fatdan_138's Full Review: The First Four Years by Black Flag (Punk)
After writing several reviews of Black Flag's other albums, I've decided it's about time to review their collection of punk 7"'s. Black Flag, for those of you that don't know, is commonly thought of as the first "hardcore punk" band of all time (whether that's true or not is certainly debatable). They played from around 1978 to 1986, leaving a path of destruction and chaos as they constantly toured around the country.
There was only one member of Black Flag to last from the band's inception to it's demise. That would be guitarist Greg Ginn. I've said pleanty of wonderful and obnoxious things about how great he is in my other Black Flag reviews, so check those out if you want.. Anyway, Greg Ginn was a perfectionist of sorts, somebody who was apparently really hard to get along with.. hence the constant rotation of band members, particularly lead singers. This album contains songs sung by Keith Morris (later of Circle Jerks fame), Chavo Pederast and Dez Cadena (who would switch to rhythm guitar after Henry Rollins came around). There is a distinct difference between each singer, which I want to get into in more detail as I go over each track.
These albums were recorded during the time that Black Flag was developing it's reputation as one of the most violent bands of all time. I'm sure that those of you who are familiar with the band have heard all sorts of crazy stories of mayhem and violence that went on at their shows. Basically, all of that begins with these recordings. It's very difficult to describe the violent moods that some of these songs will conjur up in one's mind... it's something that is certainly worth at least one listen to.
All that said, these were recorded before the band began developing musically... I'm sorry to say that there are several songs of poor songwriting caliber present here. That, coupled with a few other factors (length of album, for example) prevents me from giving this album 5 stars. Don't get me wrong, i'm a crazy Black Flag fan.. but this album gets old and boring after a little while.
Anyway, here it goes:
NERVOUS BREAKDOWN 7" EP [Keith Morris on Vocals]:
1) Nervous Breakdown -- I wish that I had been around in 1978 to see what kind of reaction this got from the Californian punks. I don't think that anything like this had really been recorded before.. I mean, there had been faster punk tracks recorded before this, and probably more challenging ones.. but this is just amazing. It's quick, it's raw, and it's incredibly loud. It's my opinion that more punk groups should try to record tracks the way that this one was recorded.. this is rough, raw and wild. There is absolutely no smoothing over going on in the mix anywhere. It's a song about a nervous breakdown, and ironically a song that may cause nervous breakdowns.
2) Fix Me -- another very loud tune, much shorter than "Nervous Breakdown". On this track and the other tracks on this EP, the guitar is mixed about twice as loud as anything else.. I'm not sure if that was actually intended, or if it was just an accident... Greg Ginn was always known for having incredibly loud amplifiers. Anyhow, this is another raw, angry punk song.
3) I've had it -- Same as the two earlier tracks.. loud, angry, explosive. Keith Morris was a great singer for this band back then.. rumors as to why he left still abound to this day.. the common theory is that he was drunk and high all the time, and Ginn [being the perfectionist that he is] didn't appreciate that very much.
4) Wasted -- When Keith Morris left to form the Circle Jerks, he did his own version of this song.. that's pretty much all that I can say about this song that hasn't been said before. I suppose that it's a tad slower than the first three songs, but that's getting really technical... it pretty much fits right in with the theme of this album, which would be loud guitars and screaming vocals.
Jealous Again 12" EP: [Chavo Pederast on vocals]
5) Jealous Again -- Two years have passed in-between Flag's first EP and this one.. and it shows. Greg Ginn's guitar playing has advanced beyond the early 3-chord days, to the point where he's experimenting with guitar fills, solos and all that. Check out Chavo Pederast on vocals.. he sounds really good on these next few tracks. There's a long story about how he actually quit the band before the vocals were recorded for these songs... read the liner notes from "Everything Went Black" to get the full picture. If you've noticed, there's a new drummer, by the way.. Robo, later of Misfits fame, has taken over the beats.. you can probably tell a difference, but don't be too sure that it's just due to Robo.. part of it has to do with how much better the recording quality is. The guitar is no longer twice as loud as everything else, for example. This isn't to say that these songs are any less "heavy", though... they're just as violent as ever. This song, Jealous Again, is a punk classic.. the classic song about a dude who's ticked off at his girlfriend. Awesome.
