Friday, March 2, 2007

Staring Down the Barrel US punk 79-83 LP


Nice package. Blue vinyl with bullet holes screened on the sleeve for a nice touch. Looked like a KBD knock off, but who can get enough KBD style punk? 16 tracks. No label listed. Get it if you see it.
Mind Games kick it off with a Radio Birdmanesque ode to a TV Show, not Hawaii Five O, but Get Smart. Limited to 100 single from Cali in 81. Who doesn't like an anti-hippie song? Unknown Society give you "You Hippy" LA 83. Nice lead on this track. Urban Guerilla from SF 83 sound like the Weirdos to me. Ducky Boys from Brooklyn drop 1982 ode to Heroin. "Hooked on Junk" Can't bands from NYC sing about anything else. And if you were hoping for Celtic Influenced Punk/Hardcore this ain't it. These Ducky Boys drop a kind of Pagans influenced punk gem with an overactive bass player and a guitar player with a bad effects box. The Exit's "out in the street" is pretty much a rev'd up version of mongoloid with a catchier chorus. Chicago 1979 for this one. Ralphs from Dallas Texas 1982 match some great vocals to a synth driven song that is pretty fucking catchy. Milwaukee's The Ones were holding it down in 1979 with "tight rope" which is my favorite track on side one.
Side 2 opens with the Grackles. 1979 New Mexico punk? As unlikely as the Ohio punk explosion but here it is. "Who need wildlife" complete with bird sounds. Kinda Stoogey but with some new wave keyboards and effects. J.T. IV's "Death Trip" is a standout track from Chicago 1980. Apparently this band/"basement loner" was releasing records all the way up to 87, but this is allegedly his best work and some furious guitar action. Principles drop some 1980 pro-USA fuck you Russia and Iran shit. Novelty at best, but kinda funny since thanks to music like this Communism fell. Buffalo's own Secret Savior know the pain of "Fist Love" Sounds like a metal head drummer, but the song is catchy actually has a "pop punk" feel to it. And I hope you know I mean the Descendents. Brooklyn is back on this comp with the NY Ravers 1981. Psychotic Frogs sound out of place on this comp, It is incompetent hard rock at it's absolute finest. I guess it is on here due to it's rarity as anything else but the 20 or so seconds before the vocals kick in are genius. Guitarist sounds like he is trying to play Kiss wearing oven mitts


There are no tracks on here that are as catchy on KBD 1-4, but that well has been pumped dry. There are some good ones on here for the obscuro fanatic. It is hard to believe that people would spend the cash necessary to obtain the originals, but for those who are cheap like me thank god for these comps. There is something really perfect about sitting in the house alone on a Friday night listenting to music from 25 ears ago composed by weirdos who were also all alone on Friday night. (Or maybe mumbling at the end of the bar wasted on pills......)

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