Customer Reviews

Basement Screams

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"I Lie", "Swingo" and "Potential Rapist" are easily three of Naked Raygun's best songs. You also get Jim Colao who was Naked Raygun's greatest drummer. All Rise and Throb Throb can wait - buy this one first.

For true Raygun fans only. A very raw recording including NR's first album (which had been deleted when the band was still around) and some rare outakes of a previous session. While some of the songs are good, (Liar is one of their best songs in my opinion) it is merely a novelty to hear what the band sounded like before they were great. Albini has written better and said better things as well in the liner notes. Go buy Throb Throb first.

One day my roomate has my do a search for naked raygun mp3s on soulseek. I don't find any but because he says they are a great punk band from the early 80's I go out and buy this album. Later that day I am told I got the "worst" one. I have since bought the later albums but still it is this one I keep coming back to. The sound is a perfect lo-fi raw experiance and the songs are fast and brutal. "I lie" is perhaps one of the best punk anthems. All these songs make you want to jump, fight and dance until the muscles on your neck split and blood is jettisoned from your mouth. Recomended for any punk fan. Also if you enjoy this album go out and find a copy of the Urinals "Negative capability". Check it out.

...I do love Naked Raygun's later work, but I put this one in most often. It sure is primitive, and noisy, and lo-fi, and that's why I like it. To me, songs like "Bombshelter" and "Tojo" and "Tell Them" from the 1980 session embody in my mind what I think real punk rock is. Not quite as melodic as their later punk-pop (NOT pop-punk, mind you) outings, but still it isn't completely user-unfriendly.

Oh, and "Potential Rapist" (will Amazon let me say that?) is a gosh darn classic. One of the best songs ever written.

Trivia time, guitarist Santiago Durango, and singer Jeff Pezzati were both doubling in Big Black around the time this record came out, around the same time that Big Black's "Bulldozer" was released.

Naked Raygun was the flagship band of the tiny Chicago punk scene in the 80s. This collection of songs is a lot of fun, although the shoddy sound quality of the latter half of the album might rub some people the wrong way (I like it, personally -- I love the second "Swingo" on there, which is fast and raw, as it should be).

Favorite tracks on this one are: "Bombshelter" (great to listen to with headphones), "Tojo," "Swingo," "Potential Rapist" -- the rhythm section on these is just stellar -- machine-gun drums and galloping bass (the bass reminds me a lot of Wire, incidentally). Speaking of Wire, I thought their cover of "12XU" to be sludgy -- way too slow.

I think NR's work has held up well, managing not to sound dated. It's a short album, so you can cycle through it over and over again, which is good, since you'll come to appreciate the music as you listen to it more. There's an interesting commentary on the inside jacket by Steve Albini, and some great pictures.

For true Raygun fans only. A very raw recording including NR's first album (which had been deleted when the band was still around) and some rare outakes of a previous session. While some of the songs are good, (Liar is one of their best songs in my opinion) it is merely a novelty to hear what the band sounded like before they were great. Albini has written better and said better things as well in the liner notes. Go buy Throb Throb first.

Take the opportunity to own this masterpiece of seminal agit pop, an insane sensibility that verges on complete chaos during its best moments. Bespectacled indie guru Steve Albini still sites this early offering as an example the band at its best (& he's also penned some rather nice liner notes for the occasion of this reissue).

A supremely unique document. An extremely early example of an American indie band derived endless inspiration from such art-damaged Euro pioneers as WIRE, Swell Maps, GO4 and The Mekons-- long before bands like Fugazi and Sonic Youth made it fasionable.

Essential.