Archive for May, 2006

Naked Raygun’s first (and best) full length, and what I feel is probably the best punk rock album from a Chicago band, came in a lot of different flavors over the decade or so that it was in print. In fact, it can get so confusing at times it might give you a headache. Take two aspirin and note the variations.

Originally this record came out in 1985 and was on black vinyl, contained an insert, and there was no barcode on the back of the sleeve and it said “Made in England” on the back as that is where Homestead/Dutch East was getting their records manufactured at the time. The insert came in two variations and I’m pretty sure they were made at the same time. It could either be forwards…

Finally, the original test pressing looks like this.

So there you have it, every variation of Throb Throb I’ve ever seen. Happy hunting my fellow completists!

There is a new episode of LFCM that is now available to download. This is a special emergency episode all about the big 30 Years of Punk show we are putting on June 3rd.

What is the 30 years of punk show you ask? Well, click the image below and find out. Provided I survive my surgery tomorrow, I’ll be DJ’ing the afer-party! Click the image below for the details!

You can download the special episode of LFCM here.

Punk ‘77: An Inside Look at the San Francisco Rock n’ Roll Scene 1977
by James Stark
RE/Search Publications

Punk ‘77 is a look back at the first wave of the San Francisco punk rock scene. It tells the story through the voices of some people involved in interviews that were done about a decade ago. Members of the Nuns, Dils, Avengers, Crime, and others share their stories of how they became bands, how their little scene opened the door for punk rock in that city, how they found places to play, etc. On top of the great stories and history, there are tons of great photos from back then of the bands and people involved. The stories are put together chronologically starting in 1976 before there was punk rock in the city, and then as it starts to unfold, it covers the year of 1977 where all the action happened and SF punk was born, and ends as 1978 unfolds and brings the change of hardcore starting to emerge and the crowds and scene and bands changing.

The book is put together and reads very similar to Please Kill Me : The Uncensored Oral History of Punk and We Got the Neutron Bomb : The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, which are books that cover the early New York and Los Angeles scenes respectively. I really enjoy this approach as it reads in a way that is similar to watching a documentary on TV with the different voices each chiming in on the topic and time period being covered in a particular chapter or segment. The people interviewed for this book all had very vivid memories of those times so it would seem that neither age nor substance abuse had taken its toll on the memories of these folks. For a person such as myself who is a fan of many of these bands but knew very little about the history of San Francisco punk due to a lack of resources, this book was a welcome history lesson and I came out of it knowing a lot more of the origins of this scene that produced so many bands I still love to this day, and I have an even greater appreciation of it.

The book is about 120 pages long with a lot of pictures. It is a fairly quick read, but the content is quite solid and very interesting from start to finish. This is the “expanded third edition” that features an extra interview at the end as well as some additional photos. One thing I noticed (and it is noted in the introduction) is that despite the fact this book has been reprinted and updated, the original errors remain intact. Instead of correcting them on the individual pages, all the errors and corrections are listed at the end of the book. I would have preferred they just change them in the main book instead of how they did it, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book and certainly doesn’t diminish the facts presented inside. The photos are are superb quality, James Stark must have had some pretty sweet equipment back then, they are all in black and white and quite striking. There are plenty of photos of Crime, The Nuns, and The Avengers that until receiving this book, I had never seen before.

For anyone who is interested in punk rock history, this book is a mandatory read. I can think of no other book that covers the SF scene at all, let alone how it began. Its a perfect addition to your punk library along with the aforementioned books about New York and Los Angeles and will get revisited quite often by this reader.

Related links:

Order the book from amazon.com

Re/Search Publications

Playing Right Field: A Jew Grows up in Greenwich - Book
by George Tabb
Soft Skull Press

George Tabb is a punk rock veteran that you may or may not have heard of. He did time in the Florida hardcore band, Roach Motel, as well as False Prophets, Iron Prostate, and later his own band, Furious George. He also has been a writer for Maximumrocknroll for a great many years now. In fact, his column in MRR was one of the few reasons I still wouldn’t miss an issue for years up until I had to stop buying it due to lack of income. It was one of the things I looked forward too most each issue, and always was the most entertaining thing about that zine.

This book is a collection of stories about George’s childhood starting when he moved to Greenwich with what sounds like the world’s worst and most abusive father. George was picked on for being a Jew in a town that Jews were looked down on as second class citizens. Throughout the years he endured beatings, ridicule, embarrassment, entertainment, and more every day of his life at school, only to come home and get the same treatment by his dad, step-mom and step-sisters! Somehow through all the torment, George has managed to keep a level head and he tells the stories in such a way that it makes you laugh just as much as you also feel for him. His writing style is simple yet unique, he is really great at hooking you in with an excerpt, then giving you the back story leading up to what you just read, all the while keeping you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what happened. It is done so well it really makes it hard to put the book down. In fact I read this book probably faster than any other book I’ve ever held just due to the fact that I was so taken with the stories, that I wanted to keep hearing more.

