Black Flag: Slip It In

Black Flag: Slip It In

1984

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Slip it in  2. Black Coffee  3. Wound Up  4. Rat's Eyes  5. Obliteration  6. The Bars  7. My Ghetto  8. You're Not Evil



I love that album cover so much! It sums up the visual aesthetic of SST Records so perfectly....A striking Raymond Pettibon drawing, garish colors, the iconic Black Flag bars logo...It's got it all...Probably my favorite album cover by the band, narrowly edging out "My War," which I love for the exact same qualities...

"Slip It In" is Black Flag's third record of 1984. Now, I loved 1984! I used to live there! I would hang out and watch "Police Academy" all day...

I also remember 1984 being the year I lived  under the mistaken impression that the music video for Billy Ocean's "Loverboy" was an official Star Wars sequel...I don't know why I thought this...Was it the Jawas in the video? (Make sure you watch that video by the way...).

And also in 1984, the Ministry of Truth reported that thoughtcrimes were down by 25%...

Anyway, "Slip It In"  followed the "Family Man" LP, which I don't own and most likely never will..I've heard it, but I can't say I'm too crazy  about it...Side one is mostly Henry Rollins' spoken word and side two is entirely instrumental...





"Slip It In" however, is a proper Black Flag record...The band integrates metal into their trademark sound, and the instrumentation gets a little trickier in places, most notably the instrumental "Obliteration." 

The songs are quite a bit longer than before too...Not as long as side two of "My War" mind you, but most of it is pretty close...This might be the reason I've never gotten into this one quite as much as "My War." I mean, the expanded song lengths are fine when the song is great (the fist-pumping "Black Coffee" or "Wound Up" for example) but when it makes the lesser songs feel like an eternity  (the excrutiating "Rat's Eyes" or "My Ghetto"for example...).

And then there's the title track which is an awesome hard-rock/hardcore hybrid which is a great rockin' time but after awhile you're checking your watch...Christ, four minutes? Then comes the unfortunate sound of Henry Rollins pretending to have sex and you realize you still two more minutes to go!! It would probably be a highlight of the band's catalog at about 3-3:30 minutes but over six minutes you get kind of tired of it...

(I always love looking at old flyers...Just last night we were talking about if I had a time machine, I would probably just spend all my time going to old shows...Oh, and killing baby Hitler...)

So yea, a mixed bag... I enjoy the good-time-party vibe (that feels like a bit of a put-on), and there's some absolute classic stuff here to be sure, but I honestly think it could have been a bit better...Yet it's hard to talk trash when you're looking at that beautiful, bright red cover...*sigh lovingly*

Holy cow! Black Flag made a video for "Slip It In"! Is it true this was really played on MTV?! That's hard to believe...Over six minutes, features an orgasm solo, and looks like it was shot on a home video camera...I wasn't aware this existed until recently...Check it out...