Killing Joke - Killing Joke 1980

Flying in the face of the skinny tied new romantics and the easy listening pleasantness new wave bands were dishing out.    Taking the synthesizer sound from their contemporaries “Requiem” and “Tomorrow’s World” gently lull a listener in.  Precision-steady factory worker repetitiveness bangs in “Bloodsport”.   But Killing Joke also marries the sound with primitive tribal rythms soundtracking an oncoming apocalyptical disaster in “The Wait” Warning of impending doom is “The Wait” “Wardance” is bouncy bass driven abrasive affair completed with Jaz’s grizzle-grunt vocals.   Synthesizers drive “Complications”and “Primitive” hiding a dark undercurrent in the driving industrial rythm. The synthesizers nearly vanished completely on the next album album “What’s this for?”.  Killing Joke flirted with commercialism and had a couple of successful singles with the “NightTime” album in the mid-eighties.  This was followed with the synthesizer heavy but poppier “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns”.     Despite threats of lawsuits against Nirvana  for copping a few riffs from one of their mid-eighties tunes,  Killing Joke’s second self-titled is a turbulent attack to the senses featuring Dave Grohl, who proves that he is best placed on a stool behind a drum kit pummeling the complete shit out of it.

DEAD KENNEDYS “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”, 1980

The first wave of UK punk was at its tail end with anarchist politics often considered more important than producing interesting music.  In the US the first wave of heavily political punk bands “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” a provocative edge that messed with heads and lead to ongoing debates with right wing organizations.   Due to the speed the band play at some listeners could have been convinced that the record they were playing on 33 was mistakenly pressed and meant to be played at a slower pace.   As punk albums should the recording quality sounds like it was all done in one take using a walkman placed a safe distance away from Dead Kennedys explosiveness.   Jello Biafra’s distinctive nasally voice carries more than a side of biting sarcasm over East Bay Ray’s surf guitar tones and clenched fist tight rhythm section. A natural organicness punches through in the catchy choruses and breakneck speed of “Kill The Poor” and “Chemical Warfare”.  “Drug Me” mows along like a loud lawnmower as it cuts through the air with absolutely no messing around.  A nasty metallic raw edge throws razor blade spikes in “California Uber Alles” and the rapid rollicking classic “Holiday in Cambodia”.    After the similar “Plastic Surgery Disasters”, the band experimented more with speed in later albums whilst pointing fingers at authority figures and mindless sheep in the punk scene.  Short spastic blurs are barely contained within “In God We Trust”.   Despite being mostly filled with short and fast songs, “Plastic Surgery Disasters” feels bloated under a weighty grand total of 21 songs.   Jello kept busy with many musical and spoken word projects after Dead Kennedys split.  When the band reformed this century to do reunion shows Biafra was not involved due to ongoing legal battles with his former band members and many fans viewed this as a farce because the complete package wasn’t up for grabs.  

The Stooges - The Stooges

THE STOOGES “The Stooges” , 1969

The late sixties was a time period were rock was full of drug-taking hippy psychedelic bands who were accomplished musicians due to years spent practicing before forming a band.   A band that couldn’t play their instruments who recorded a full album in less than week would have been sneered at by many of their counterparts.

After much begging while producing the album, Velvet Underground member, John Cale, successful managed to compromise with The Stooges to turn their amps down from full volume to nine.  “Psychedelic” may have been dropped from the full band moniker however there was no escaping the lingering in the lengthy slow-burning “We Will Fall” and “1969”’s wah-wah effects.   The stripped to the bone rawness and punk energy of  “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “No Fun” delivers an unbridled simple swift but shattering kick to the teeth.    The crude unrefined rock would continue into their follow up albums “Raw Power” and “Fun House”.  Despite the enlisting of bass player extraodinaire, Mike Watt, like many recent comeback albums, 2007’s “The Weirdness” suffers from a lack of song-writing chemistry and an incoherent flow that makes the effort misplaced.

Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks

Conversations abound that the Sex Pistols were nothing more than a manufactured pop group from Malcolm McClaren’s manipulating mind.  The debates about who kickstarted punk and perhaps saved rock from overbloated pompousness in the UK without fail include the debut album as the band courted media controversy wherever they were presented with the opportunity and because the opening chords of “Holiday In The Sun” are more than just a warning of an impending ass kicking.  Contrary to popular belief most of the core band members actually knew how to play their instruments but Johnny Rotten’s technical singing ability is dubious but the enraged sneeered vocals.  “Bodies”  is a wondeful distorted noisy abortion of a song with Steve Jones’ solid guitar playing and Rotten spitting out more disgust than a nun scolding a Catholic school boy for reading a porn mag.  “God Save The Queen” “Anarchy In the UK” and “E.M.I.” are anthems with the requisite punk spitting contempt at authority.  Later albums were some of the same songs with a few tacked on extras

Clutch -Strange Cousins from The West

CLUTCH “Strange Cousins from the West”, 2009

Rock critics throw the words “Jam band” around a lot these days when it comes to finding a description for Clutch.  The concept of jamming suggests improvisation, which is near impossible to capture on a recorded audio product.  Paying punters have a tendency to attend shows to hear songs that there is a familiarity with.  Sure, it’s a different set of rules with freeform jazz but that’s for other websites to deal with.  Admittedly there is a similar spirit in Neil Falloon’s free-flowing lyrics and on “Strange Cousins from the West” the band feed off each other in a smoke-filled liquor-soaked telepathic connection to deliver the goods so the category isn’t ill fitting.

