The Blasting Concept Volume II

The Blasting Concept Volume II

1985

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Saint Vitus: Look Behind You  2.  DC3: Theme From an Imaginary Western  3. SWA: Mystery Girl  4. Black Flag: I Can See You  5. Gone: Watch the Tractor   6. Würm: Death Ride  7. Overkill: Over the Edge  8. Saccharine Trust: Emotions and Anatomy  9. Painted Willie: The Big Time  10. Angst: Just Me   11. Meat Puppets: I Just Want to Make Love to You  12. Minutemen: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (Uncensored Version)  13. Husker Du: Erase Today  14. October Faction: I Was Grotesque  15. Tom Troccoli's Dog: Todo Para Mi


A 1985 SST compilation album that doesn't get a lot of love...This first "Blasting Concept" (released in '83) had 4 Minutemen tracks, 2 Meat Puppets tracks, 3 Black Flag tracks, and assorted one-offs from a small handful of other bands including Husker Du...In short, SST at its absolute peak with its very best bands on display...Volume II? A metric fuckton of Greg Ginn and Chuck Dukowksi side projects...

I know Greg Ginn can be a pretty divisive subject in the punk scene, with his lawsuits, constantly running mouth and bizarre guitar style, so if you're not down with Ginn and his skronky metal-sludge leanings then you might not want to touch this with a 10-foot pole...Greg and Chuck are pictured in almost every group shot on the album's back cover....

You must also accept that by 1985, SST Records (arguably the best punk label in the world at the time) had largely abandoned punk for sludge metal...If you can't stomach sludge metal or Greg Ginn noodling, this is going to gall you to no end...

And the bands from SST's golden era that do show up here tend to not do a whole lot with their timslots...The Minutemen show up with a cover of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" that already appeared on "Double Nickels on the Dime," although this version has altered lyrics and is longer than the Double Nickels version, so it's worth checking out...The Meat Puppets contribute an indeterminable cover of "I Just Want to Make Love to You," that on paper sounds like it should be a knockout, but in reality is so sloppy and endless that it's hard not to be relieved when it's done...Black Flag is represented by the "Loose Nut" album track "I Can See You," which is quite possibly my least favorite song from that album...The only old-school SST band that really pulls through though is Husker Du with "Erase Today," which I can't believe was a "New Day Rising" outtake...As  much as I love "New Day Rising," that album seriously peters out by the middle of side two...I had always assumed they were utterly and completely out of songs by the time "How to Skin a Cat" comes around,but nope...They had a good blast of pop hardcore they were holding out on us...

But if you're into sludgy punk/metal there's some neat stuff. First and foremost, Saint Vitus doing an earlier version of "Look Behind You" with original vocalist Scott Reagers. I love Reagers-era Saint Vitus! Back when they sounded like Black Sabbath fronted by Eric Bloom! Do people still vastly prefer Wino over Scott Reagers? If so, this might sound like blasphemy, but I like this version much better...Overkill is also here, with some Motorhead-ish metal/punk that I enjoy very much...

 Outside of the jangly punksters Angst (who are kinda awesome), the spoken word pretentiousness of Saccharine Trust, and the mildly interesting Painted Willie, the remainder of the album is all Black Flag Alumni: Dez Cadena's band DC3 unspools an epic (and poorly sung) Mountain cover...We have Chuck Dukowski in both SWA's "Mystery Girl" (which is grubby hair metal, which you're guaranteed to despise if you have no taste whatsoever for the genre (and don't beat yourself up too much if you haven't acquired that taste)) and Würm's "Death Ride" (which is a pretty fun slice of heaviness)...Then we have a large volume of Greg Ginn side projects (some with Dukowski), the best being Gone's instrumental "Watch the Tractor" that would have made for a killer late-era Black Flag track if they had thrown a Henry Rollins vocal on top of it...Low point? Probably October Faction's "I Was Grotesque" that tries to steal some of Saccharine Trust's pretentiousness...The vocals on "Todo Para Mi" by Tom Troccoli's Dog are almost as irritating but as least there's a bit of groove going on in the instrumentation...That poppin' bass is almost a dealbreaker, though...

Ultimately, I'd say the good (narrowly) outweighs the bad and this is a decent comp if you can get it cheap ($3.49 is printed on the cover and the record store I bought it at decided to honor that pricing, even in 2015)...Historically relevant if you want a firsthand listen to the decline of SST records...Still, there's some unreleased tracks by some of the greats (that Husker Du song is worth the $3.49) and if everything isn't great at least it's almost always interesting...

Black Flag: In My Head

Black Flag: In My Head

1985

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Paralyzed  2. The Crazy Girl  3. Black Love  4. White Hot  5. In My Head  6. Out of this World  7. I Can See You  8. Drinking and Driving  9. Retired at 21  10. Society's Tease  11. It's All Up to You  12. You Let Me Down


 Black Flag's third album of 1985, following "Loose Nut" (which I discussed yesterday) and the instrumental album "The Process of Weeding Out" which I've never heard (but has an incredible album cover...)



