Oh and nevermind the crap they did in the mid-90s, the Offspring song here smokes. The Lookouts featured Larry Livermore from Lookout Records (smart move naming your label after your band, btw), and also Tre Cool on drums. Plaid Retina could'a been contenders. They started out as a sort of crossover thrash band but evolved into great third-tier punk rock. It's a shame they never busted through to the big leagues. Their song here, "Freebird", is actually CCR's "Fortunate Son."

Oh and "Speed" is hands down the best song Samiam ever recorded. Hot shit right there.

The others are bands lost to the sands of punk rock time, but all in all this is a fucking great comp and you're a big dumb twag if you don't download it.

Make The Collector Nerd Sweat

Back in the Real World

Xentrix
Shattered Existence
1989


If you ask me, there are 3 reasons why Xentrix never got popular:

1. Their most well-known song is a cover of "Ghostbusters".
2. They're from England (go ahead and name 1 really good English thrash band).
3. Their name is Xentrix. I mean come on.

Anyway, while not consistently great, they can be very good at times, delivering workhorse thrash that sounds not unlike a more generic version of the bay area stuff (Exodus, Testament, and of course Metallica). Solid production too, which is kind of rare for these third-tier thrash bands.

This is their debut. I really think you're gonna like it.

Shattered Existence

Over the Edge

Alice 'n Chains
demo
1987

Here's a fun little relic of the hair metal era. This pre-grunge-fame version of Alice in Chains featured Layne Stayley and some other dudes. At some point this band folded, Stayley met up with Jerry Cantrell, who was playing in a hair metal band called Diamond Lie at the time. Through a series of events, Stayley joined Diamond Lie, who then changed their name to Alice in Chains. A coupl'a years later they got famous. THE END.

Well not really obv.

Anyway, this demo blows, but "Over the Edge" is pretty rockin'. I wish Diamond Lie had recorded a demo before changing their name, cause I'd love to hear the full AiC lineup doing hair metal. I'd probably like it better than their regular records. Anyway.

Alice 'n Chains demo

Various Artists
A Sides Part One 1979-1982
A Sides Part Two 1982-1984
1992

As promised, here are the two Crass Records singles collections. I got these both in 1993, a time when I was really exploring punk rock beyond the usual "popular" punk bands. I was getting into some of the newer American bands (Screeching Weasel especially, a favorite to this day), a few old hardcore bands (Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, the bands on that one live NY hardcore comp...what was that called? It had Token Entry, Rest in Pieces, No for an Answer and one other band if I recall), and was just starting to discover some of the stuff from England. I'd been a fan of the Buzzcocks and the Damned for a while, but had just recently become pretty obsessed with Crass. When I stumbled across part one of this comp, there were just enough recognizable names on the disc to get me to plunk down my money. I knew Conflict (I had their live album, Turning Rebellion into Money and a 7") and Captain Sensible. Cool artwork, done deal.

Turns out this stuff was a pretty different breed from the punk, English or American, that I was familiar with at the time. Stuff like Honey Bane, Poison Girls, and The Snipers sounded really out there to my young ears. There's not a song on this one I don't like (though I do usually skip the Annie Anxiety track if I'm being honest). When I posted The Poison Girls record a while back, I mentioned their song on this comp. It's great, and sort of sounds like it could've fit onto side 2 of Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare. For real.

I finally found the second volume while I was on vacation with my family in Florida. The only band I recognized on this one was MDC, but I loved the first one so much I knew I wouldn't be disappointed, and I was right. Anthrax, Omega Tribe, Sleeping Dogs, and Hit Parade all blew me away, and the Lack of Knowledge song on here is probably one of my favorite punk songs ever. Just a really awesome song.

Anyway, I'll admit now what I wouldn't then: the politics these bands were spouting were completely lost on me. I knew there was a general anti-system, anti-capitalism, anti-government stance, and that was enough. I've managed to tune out most of the politics in the music I like over the years (there are some bands I couldn't tolerate otherwise), so the fact that Crass Records considered itself a political movement as much as a punk label matters not at all to me, one way or the other. I liked the songs, the art was great, and it fed into my teenage angst at the time just fine.