6) Revenge -- Personally, I think only a band like Black Flag could play a song like this.. this is incredibly violent, heavy tune.. from the spoken "It's not my imagination, I've got a gun at my back", the mood is set. As I've said quite a few times now, this is just extremely violent. Be warned, if you're not into the whole violence thing.. punks will love this, though, as do I. It's well mixed, a well written song, nice and quick and straight to the point.
7) White Minority -- another violent tune, this time about being a white minority [hence the title]. Once again, it's quick and to the point, only a minute long.
8) No Values -- Chavo goes nuts on the vocals for this song.. he's screaming like a madman. Ummm, this, surprise surprise, another very violent punk song. "Don't you try pacification / When you know it won't work / I might try some annihilation / Bury your face into the dirt".. stuff like that. Violent, quick, and over in under two minutes.
9) You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You -- I believe this is the only Flag song that Chuck Dukowski has ever sung.. it's a direct shot at the Circle Jerks and their use of Black Flag's old song "I Don't Care".. listen to Everything Went Black for that one. Anyway, ummm, I guess it was pretty funny back then, but the joke didn't age very well. This is the start of a few really mediocre tracks on this album, which spoil the whole experience.
Dez Cadena on Vocals:
[compilation track]
10) Clocked In -- I believe this is from the old SST Compilation "Cracks in the Sidewalk", but I may be wrong.. Anyway, it's wild, I'll give you that.. looks like the old style of recording the guitars twice as loud as everything else has made it's triumphant return. As for the song itself.. well, I'm not impressed. Up to this point, most of the songs have been nice little punk tunes, really quick and short and to the point.. well, this is a short song, but it seems to drag on for some reason. Dez doesn't sound very good on this tune, either.. it almost sounds like he's coughing the words out. Overall, I was not very impressed.
Six Pack 7" EP: [Dez on Vocals]
11) Six Pack -- Much slower than the more famous "Damaged" version... This is a pretty well written song, though, really enjoyable, even if it is a little bit slow. Dez sounds a little bit better on this track, but not much.. I've heard that he sounded great live back then, though, and he sounds awesome on "Everything Went Black".. I don't know what the deal is with these recordings, but he doesn't live up to the first two vocalists. Anyway, though, enjoy this, because this is the only good track on this 7".
12) I've Heard it Before -- That introduction is awful. Dez sounds like a little moron, trying to sound violent and yet failing.. the guitar is incredibly annoying, and the drums come in for no reason.. this is a horrible song. It was just poorly written, and it gets really annoying really quick. I mean, parts of it are okay, but it's not worth it. That introduction turns you off, and the rest of it doesn't bring you back.
13) American Waste -- This is a little bit better, but not much. I think that Ginn's guitar could use a little bit of work on this track.. he's trying to experiment and what not, and it's just not working. This would have worked well as a 3-chord tune, but it doesn't work the way that it's done.
[compilation track]
14) Machine -- Perhaps the worst Black Flag track ever recorded. Dez is horrible during the boring introduction, and this song never really materializes.. it sounds like it wasn't finished, actually.. like they just jammed one day and churned it out, and then called it done. For the record, I think this was recorded on the "Chunks" compilation.
Louis Louie 7" EP:
15) Louie Louie -- this is the last pre-Rollins official Flag album. And, wouldn't you know it, this sounds really cool. Dez does a great job with this song.. I still don't understand why his vocals work sometimes and don't work other times. Anyway, this is a great, violent cover of Louie Louie... I think the best part of this is the way Ginn plays it on guitar. His solo is absolutely nuts, really something to listen to. Overall, this is a really nice track.
16) Damaged I -- The classic Flag song.. two-chord structure, slow, really deep and heavy, with improvisational vocals. This version is okay, although I think there's a bit too much feedback for my tastes... check out "Damaged" [the album] instead. I dunno, it's okay, but it could be a lot better.
Overall, I hate to say this, but this album doesn't do Flag much justice. The first two EPs were great, but that's only half of the album.. once you get past that stuff, you get into the really weird stuff, and everything just falls apart. Add that to the fact that this album isn't even 26 minutes long, and you've got a problem.
I'd recommend this album, though, but I'm going to have to give it a low rating. It doesn't hold up to the caliber of the other Black Flag albums. If you're interested in their punk stuff, I'd actually recommend getting "Everything Went Black" BEFORE getting this album.
Don't flame me for giving this a bad rating, by the way.. I'm a huge Flag fan, but I've got to be honest. I don't want people buying this album and being disappointed with it.
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