The Beginning of the End Again
(Unclean)
by Lex Marburger
Zowie! Fifteen bands, 15 tracks, from noisy pop to howling punk. The liner notes are so cool, it’s gonna be hard to say anything else about these songs. I guess I’ll cheat and use some of their descriptions when I run out of ways to praise the tracks.
The albums starts off right with Fuckemos grinding out an old Cherub’s classic, “Shoofly.” A voice that scrapes bottom, guitars that shake the walls, and a solo that could cut a diamond. “Weaves about with the dark, carnival abandon of a teenage drunk driver who can’t get laid.”
Next we have Crown Roast, drums and all. Guitars tuned out, a train wreck between the bass and drums, a voice of agony and rage, a bridge of suspended disbelief, and a juggernaut finish. “Death Metal wished it was this cool.” Then comes None of the Above, and “No Chance,” a punk rock chant along, swing your arms, raise your voice to the sky and holler in solidarity kind of tune. The boys from Oklahoma are back, so watch out! The Do it Now Foundation takes us down a bit, with “I’m So Wasted.” Almost power pop but with guitars that are suffering some kind of major psychosis, and Lene Clare’s voice surprised me by being neither whiny nor shrieky. She just sings. Cool. “I’m So Wasted’ perfectly captures the sound of your next hangover.” We go further into punk-pop with Flying Saucers and “Amphetamine.” The vocals remind me partially of Meat Puppets, and the drumming is a solid snare drum driven sound of something starting with a “D” or an “S.”
After that comes Orange Mothers and “Fairgoers.” This one kind of scared me (in a good way), with intentionally stupid lyrics and acid-soaked guitars soaring above strange race tracks. “Orange Mothers welds Butthole Surfers to Jimi Hendrix and then go to the fair.” The Cherubs decimate Blondie’s “Dreaming,” turning it into a punk rock enema for the ’80s. It’s amazing how good these old tunes actually sound when you re-vamp them. I guess it’s time for the Rollins Band to cover Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran.” Stretford goes totally old-school British punk with “Who Do You Want Me To Be?” Brings a tear to the eye, it does. Off in the corner, you can hear our publisher grumbling something about “back in the day,” while this one blasts through the office stereo.
The Hamicks remember the time when Dead Milkmen and Violent Femmes were the shit and have combined the two with whiny vocals and acoustic punk. “Pure early ’80s dork rock.” With the ultimate in garage rock sound, Inhalants apparently recorded this one in a garbage can with a Dictaphone, and then decided it was too clean, so they put the micro cassette in a pail of water and spit. Excellent production. The Dropouts go punkabilly, and take off in their souped-up roadster, singing “By Bye Baby.” Perfect “primitive R&B” music to go drag racing with. Sons of Hercules leap out of San Antonio and into your face with “IOU Nothing,” a searing rocker that keeps the blood pounding and the energy high. I almost kicked a hole in the wall with this track. The Hormones decide to take a swipe at media punk baby Billy Joe with “Sell Out Young,” showing us what real punk rock sounds like. Honest, stripped down music with a soul and enough anger to get the point across. Kinda reminds me of Klover.
Suddenly, we’re sent down to the Swamps of Louisiana with Blind Willie’s Johnson as our guide. Gritty blues-infested snake charmer music, goes great with jambalaya and Wild Turkey. The singer sounds like he swallowed some of the brackish water and is now going through convulsions and hallucinating while trying to throw up his liver. Good Stuff. The CD ends on a sour note, with Thomas Anderson‘s “Uranium Road.” It just goes to show that intellectuals can’t write good lyrics. The music rocks, with guitars that sound like they’re being attacked by a swarm of killer bees with machetes. The singing though… Get the guy from Orange Mothers, or maybe Crown Roast. But in my opinion, if only one track on a compilation sucks, that’s amazing. Once again, it’s called The Beginning of the End Again, and it is worth your time and money to get this. Do it now. Put down this magazine, go to the store, and buy this album. I mean it. Now. Stop stalling. Go.