If there is one complaint I had it’s that the book was so interesting I refused to put it down and before I knew it, it was over! When I finished it, I wanted to email George and ask him a bunch of questions, and ask him to tell me some more stories! Some of the stories in this book appeared in his columns in MRR over the years, so if you are familiar with his writing and enjoyed it, you’ll definitely want to pick up this book. For me, someone who looks up to every person to ever play in a punk band that I bought records by, it was really cool to be able to get a glimpse at the growing up of one of my punk rock peers (and he does cover how he came to hear and see The Ramones for the first time), especially when the tales are told in such a fascinating way. I can’t recommend it enough and if you are anything like me, you’ll be craving more, which thankfully there now is…

Surfing Armageddon: Fishnets, Fascists, and Body Fluids in Florida - book
by George Tabb
Soft Skull Press

Since I was sent both of these books in the same package, as soon as I finished the first one I immediately opened up this new one and dug in. The first thing I noticed is it was a lot thicker than the first one, which meant only one thing - more to read! My initial thought was, “sweet, this one will last longer than the last one”, which was true, but because I enjoyed it even more than the first one, I think I read it just as fast!

Surfing Armageddon sort of picks up where the first one left off. It starts with George and his dysfunctional family packing up and leaving Greenwich to move down to Florida where his father has dreams of recreating the plantation from Gone with the Wind as the Tabb family home. George is in high school at this point and hopes that the change of scenery will mean no more beatings, ridicule, and embarrassment, at least outside of the home. Sadly, yet also in funny a dark humor kind of way, his stories reveal that the south was pretty much equally as unkind as the north. While The Ramones and Rocky Horror Picture Show have changed his life and put him on the course that helped make him the punk rock man he is today, he wasn’t without his share of sad, yet darkly funny tales to tell.

Throughout the high school and college years depicted in this book, George discovers the joy of masturbation, punk rock, trying to get laid, getting a job, a car, all while enduring discrimination at the hands (and fists) of his peers, and his father. In many ways for me, because of the time frame represented in the stories, it was easier for me to relate to more of the stories in this book for the simple fact that I have a much easier time remembering that era of my life as opposed to my grade school years.

The book is written in the exact style of the first one, which couldn’t have been written any better. I have always loved George Tabb’s writing style since I first started reading his stuff in Maximumrocknroll, and in fact I’m quite envious of it. I really wish I had the talent of hooking you in and turning even tragic tales into dark humor the way that Tabb does. He has a talent that I hope I’m able to continue to enjoy reading for years to come. On top of delivering some fine punk rock over the years, George has now delivered the written word in an even more enjoyable fashion. The book ends on a very satisfying note too, which is all I can say without revealing anything.

Just like the first one, this book easily gets my highest recommendation, in fact even more so than the first for the simple fact that it is longer and the stories are even more enjoyable and even more humorous, though you’d be doing yourself a favor by picking them both up, as you’ll get through them pretty quickly and I guarantee that you’ll be wishing there was more.

Related links:

Click on the book images above to order from amazon.com

Soft Skull Press

George Tabb on myspace

H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man The Original Series Season One - DVD
Dark Sky Films

H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man was a TV series that started in 1957. It told the tale of Peter Brady (who is in no way related to the Brady Bunch) who while working on invisibility experiments, becomes invisible himself when a harmful chemical leak in his lab contaminates him. After going into hiding, he eventually not only returns to work, but thanks to his chemically induced “gift”, he now is the most desirable person in the world to people with evil intentions, as well as a prized British Secret Agent. Each episode tells a different story of blackmail, sabotage, crime, etc. all the while distracting Brady from his one true goal, which is to find the cure for his ailment. The episodes are a half hour in length and they are really quite entertaining. For 1950’s technology, they did some pretty amazing things in bringing this Invisible Man to life. There always seems to be a new gimmick in any given episode to show off their creativity of having the main character be someone you can’t see unless he is wrapped in bandages. The effects and the show in general has really stood the test of time.

This 2-disc set contains the entire first season, which has a total of 13 episodes. The easy to navigate menu lets you pick any episode you want to view, or there is the handy “play all” option as well. The picture is black and white and was remastered and looks sharp and has nice contrast. There are a few different audio options; original mono, 5.1 surround, Spanish, and French language. The 5.1 option is the default when you play the disc for the first time but I found that the music was mixed too loud and it made the speech hard to hear, so I preferred the mono mix where the music was much more subdued and the voices were crystal clear. The whole thing is packaged in a keep case with a lenticular cover where when you move it, the Invisible Man’s face vanishes.

If you are a fan of old television, you’d find a lot of enjoyment out of this series. I remember seeing a few reruns of this when I was a little kid and thinking it was pretty neat back then, and now 50 years after it was originally made, I still think it is a pretty neat show, and in fact as enjoyable, if not more so, than a lot of what you find on TV these days. I don’t know how many seasons this show ran, but I look forward to more coming out should there have been any.

Related links:

Order the DVD from amazon.com

Dark Sky Films website

The day I ended up in the hospital, I received a new package in the mail from the ever-so-lovely Lisa Fancher of Frontier Records. Inside I was quite pleased to find two records on sweet colored vinyl that just got released.

Christian Death - Only Theatre of Pain LP on purple vinyl. This is the premier death-rock record that deserves to be in every home and is a long-time favorite of mine. This previously was available on a gold colored vinyl and my friend, ExRaye, suggested to Lisa to do it on purple next time they were going to press it, and you can see the eye pleasing results. I actually like this color way more than the previous one.

Dangerhouse Volume One on red vinyl. This is a mandatory old punk collection of some of the best songs ever released on the legendary Dangerhouse Records label, which is easily the best record label of all time. This is one of the most mandatory collections in punk rock!

Both of them are available for a limited time and can be ordered directly from Frontier Records. Not only is the price extremely fair (including postage), but you’ll get your order extremely fast too! If you happen to drop by there for a visit, be sure to tell them MXV sent you. Many thanks to Lisa for this latest vinyl fix!