Black Flag: The First Four Years

Black Flag: The First Four Years

1983

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Nervous Breakdown  2. Fix Me  3. I've Had It  4. Wasted  5. Jealous Again  6. Revenge  7. White Minority  8. No Values  9. You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!  10. Clocked In  11. Six Pack  12. I've Heard It Before  13. American Waste  14. Machine  15. Louie Louie  16. Damaged I



This album is a compilation of pre-Henry Rollins Black Flag material...There are no less than four lead vocalists present, as they seemed to change the singer with almost every ep, until Rollins came along...



Tracks 1-4 come from the band's first ep "Nervous Breakdown," which was first released in 1978.

This ep is one of my favorite Black Flag releases. More of a straight-forward 70's style punk sound than their later hardcore outbursts...Keith Morris is probably my favorite Black Flag vocalist...This might be because the Circle Jerks were one of the first punk bands I really got into, but I love his manic Johnny Rotten-influenced style here...He sounds legitimately like a smart-ass drunk kid who was struggling not to lose his mind...An explosive  punk classic that must have blown a lot of minds back in '78...




Tracks 5-9 come from the  1980 Jealous Again" ep...

I love the bright yellow cover on this! And the drawing of the high-school cat fight! Yea! Pull her hair! Rip off her clothes!

Ahem...Let me get myself together...Alright...Sleeker and faster, they move away from the 70's punk style and into what would become hardcore...Ron Reyes (credited here as Chavo Pederast) replaces Morris as vocalist...He doesn't quite have the personality that his predecessor  had, but he has an appealingly straight-forward every-kid kind of shout...The song "Jealous Again" is definitely in the running for my favorite Black Flag song...Very catchy! This is also the ep that features the controversial "White Minority" song that still gets tagged as being racist; the irony being it's sung by a Puerto Rican...These guys had a way of going over people's heads sometimes...

The track "You Bet We Got Something Personal Against You" is sung by bassist Chuck Dukowski, and appears to be a personal attack on Keith Morris set to the music of the Circle Jerks'  "I Don't Care." Another must-hear punk classic...See, if you pick up "The First Four Years" you get a couple of these "must-hear punk classics" out of the way with one purchase...

 "Clocked In" (track 10) comes from the  1980 "Cracks in the Sidewalk" compilation album...This is where guitarist Dez Cadena takes over as vocalist. He has a much gruffer, and more hoarse delivery than the previous singers...Very similar in tone to Henry Rollins...


 Tracks 11-13 come from the 1981 "Six Pack" ep...Another Dez-fronted ep, that features the immortal title track that has the most kick-ass bass intro in punk history... This is just the most pummeling shit ever...Dez sounds like he's barely hanging onto his voice...

"Machine" (track 14) comes from the 1981 New Alliance compilation "Chunks." This song is basically just Dez shouting about how he's not a machine, while Greg Ginn provides a flaming guitar meltdown...This song has never quite grabbed me, but it's pretty easy to overlook it's shortcomings since it's only a minute and a half...and  about half of that running time is spent on the intro...



Tracks 15-16 come from the 1981 "Louie Louie" single...This also features Dez on lead vocals.   The track "Damged I" foreshadows the band's slow sludgy side that would eventually take over their sound...

"The First Four Years" is a great release, and your 80's punk collection is ridiculously lacking without it..I love the band's pre-Henry Rollins sense of humor and I'd go as far to say that this is the Black Flag release to pick up...A quick and dirty snapshot of early 80's punk...

So let's check out "Jealous Again" by the Black Crowes...

..and then we'll check out "Jealous Again" by Black Flag...Enjoy...