For some of these bands, the songs here are all I've heard. Aside from the bands I've already posted, I've got music by Lack of Knowledge, Conflict, Rudimentary Peni, MDC, Omega Tribe, Hit Parade, and Zounds. For the most part, none of it has grabbed me the way these tracks did when I first heard them. Something about these collections, their general weirdness, and the totally foreign imagery and language scratched me right where I itched when I was 15, and so they still do now. Maybe you'll dig it too.

A Sides Part One 1979-1982
A Sides Part Two 1982-1984

The Parents of God

The Snipers
Three Piece Suite
1980

I don't know much about The Snipers. I think this might be their only release, though I'm pretty sure there's an unreleased full length floating around out there that you can stumble across. I first heard "The Parents of God" on the Crass Records comp A Sides Part One, which I bought at Camelot Records at one of the local malls back in 1994. That comp and it's sequel are two records that hit me very hard at the time and still pull in big waves of nostalgia when I put them on (like right now, for example). Next week I'll post them both. I've already posted stuff from Anthrax, Poison Girls, and Flux (of Pink Indians), all of which I first heard on these comps.

Anyway, here are 3 songs from The Snipers, sounding like a Crass Records version of early stuff by The Cure, only lazier and weirder. "Killing An Arab" comes to mind. Check it out.

Three Piece Suite

Blood I Bleed

Détente
Recognize No Authority
1986

The other day, friend and frequent poster in the comment section here on the blog JoyAnna Banana sent me an e-mail inquiring about metal bands with women in them. Turns out there are a few! Détente featured a woman named Dawn Crosby on vocals, delivering a thrash squeal that would make Nuclear Assault's John Connelly proud. On guitar is a guy named Ross Robinson who made a name for himself in the 90s by producing a bunch of really awful records, including Sepultura's Roots, some Korn records, and Vanilla Ice's forgotten rap-metal record Hard to Swallow (and it was, btw, hard to swallow). Also, one of the drummers for Machinehead was in this band at one point too.

Anyway, their lineup could be described as a revolving door, and Crosby died in 1996. Some version of the band has carried on with a different singer or two, and I think they just recently released another record, but I haven't heard it. This one's pretty good though.

Recognize No Authority

Cattle Mutilation

Rigor Mortis
Freaks
1989

Rigor Mortis featured future Ministry guitarist Mike Scaccia, something that's evident from the first notes on Freaks. Scaccia left Rigor Mortis in 1991 to join Ministry, and he's played off and on with Al ever since (though most notably on Psalm 69). He's an incredibly fast riffer. If you've heard Ministry's "TV Song" or "TV II", then you've heard some signature Scaccia speed. That shit's all over this EP. Also in the ranks is Casey Orr, who you might better know as Beefcake the Mighty from GWAR.

This is a killer thrash record. Get it.

edit: I got a report that the zip was corrupt, so I just re-uploaded it. Someone let me know if there are any more problems.

Freaks

Grande Days

Most People Are Dicks

Ludichrist
Immaculate Deception
1987

Ludichrist were a corny hardcore/metal crossover band from New York. This is a frustrating album, because there are some real nuggets of greatness throughout, but sometimes they try to be groovy or whatever, and those parts are really bad. Also, many claim this album features the very first metal/hip-hop combo in the song "Green Eggs and Ham," because, you know, the world really needed rapping over bad metal riffs, not to mention a heavy version of "Green Eggs and Ham."

But, you know, don't let all that discourage you. When they cut the bullshit and play fast, this stuff is good, and with 19 songs, surely you can find some good ones. Plus, some of this stuff is pretty funny ("Green Eggs and Ham" notwithstanding). Oh, by the way, after Ludichrist broke up, the singer and guitarist (Tommy Christ and Glen Cummings, respectively) grabbed a new rhythm section and renamed themselves Scatterbrain, who you might remember from their minor Headbanger's Ball hit "Don't Call Me Dude." If anyone out there has the first Scatterbrain record and can upload it for me, please leave me a comment. There's a good song on there w/ John Connelly from Nuclear Assault guesting.

edit: holy shit I forgot to mention that "Green Eggs and Ham" goes into RUN-DMC's "Rock Box" about half-way through, and given that that song came out in 1984, it sort of calls into question the whole "first rap/metal song" thing.

