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The other day I found a box of random tools and cassettes that lived in the back of my band’s old tour van for years. I have randomly chosen a few (that still work) reviewed them below.
AC-DC – High Voltage (ATCO)
Their first record, still my favorite because they hadn’t abandoned volume yet. Much rawer than Powerage or Dirty Deeds, and not as many sexual innuendos. This cassette was stuck in our van’s tape deck from the winter of 2004 to summer of 2005, so we all became intimately familiar with it. The original tape in question was thrown out of the window somewhere in Nevada by an angry girl, so another was made in it’s likeness. It stands proudly as a tribute to the original High Voltage, the one tape to rule them all. May it rest in peace forever.
Suicide Commandos – Make A Record (Mercury)
Their one and only full length record, originally released on Blank Records in 1978. Proto-punk garage band from Minneapolis who definitely influenced The Replacements and Hüsker Dü. Great batch of songs. Incredible rhythm section, super raw guitars that are recorded nice and loud.
Wrangler Brutes – Cassette (Wrangler Brutes Records)
Still in the running for “greatest cassette made by a white person”, going on almost ten years.
The Dils – Class War (Bacchus)
The Dils are great early punk from L.A., I have practically worn this tape down to nothing. They recorded their first demo tape in 1977 and quickly put out two EP’s that same year, one on Dangerhouse and one for What Records.
Fucked Up – Epics In Minutes (Deranged)
Haven’t heard this CD in probably five years. I almost forgot how incredible some of these early EP’s are. Songs like “Baiting” and “Police” are the proof that this band is wholly capable of destroying shit when they want to. And when the mood strikes them and they want to be Yes they’re pretty good at that too. If you’ve never heard this band you need to see this video. Moby talks about Youth of Today, Vampire Weekend covers the Descendents and Fucked Up covers Cro-Mags with *John Joseph singing.
All – Allroy Saves (CRUZ)
This is the 2nd studio ALL record with Scott Reynolds singing. Haven’t heard this in probably eight or nine years but Stephen, Karl and Bill sound incredible on this record. I love Descendents and ALL, but at times they can test my patience. Their emotional highs (“Can’t Say”, “Dot”, “Cause”) are unbelievable, but their lows (“Just Living”, “Nobodys”, “Scary Sad”) can be such bummers. “Sum” balances everything perfectly. “Crawdad” is genius, “Educated Idiot” is great. That song has to be about Fort Collins, although I’m pretty sure they were still living in Missouri when they recorded this. “College Town”, recorded with Chad Price is definitely about Fort Collins. Super psyched to see Descendents in January!
Harsh Buzz – Demo (self released)
My friend and former bandmate Ben played guitar and sang in this band a few years ago. This is their only release, it is a blue cassette tape that is housed in a single sheet of sandpaper. They played two or three shows here in Denver, one of which was just them playing a 24 minute version of The Stooges I Wanna Be Your Dog. Musically the demo is is pretty extreme: lots of distorted vocals and a snare drum that sounds exactly like a bullwhip. Perfect for torture chambers or children’s birthday parties. Think The Pain Teens after surviving a hideous car wreck. The choice to house this tape in sandpaper proved to be an interesting choice. Considering that it’s designed to purposefully ruin the thing you place it next to, it maintains a certain fuck-you-motherfucker quality that is undeniable. The act of opening the damn thing to retrieve the cassette from within is harrowing, your safety and the safety of the items around you are at risk. These factors make you think twice about songs like “Crossing the Mississippi Blues” and “Holding Hands”.
David Lee Roth – Eat Em’ & Smile (Warner Bros)
Found this in such poor shape. The case and cover were completely covered in some type of chocolate syrup but the tape still worked fine. I love Van Halen, but Dave without Eddie can quickly turn into the sad clown – or in this case the sleazy clown. Eddie without Dave is a travesty and an insult, but at least they didn’t re-record show tunes. People say Steve Vai is technically competent but has no emotion in his playing, which I would agree with. However. What kind of emotion are you supposed to have when you’re playing a song about butts?
Weekend Nachos – cassette (self released)
Powerviolence from Chicago that sounds a lot like Infest. These dudes are great live, but in all honesty I got into punk to get away from metal and violence and power and (strangely enough) this guitar tuning. Although I do love nachos, especially on weekends. How ironic.
Final Conflict – Ashes to Ashes (Tacklebox)
Haven’t heard this in a good ten years, I remember kind of liking it. I’m sure that in 1987 this sound was groundbreaking, but it’s basically just generic crossover now. 20 songs about war that all sound exactly the same. Pusmort put this out in 1987 and I think it’s been reissued a few times. If you like sludgy thrash riffs or songs about smoldering flesh you will love this. Personally, I’m over it. I don’t need to be reminded how fucked up and terrible the world is every 2 and half minutes.
