Day Whatever - Flipper, Album Generic Flipper

Written by guest editor, John Edge.

Subterranean Records ■ SUB 25

Released in April, 1982

Produced by Gary Krimon

Side One:	Side Two:
"Ever" (Loose) - 2:56 "Life Is Cheap" (Loose) - 3:55 "Shed No Tears" (Shatter) - 4:26 "(I Saw You) Shine" (Shatter) - 8:31	"The Way of the World" (Shatter) - 4:23  "Life" (Shatter) - 4:44 "Nothing" (Loose) - 2:18 "Living for the Depression" (Ant/Loose) - 1:23 "Sex Bomb" (Shatter) - 7:48

Or perhaps the album title is Album and the band name is Generic Flipper.  Who cares?

Anyway, RC roped me into writing these dopey record reviews which I really don't have time for.  I've got a full time job, a kid, and all kinds of other shit begging for my time.  But whatever, I've had a particularly hard day at work and have about five brain cells to work on, so now's the perfect time to write a review. 

This is one of those great punk albums I really cut my teeth on as a teenager.  The sludginess, the depressing/uplifting lyrics, the general us vs them attitude all made me think I wasn't the only one who thought and felt that way.  Seem cliche?  Give me a break, we were all teenagers once and I was a damn good one.  Anyway, this album still stands lyrically as the closest to my personal worldview as any other I've ever heard in the intervening years.  

A little background on Flipper (the band, not the insufferable show): In the early eighties, punk rock bands and especially the offshoot hardcore groups were ratcheting up tempos and honing their sound to razor sharp clarity and tonality, Flipper hazily veered off in the complete opposite direction.  Their sound is mired in a drug fueled stupor. Flipper's songs take the breakneck hardcore of Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, and Minor Threat and slow it to a slug's pace.  Maybe they loved Sabbath?  Maybe they were just not good enough to play fast?  Or maybe they were just the perfect foil to Minor Threat: slow, sludgy, long songs, gleefully drunk and fucked up on all sorts of chemical entertainments.  They have two bassists.  That's all you really need to know.  

Various Artists - Dope-Guns-'N-Fucking in the Streets Volumes 8-11 (1997)

  Amphetamine Reptile Records ■ 9 25194-1

Released April 22, 1997

Technical Credits Unknown, Likely Varied

Side One (Vol. 8 & 9):	Side Two (Vol 10 & 11):
Superchunk - "Basement Life" Guzzard - "Bites" Jawbox - "Low Strung" godheadSilo - "Lotion Pocket" Bordeoms - "Pukuri" Supernova - "Sugar Coated Stucco" Chokebore - "Brittle & Depressing" Love 666 - "You Sold Me Out #2"	Bailter Space - "Glimmer Dot" Steelpolebathtub - "A Washed Out Monkey Star Halo" Chrome Cranks - "Dead Man's Suit" Brainiac - "Cookie Doesn't Sing" Today Is the Day - "Execution Style" Rocket from the Crypt - "Tiger Mask" Calvin Krime - "Fight Song" Gaunt - "Kiss Destroyer" Servotron - "Matrix of Perfection"

I'm often wary, wandering into any record store for the first time. There's no real guarantee of what anyone has or will carry, and in a used store it becomes even more complicated, as they can only carry what records they've acquired to sell. And that, then, depends on the locals. The first time I walked into Dead Wax Records, I wasn't sure what to think. Between the place I now live and the places I work, there's not a lot of music to be found. Even the oft-ignored (for financially justifiable reasons) FYE and similar "TWEC" (TransWorld Entertainment Company, who owns FYE, Coconuts, etc) stores make no appearances. There's a Best Buy, a Wal-Mart, a Target--certainly nowhere you'd find vinyl (beyond the semi-kitschy '7" with a t-shirt' thing Target is doing--but I owned most of the ones that looked interesting to me, or saw no reason to get the 7"), and nowhere you'd find a good chunk of my music collection, vinyl or otherwise.

I found a small used record and used/new CD store about fifteen miles away and had a very strange experience there, locating both upstate New York's Immolation's third album and some Split Enz albums I was looking for on CD. I found some Throbbing Gristle material, too, which is only appropriate for this particular entry--well, parts of it. I couldn't really make heads or tails of the place, though I've intended to go back a few times (never managing). When I started my current job just a bit further out, though, someone there mentioned a local record store, which piqued my interest immediately. I swung by after work that day, only to find it was closed on Mondays, deciding to come back the next. That next day, I wandered in and found it comfortably cozy and close, as you'd expect from a fledgling (only a few months old!) record store. However, its walls were papered with posters and fliers for bands I knew well--but knew well from my forays into music in the last few odd years more than anything else. Snapcase. Gluecifer. The Murder City Devils. The Supersuckers. Turbonegro. Mudhoney. All the sorts of things I'd tried (sometimes successfully) to push on a very picky person I know.