Immaculate Deception

Flaming Heart

DiAnno
DiAnno
1984




Gogmagog
I Will Be There
1985


Iron Maiden's first two records are punky, rough-around-the-edges metal with a leather-and-studs biker vein running through them, so you'd expect that, seeing how polished and sophisticated (for lack of a better word) their material became with Bruce Dickinson, Paul DiAnno was bringing that tougher sound to the table. So it would stand to reason that his post-Maiden music would be tough, aggressive, and pretty rocking.

Funny how that worked out.

Here's his first post-Maiden record, a cheese-slathered mix of mid-80s rock and synthesizer power-balladry. If you're a fan of 80s inspirational soundtrack rock (and who isn't?), then you'll dig this. Some of it's pretty crappy, but it's interesting if nothing else.

As a bonus, I'm also throwing in Gogmagog's I Will Be There ep, which also featured DiAnno on vocals, former Maiden drummer Clive Burr, and future Maiden guitarist Jannick Gers. This ep isn't too far off from the DiAnno record, but all three songs are good. It's much catchier and not quite as cheesy. It's a shame this is the only thing they ever released.

DiAnno and I Will Be There

Test the Steel

Powermad
Absolute Power
1989

Here's another prime piece of forgotten thrash for you. These guys are pretty talented, I gotta say. Great rhythms and top-notch wanking on the gitter. Joel Dubay's vocals aren't too far off from Flotsam and Jetsam's Eric A.K., though he tends to alternate the higher-pitched, clearer style vocals with a more traditional 80s gruff thrash vocal style. Powermad is from Minneapolis. Off hand I can't think of another metal band from Minneapolis. I first heard these guys around the time this album came out because they used to advertise in Metal Edge and Circus and those type of magazines, and my old friend Ryan ordered their cassette based on one of those ads. We thought they sounded a lot like Metallica, though I don't necessarily hear that any more.

Hey, you know, listening to this record for some reason reminded me of a conversation I had years ago with my buddy Eric about the difference between thrash metal and speed metal. At the time I maintained that it was a difference in vocals: gruff vocals meant it was thrash, clear or high-pitched vocals meant speed metal. I don't really feel that way any more, and so I ask you: is there any difference between speed and thrash, or are they just two names for the same thing (with speed metal falling out of favor over the years)?

Absolute Power

Under the Rose

Kiss
Music from the Elder
1981

I'll try to keep this brief, but understand my love for this record is almost unparalleled. Let's look at the facts:
1. I love KISS. I mean, they are seriously my absolute favorite band ever. No one else is even close.
2. I love Bob Ezrin, particularly his work in the 70s, when he was pushing bands up and up and producing these huge, ambitious projects (some of which were total failures, *cough*maybe like this one*cough*)
3. I love it when bands do weirdo records that are totally out of sync with the rest of their catalog, as this blog is a testament to.

So maybe you can understand why this album is so dear to me. I love it. I mean, it's like a desert island album for me. Not like a "so bad it's good" thing, either. I genuinely love it.

Some background for the uninitiated: Kiss was at an all-time low in the late 70s. Peter Criss had left, and they'd just released the two worst-selling records of their career, the wrongly maligned Dynasty and the rightly maligned Unmasked. Peter hadn't played much on either of those, but they'd finally officially replaced him with the phenomenal Eric Carr (The Fox) and had promised fans a return to the straight-up rock'n'roll of their earlier records. Eric Carr was just the kick in the pants they needed, too. He was a much heavier drummer than his predecessor (and probably the most talented guy to ever play in Kiss), and they were in the perfect position to reclaim their glory. They called in Bob Ezrin, who'd produced the wildly successful Destroyer to helm the board, and Ezrin inexplicably convinced them to do a concept record. He was hot off of doing Pink Floyd's The Wall. That's the only explanation. The record bombed so hard it's a wonder the band persevered. They didn't even tour for it. Given the way future members were treated, it's a wonder Eric Carr wasn't fired on the spot. Ace Frehly had had enough at this point and bolted for a solo career.