"In My Head" is Black Flag's final studio album, and it finds them almost fully embracing metal....It still  retains the jazz-punk sound they had been flirting with on the last couple albums,, but they do it with more heft and precision...

And the instrumentation sounds tight...The Rollins/Ginn/Kira/Bill Stevenson line-up was easily their most musical, and the sound is clean and easy on the ears...When compared to other Black Flag records at least...

The  lo-fi rumble and odd mixes are a thing of the past...Which I have mixed feelings about actually...It's great when the songs and the band click (like on the opener "Paralyzed" for instance), but lesser material like "The Crazy Girl" feels much lesser than before, because they don't have the exciting looseness it might have had if it appeared on "Slip It In' for example...It's a brave move and I do feel it  pays off more than it backfires....

Yea, it's not a perfect album, but it was cool Black Flag could get together one last time for a record, and we get another classic or two...I mean, this album has "Drinking and Driving" which actually has a good message worthy of a "One To Grow One" installment...(don't drink and drive!) which Henry delivers in a very entertaining manner...You can just picture his deadpan grin as he intones, "Drink...Drive...Kill..."

 The CD version also includes 3/4ths of the 1989 "I Can See You" e.p, which was their final studio release (until the Black Flag reunion album that comes out alter this year...I've only heard the one song from it and I wasn't nuts about it, but I'll reserve judgement until I hear the whole thing...).



(Woah, that can't be a Raymond Pettibon cover...I guess he stopped giving the band art to use after the band kept destroying the originals...To be totally honest, I think Raymond's visuals are a key component in Black Flag's appeal...

 You knew before you even heard any of the music that it was going to be kick-ass and dangerous...The brutal and witty album covers and the iconic "Bars" logo said all you needed to know...Would Black Flag be so well-remembered and beloved  today without all that imagery? It's a fair question...)

The "In My Head" CD drops "Kicking and Sticking," (which is fine by me....) and the song "I Can See You" is nothing great, but "Out of This World" is easily one of my fave Black Flag tracks! Henry sounds so laid back and demented...

"I'm out cold! And I'm Never Coming To..."

Damn, that kicks ass...Once I hear it I'm singing it all day...Hell, I'm listening to it as we speak...

And  I had to do a double-take when I first heard "You Let Me Down."  The normally shouting and accusatory Rollins sounds like Ward when he's disappointed in the Beav...

He's not angry so much as he's hurt...Not a great song or anything, but an unexpected and  hilarious finale to the Black Flag discography...
 
So let's celebrate that discography one last time, by checking out "Out of This World" by Black Flag...Enjoy...

Black Flag: Loose Nut

Black Flag: Loose Nut

1985

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.  Loose Nut  2. Bastard in Love  3. Annihilate this Week  4. Best One Yet  5. Modern Man  6. This is Good  7. I'm the One  8. Sinking  9. Now She's Black


This was Black Flag's first album (of many) in 1985...I was only in 2nd or 3rd grade at the time, so I wasn't mail-ordering sweet  SST colored vinyl just yet...I  probably spent most of that year in the Minus World, since 1985 was the year "Super Mario Bros" was released...

(And this was before GPS, so someone apparently gave Mario shitty directions and he kept ending up in the wrong castle...)

This was the same year that Coca-Cola replaced their original formula for the blasphemous "New Coke" which managed to turn the whole world upside down for six months there...

I didn't really care one way or another...I was more of a Cherry Slice, kind of kid...

This was also the year that Doc Brown invented the Time Machine, so I actually got my chance to go back in time and kill Hitler...Seriously, go ahead and re-read your history books...He's not there anymore...

I can also remember watching the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus on television where they debuted their "Unicorn". (Which was discovered in 1985 to be a mere goat with a bull horn attached to its head...Which I think everybody on Planet Earth was able to determine in one second after seeing it...). Oddly enough even the Barnum & Bailey Unicorn has never heard of "Unicorn Records"...




And yes, this was also the year that "Loose Nut' came out. This was the last Black Flag album I bought, and oddly enough it turns out it's likely one of my favorite ones...Why didn't anybody tell me this album was that good?! I hardly ever hear anybody mention it, and when they do it's usually mentioned in the context of Black Flag's decline...Like they made "Damaged" and "My War" and then put out a bunch of sub-par metal albums...That assessment is waaayyy off...

I loved this as soon as I put it on...The title track kicks things off and it's straight up hard rock! Well, you're never going to hear this next to "Hot For Teacher" on the radio or anything, It's still got too much punk in it (sludgy, bass-heavy sound, vocals that sound like Henry is shouting from the bottom of a well, offensive lyrics) but boy when you want a good hard riff and a catchy chorus this thing does the job...