Day Forty: The Clash - Combat Rock

CBS/Epic Records ■ FMLN 2/PE 37689

Released May 14, 1982

Mixed by Glyn Johns

Side One:	Side Two:
Know Your Rights Car Jamming Should I Stay or Should I Go Rock the Casbah Red Angel Dragnet Straight to Hell	Overpowered by Funk Atom Tan Sean Flynn Ghetto Defendant Inoculated City Death Is a Star

There has not yet been a poll more frustrating than the one for The Clash. I own four of five albums on vinyl (no, there aren't six, you're imagining things), and at no moment was there a completely clear choice from the people I know who participated. I had three people whose votes I could guess, and all ended up confirming to me that I'd guessed correctly. One unsurprisingly went up for Sandinista!, not because it's weird, but because he likes weird things. Another went for Give 'Em Enough Rope because he felt he'd paid it the least attention, and undeservedly so (I'm inclined toward the same, and my copy was a rather special gift, actually). Another went for Combat Rock because it was a favourite of his (which I knew). I had a few more conversations--two who noted their Clash-y inexperience, one suggesting his exclusive familiarity with London Calling meant perhaps he should choose a different record to learn something, another suggesting that because she only knew London Calling, it would be most comfortable to read about. And let's face it: usually we all read about the records we know already unless we're deliberately seeking one out.¹ There's not much frame of reference to understand the description of the unfamiliar, after all.

Day Thirty-Three (and a Third): Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady

I.R.S. Records¹ ■ SP 001

Released September, 1979

Produced by Martin Rushent

Engineered by Alan Winstanley (S1 - 1,8; S2-1,8), Doug Bennett (S1 - 2,3,5,6; S2 - 2,3,5,6), and Martin Rushent (S1 - 4,7;S2 - 4,7)

¹International Record Syndicate. Abbreviation not used on this record, but used on most releases from this label.

Side One (A-Sides):	Side Two (B-Sides):
Orgasm Addict What Do I Get? I Don't Mind Love You More Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)? Promises Everybody's Happy Nowadays Harmony in My Head	Whatever Happened To...? Oh Shit! Autonomy Noise Annoys Just Lust Lipstick Why Can't I Touch It? Something's Gone Wrong Again

As we go, if you were to check, you'd find there are very few compilations in my record collection, and an even smaller percentage amongst my CDs. I don't normally go in for compilations, as, sometime around Rubber Soul, the album became the preferred format and was eventually considered as the construction in which people bought, enjoyed, experienced, and were provided music. Of course, not everyone (including some artists) had any interest in the idea, but it's less harm to have an album that isn't definitively an assembled, crafted set than it is to have parts excised from one that is and doled out by popularity. As it stands, a single compilation has appeared here. Another was mentioned in polling, and a small number will appear later. Largely, though, I leave them be, for fear of missing interesting interesting deep cuts, or getting things out of context that have very real contexts like Kate Bush's The Ninth Wave. Still, Singles Going Steady was my introduction to Buzzcocks, at the hands of--to the surprise of no one--my friend John.

Day Fifteen: Bad Brains - Bad Brains

Reachout International Records (ROIR) ■  RUSLP8223

Released ??, 1982¹

Recorded by Jay Dublee
Mixed by Jay Dublee and Bad Brains

Engineered by Wayne Vican [Mixing] and Stanley Moskowitz [Mastering]

Side One:	Side Two:
Sailin' On Don't Need It Attitude The Regulator Banned in D.C. Jah Calling Supertouch/Shitfit Leaving Babylon	Fearless Vampire Killers I Big Take Over Pay to Cum Right Brigade I Luv I Jah Intro

While you can't (easily) read it, the sticker in the top left proclaims this "the best punk/hardcore album of all time" in the words of the late Adam Yauch (of the Beastie Boys). It also advertises the solo debut of bassist Darryl Jenifer. It's a bit weird, simultaneously having that attempt to get the attention of people who know nothing about the historical relevance of the album, while also encouraging (in familiar marketing techniques, but semi-reversed) additional purchases by association. Weird in that someone who is not familiar with the album would not, most likely, think to buy something that was created by a person involved in this unfamiliar release. While I can break it down, I may never truly understand advertising.