At any rate, this album was downright legendary when I was a kid. It was out of print (or, barring that, very, very hard to find) and was widely considered a joke. My brother tracked it down through a mail-order company, and was so disgusted by it that he purposely scratched it and sent it back. They knew the deal, though, and promptly sent it right back, and that very album is sitting in my record bin a foot or so away from me as I type.

So why the beef? It doesn't sound like Kiss. It's not particularly rock'n'roll, really. Gene Simmons once said that it sounded like a bad Genesis record. Paul Stanley, clearly exhibiting the better taste of the two, once said that it was a good record, just not a good Kiss record. But it was the perfect soundtrack to my young-life of being obsessed with The Legend of Zelda and The Hobbit and crap like that. That's definitely the vibe I get. Does it sound like Kiss? Not really. Is it a failure? Probably. But I still love these songs, and I truly wish the band would treat this album with a tad more respect. Some of these songs are just incredible. "The Oath" is one of the heaviest songs in the band's catalog, certainly the heaviest up to that point. "Just A Boy" is good for reasons I can't quite explain. And "Escape from the Island" is the first Kiss instrumental since their debut record 8 years (and 8 albums, not including live and solo records [which brings up a crazy point about how prolific this band was in the 70s. From 1972 to 1980 they released 8 studio albums, 2 live albums, and 4 solo albums for a total of 14 records in 8 years]) earlier.

Oh, by the way, maybe you're familiar with the 33 1/3 book series (books dedicated to specific albums, written by music journalists, musicians, etc). There are like 70 of them at this point, but back in 2005 they were gearing up to do the second or third run and sent out a call for idea submissions, and I promptly threw my hat in the ring for this record. For the intitial screening (which preceded the official pitch), the editor, David Barker, responded with something along the lines of, "Yeah, huh, not many people like that album." Needless to say, my book isn't on the shelves.

But I demand this record be given a second chance. And I guess I didn't keep this brief after all. But trust me, there's a lot of stuff in my head that I didn't type.

Music from the Elder

Kill The King

Masters of Reality
Masters of Reality
1988

Chris Goss is the unsung hero of the desert rock scene that gave us Kyuss and its many offspring. Goss produced the three Kyuss records that matter, and his influence is strong even on current Queens of the Stone Age stuff. That whole oddball, bluesy rock thing w/ the smooth vocals over top that QOTSA does is lifted from Goss's playbook. You already know all of this, I'm sure, so I'll get to the point.

Masters of Reality is Goss's band. They've had a revolving door of a lineup over the years (that's included all the usual suspects [Homme, Oliveri, Lanegan, Catching] as well as Ginger Fucking Baker) and have released 6 or 8 records or so. This is the first album, and it's nuts that this came out 21 years ago. Awesome heavy blues rock that is a hundred times better than anything termed "blues rock" should be. "The Candy Song" was a minor Headbanger's Ball hit. Dig it.

Masters of Reality

Doctor Phibes Rises Again

Kryst The Conqueror
Deliver Us From Evil
Unreleased

Ok. Oof. This is a rough one. Let's just power through it.

After The Misfits disbanded, Jerry Only and Doyle formed this weird metal band called Kryst The Conqueror. Jeff Scott Soto, at the time known as the guy who sang on the first coupl'a Yngwie Malmsteen records and later as one of the dudes who fronted Journey, did the vocals. The bottom line is, he sucks shit on this record. But until the legal dispute between Danzig and the Caiafa bros was resolved, this was "The Misfits". Once they regained control of the name, they basically found a new singer (drummer Dr. Chud was already on board), and released American Psycho (which, at the risk of losing readers, is a record I love).

They never got around to releasing this, though an EP was released that had some of this stuff on it. The bottom line is that knowing this is two of the guys from The Misfits definitely knocks it down a few pegs. HOWEVER, if it wasn't, this is exactly the sort of dumb shit I'd post on this blog anyway. It's corny metal, full of triumphant melodies and silly dark vocals and lyrics. It's not good, but come on, it's not that bad either.

