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Everything Went Black (1982 SST)
BAND: greg ginn (guitar) - chuck dukowski (bass) - brian migdol (drums) - robo (drums) - keith morris (vocals) - chavo pederast (vocals) - dez cadena (vocals)
TRACKLIST: gimmie gimmie gimmie - don't care - white minority - no values - revenge - depression - clocked in - police story - wasted - gimmie gimmie gimmie - depression - police story - clocked in - my rules - jealous again - police story - damaged I - louie louie - no more - room 13 - depression - damaged II - padded cell - gimmie gimmie gimmie - crass commercialism
REVIEW:
This is a collection of unreleased Black Flag demos and such from the pre-Henry Rollins years of 1978-1982. The first songs feature the distinct voice of future Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris. These are the best tracks on the collection, in my opinion. Fast and angry music...but listening to Morris singing, it just dosen't seem like he fits in as well as an angry Rollins would, especially on a track like the first version of "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie". "Don't Care" ended up being one of the more well known Circle Jerks songs. The last track "Crass Commercialism" is a collage of radio ads that Black Flag put out in the very early days. Some of the stuff is pretty hilarious. This is a good introduction to the pre-Rollins days, but not as good as "The First Four Years", so go for that one first, then check this out.
My War (1983 SST)
BAND: greg ginn (guitar, bass) - henry rollins (vocals) - bill stevenson (drums)
TRACKLIST: my war - can't decide - beat my head against the wall - i love you - forever time - the swinging man - nothing left inside - three nights - scream
REVIEW:
When this album starts, it almost sounds like All, maybe just because of Bill Stevenson, I don't know. But then the vocal carnage begins with Rollins screaming, "your one of them!!." This was about the point where the Flag started slowing everything down, presumably because it was cool at the time for a hardcore band to be fast and stereotypical. So the Flag grows their hair out like hippies, and slows down to a real sludgy sound. It still sounds, as one person put it "like hell opening up." Maybe Seattle was just really behind the times, but the early grunge albums by Mudhoney and Nirvana especially sound exactly like this. It's really strange, and I'm just now noticing it. Basically what I'm trying to say is that Black Flag started grunge music. And now the "Seattle sound" dosen't sound revolutionary to me at all. There are a couple of faster tempo songs on here, like the very Bad Brains-sounding "I Love You." Overall it's a very good album, but maybe not for the early Flag / Circle Jerks / So.Cal hardcore fan.
Live 84 (1985 SST)
BAND: greg ginn (guitar) - henry rollins (vocals) - kira roessler (bass) - bill stevenson (drums)
TRACKLIST: the process of weeding out - nervous breakdown - i can't decide - slip it in - my ghetto - black coffee - i won't stick any of you unless and until i can stick all of you - forever time - fix me - six pack - my war - jealous again - i love you - swinging man - three nights - nothing left inside - wound up - rat's eyes - the bars
REVIEW:
The sound wasn't as good on the album as I would have expected, but it's listenable nonetheless. The first track is an 8:30 instrumental that drags on forever, you'd really have to be "weeding out" to tolerate it. Then Rollins breaks into the classic "Nervous Breakdown" and everything goes black again. It's hard to get into because of the lack of sound quality, but you can tell that Black Flag were there to "fuck shit up" as they used to so eloquently put it. Stevenson was kicked out after this year, which is alright because he did pretty well for himself in other bands. An alright live offering.