And unlike "Slip It In' where they attempted a similar feat, nothing on here goes on for too long...In fact, "Best One Yet" and "This Is Good" could go on all day for all I care...I love them that much...The only time things feel a little slow is the trudging "Sinking" (which wouldn't sound too out of place on "My War")  and the extended outro of "Now She's Black."

So yea, a highlight of  the punk-metal genre as far as I'm concerned...Let's check out "Loose Nut" by Black Flag...Enjoy...

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...

Black Flag: My War

Black Flag: My War

1984

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. My War  2. Can't Decide  3. Beat My Head Against the Wall  4. I Love You  5. Forever Time  6. The Swinging Man  7. Nothing Left Inside  8. Three Nights  9. Scream

The band's first album of new material after a long three year hiatus that was a result of the band's legal dispute with Unicorn Records...

Man, what the hell is "Unicorn Records"? That doesn't sound like a label that would put out an ass-kicking hardcore out an album by Black Flag...

I mean look at it! As an anti-parent...I find Unicorns to be anti-anti-parent creatures...And I can't recall ever running into another record that was released on Unicorn Records...

I take back what I said the other day about "Jealous Again." The song "My War" is the greatest, most gut-wrenching Black Flag track ever...A brief jazz-punk intro gives way to Henry's anguished scream, "MYYYY WARR!" and the band explodes like a stick of freakin' dynamite...Incredible! 

All of side one rules, actually...This album somehow seems a lot more antisocial and scarier than the Black Flag of "Damaged." Like they were just locked up for those three years, letting all the self-loathing and animosity build up, until they were finally let loose to exact vengeance on a  cold world full of phony friends and fake smiles....The creepy cover drawing says it all!

"I Love You" even manages to make pop-punk sound frightening!

"I practice my knife, I feel the power
I look in the mirror and I want to destroy her..."

Holy cow!  That girl might want to look into a good, firm restraining order! You know this ain't ending good!

Usually either seen as a masterwork of caustic nihilism or a self-indulgent bore, side two is where this album often divides people... The band forgoes high-speed hardcore and dives into the sticky tar-pit world of marathon-length sludge-metal...None of the tracks on side two fall under the six minute mark...Long, doomy dirges that split the difference between Black Sabbath and Flipper...I actually enjoy this stuff, but I can see how it could turn off some people...There's not much cathartic aggression...Only howling desperation...As a jaded 36 year-old man, this may seem a little quaint now, but I can tell you when I was a 15 year old kid, alone in his bedroom, this was the most harrowing shit ever....

...And this was just the start...The band released three studio albums and a live record in '84...But before we get to all that, let's check out "My War" by Black Flag...

Black Flag: Damaged

Black Flag: Damaged

1981

SST Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc and Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Rise Above  2. Spray Paint  3. Six Pack  4. What I See  5. TV Party  6. Thirsty and Miserable  7. Police Story  8. Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie  9. Depression  10. Room 13  11. Damaged II  12. No More  13. Padded Cell  14. Life of Pain  15. Damaged I

Henry Rollins takes over as vocalist, on Black Flag's first proper full-length album...

My cd copy has the cover art shown above, but my vinyl copy has a black and white cover for some reason...It looks like this...

For years, my friends and I used to wonder if that was Henry Rollins punching the mirror on the cover...It kind if looked like him, but back then there was no way to Google it to find out for sure...

Turns out it was...Here are some alternate shots from the album cover photo session...

I like this one even more...It's not as straightforward, but I think it still gets the anger across...This would look sweet with the Black Flag logo emblazoned across it...

And this one is cool cos it's in color! And it looks like they have glittery curtains!

This record was also famous for the blurb sticker, which was inspired by a quote from the president of their record company...

 "As a Parent...I found it an anti-parent record..."

"Anti-Parent" is just the tip of the iceberg really...This album seems to be anti-everything...  You can hear it in the playing, this record wants to destroy society as we know it...It's the biggest "Fuck you, world!" ever recorded...

The sound of "Rise Above" opening the album must have been some pretty frightening stuff at the time...Greg Ginn's tumbling guitar intro has trouble written all over it...The drummer plays like he can't end the song fast enough...And uh-oh...Here comes Henry Rollins! All muscly and angry, shouting, "JEALOUS COWARDS  TRY TO CONTROL!""

The mob roars, "RISE ABOVE! WE'RE GONNA RISE ABOVE!"..Amazingly, Greg Ginn  even finds time to get in one of his ominous and dissonant guitar solos...

 You get a breather here and there, to choke down a few beers on "Six Pack" and catch up on "That's Incredible!" on "TV Party" but those are really the exceptions....Soon enough Henry will be pissed off, screaming "There's no relief for a person like me!"...And by the time they get to "Damged I" they sound like they're drowning in a world of hurt, with no hope of salvation...



So yea... Play this record on some lonely Friday night when it feels like the whole world's against you and see how long your mirrors last! I'm betting they don't make it to "Room 13."

Before we smash the dining room set, let's take  check out "TV Party" by Black Flag...

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...