I think they were trying to be a Christian band too, which is totally wtf.

But hey! Whatever, you know I dig this kind of corniness. And a coupl'a these songs are really similar to stuff The Misfits 2.0 did, particularly "Doctor Phibes Rises Again", of which the opening portion appeared as the opening track for American Psycho, only renamed "The Abominable Dr. Phibes". Come on, you know you want to give this one a try.

Deliver Us From Evil

The Stonecutter

Flux
Uncarved Block
1987

When the American punk bands of the late 70s and 80s got a few albums into their careers, they tended to start noodling with heavy metal. When British punk bands of the late 70s and 80s got a few albums into their careers, they started going into all weirdo tribal dance music. Consider Flux of Pink Indians, whose debut, Strive to Survive Causing the Least Suffering Possible is a prime piece of anarcho-punk, and whose sophomore album, The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks is just about the most chaotic, noisiest punk record I've ever heard. By 1987, though, they'd shortened their name, toned down their message, and started beating on bongos and pots and pans and stuff. This was their last album, but not because it blows or anything, though I'm not sure how their fans (all 15 of them) took this shift in style. I dig it, anyway.

Uncarved Block

Not Straight Edge

Plain Wrap!
Original Music for a Generic World
1985

A lot of my early exposure to punk rock came from the GA Tech student-run radio station WREK's weekly punk show Coup de Grace. Between it and their metal show, Wrekage (mentioned a time or two already on this blog), WREK had a huge influence on the development of my musical taste. I used to tape each show weekly, and then compile the songs onto 90-minute mix tapes and listen to them over and over. I wish I still had some. I have one tape of Coup de Grace still (an all-covers show), but alas no tape player.

One of the songs that I played endlessly was Plain Wrap!'s "Not Straight Edge", though for the longest time I thought it was "Non-Straight Edge". Not that it makes much of a difference. At any rate, these guys play super-energetic, poppy, new-wave punk of the mid-80s variety. This is a fun, energetic record. Recommended.

Oh, these guys have recently reunited to play some shows, though I'm not sure they've made it outside of California. But if you seem 'em coming around, go check them out. I know I will.

Original Music for a Generic World

Here Comes The Wrecking Crew

Black Death
Black Death
1984

Cleveland, Ohio's Black Death might be the first all African-American metal band, putting their own twist on the term Black Metal. Of course, they don't play Black Metal, though, so maybe that joke isn't really funny. At any rate, coming off like the bastard punk child of Thin Lizzy and Motorhead, with a little King Diamond thrown in for good measure, Black Death will rip your limbs off and beat you with them. It's sloppy and corny, but it destroys none the less.

Black Death

Escape and Run

7 Seconds
Ourselves
1988

By the late 80s, 7 Seconds' sharp hardcore edge had been dulled considerably. Gone were the fast tempos and crunchy guitars, and in their place were shimmery, overprocessed guitar jangles and catchy, mid-tempo melodies. But hey, that's all right. Their transition album was New Wind, which, while a departure from their earlier sound, still managed to produce a coupl'a their best tracks (most notably "Still Believe" and the title track). Ourselves, the third record after Walk Together, Rock Together, is the most fully realized of their indie-pop sound. Frankly, Kevin Seconds voice is pretty well suited to this style anyway. And while it's hard to compare it to the aforementioned posi-core masterpiece, it is still very good for what it is. With a different production, this album could've been an influential piece of emo-core history (I definitely hear a little Texas is the Reason in "Escape and Run"...or I guess the other way around...whatever). One odd note is how the band seems to be publicly saying goodbye to their hardcore roots on the final track on this album, "Seven Years", which not only features the refrain "Why'd it take so long? It's time to move along," but also revives the line "If we can walk together, why can't we rock together." And then they dropped the pop thing and went back to playing hardcore like 3 years later for their next album, Out the Shizzy. So maybe what was meant to be closing the door on their hardcore years was actually closing the door on this little jangle pop experiment.

Either way, this is a good album from a somewhat wrongly maligned time in 7 Seconds' career. Listen w/ an open mind.

Ourselves