“Strange Cousins from the West” is one tight platter filled with Falloon’s smooth clear vocals over impeccable riffing and drumming.   From the onset, you’re grabbed by the short and curlies by the bluesy Southern swamp rock of “Motherless Child”.   Throwing down funk peppered with heaviness on “Struck Down” and “Freakanomics” strikes and hits the ball out of the park. On “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” Neil Falloon’s vocals bring Doug Pinnick to mind.  The song really comes up a winner due to the magical combination of ballsiness and catchiness that comfortably drills itself into your head and stays for eons.   Slow small flickering flames giving off a sweet odor can be sensed on “Abraham Lincoln” through the smoke of its heavy Sabbath groove.  

Whilst listening to this disc I kept wanting to smash a Rubik’s cube to smithereens with a sledgehammer as the opposite sides refuse to match up.  Saving the multi-colored puzzle from demolition is a laidback sense of ease as Clutch play funked up blues-rock.  The calming effects will cause rigorously trained medical professionals to prescribe this disc as a cure for agitation.

4/5

The Saints -(I'm Stranded)

The Saints (I'm Stranded), 1977



For a long time geographical isolation down under was problematic for bringing over international touring bands and those who have the ability and desire to take their music to a more populous audience often relocated in another country.  The raw octane of The Saints first record is at odds with the eternal warmth of their home city and it’s easy to comprehed their move to the colder climate of the United Kingdom.  Pre-dating the heyday of UK Mohawk brigade and dyed hair punk, The Saints contemporaries, in both sound and spirit, were Detroit rockers, MC5 and The Stooges.  “No Time” and “Stranded” are polished recordings but remain catchy as influenza.  The recording on the rest of the album is rough as guts so the strength and hooks of the songs really shines through the grittiness.  The blazing guitar work on “Wild Abour You”  and “Erotic Neurotic” blitzes all and sundry in its path.  Later albums where the band wandered into pop rock territory during the 80’s are shelf fillers.

MC5- Kick Out the Jams

Towards the end of the decade, the sixties protest movement had increased in volume. Led Zeppelin and The Who, amongst others, were twisting their amplifier dials to ear-splitting full capacity.  There’s the feeling of rebellion on MC5’s opening call for a revolution that precedes the anthemic ZEP-ish “Ramblin’ Rose” however the truly daring band move was releasing a live album right at the starting gate instead of waiting until their were a few more albums notched up on the belt.  “Kick Out the Jams” with its bouncy riffing and drumbeat oozes a primitive appeal. The chaotic dueling guitars of Wayne Kramer and Fred Smith mixed up with strong vocals and catchy sing-along inducing parts on “Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa)” winning combination.  MC5 exercise control and take a leaisurely approach in “I Want You Right Now” and add a slow swaggering blues twist in “Motor City is Burning”. Before their demise MC5 squeezed out two first-rate studio albums.

Alice Donut - Ten Glorious Animals

ALICE DONUT “Ten Glorious Animals”, 2009
(Alternate Tentacles)



Way back when, I remember buying at least one Alice Donut album because I would sometimes purchasing decisions were made based on a record labels output even if an album and band was a largely an unknown beast, there would still be a familiarity with the label.  A number of punk rock gems were unearthed with the aid of disposable income from the SST and Alternative Tentacles roster.  Alice Donut threw me for a loop though with their psychedelic punk as I was expecting the outfit’s punk rock to gnaw through to the insides with raw primal brain bludgeoning speed so their scattered direction wasn’t an instant fit.

A distinct Alice Donut sound has always been tough to nail down mainly because of the variety of styles the band cover.  In the case of “Ten Glorious Animals” the reason is a distinct flavor has been watered down versions of various 80’s and 90’s “alternative” bands.  “No more room” paints by numbers Jesus and Mary Chain and the black clothing is smeared a weak grey and the blame cannot be laid upon Scottish white powder.  It’s impossible to listen to “Don’t I know” and not fight the temptation to yell, “Sonic Youth, you’re snapped”.   The green-eyed monster is staring firmly at David Bowie in the final two original tracks.   The creative well hasn’t completely dried up.  The piano-dominated “Mrs Carradine” reaches and grabs with its Peter Murphy vocals.  “Shiloh” stomps and kicks hellbilly country ass aiming and hitting dirt fair and square in the eye.

While there’s no complaint about overall listenability, Alice Donut’s imitation of past contemporaries is a large problem.  This is an album that could have been made by a much less experienced band rather than a bunch of old hands.    It’s impossible not to think that most of these songs were originally intended as B-sides and only heard by a few hardcore elite vinyl nerds.

2.5/5