Best Before

Crass | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1984
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Crass
• ASIN: B000001U02
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,270 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #99 in Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative > British Punk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, January 13, 2007

By 

Amazonian (San Francisco<P>San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Before (Audio CD)

If you don't own their singles (long out-of-print, and collector's items), Best Before gives you a soaring survey or some of the band's best tracks. This anarcho-punk sounds quite different than your standard issue '77-style tracks (Clash, Pistols, Lurkers, etc.) in its martial rhythms and political content. At times (as with track like "Nagasaki Nightmare"), it even veers into challenging post-punk. But the level of power and invention is often mesmerizing.

Some time ago, I played their brilliant "Bloody Revolutions" on college radio. In the background, I heard two of the programmers whisper, "Oh, that's really awful," almost like disapproving parants. I realized quickly that casual listeners hearing snippets wouldn't be able to appreciate the radical nature of these songs. These tracks aren't alternative top ten fodder. Rather, each is an individual statement that requires active listening - and then everything opens up to the listener, and it's hard not to feel goosebunps. "Sheep Farming in the Falklands," released after Britain's Falkland's war, is an excoriating satire on territorial ambitions - maybe the toughest ever recorded - and their followup was nearly banned.

Most punk these days tries to be catchy. Crass's work here is certainly memorable, but also also powerful, and deeply human. It has those kinds of peak moments other bands only dream of.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars this band changed my life, December 27, 1999

By 

mr. debaser (the T.V.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Before (Audio CD)

this was one of the first cds i ever bought on the advice of a friend along time ago. crass are often underrated, because while they were very minimalist punk, the things they were doing in their brief career draw from musique concrete and foreshadow industrial music. many of their LPs do have weak moments and are probably not neccessary to anyone besides hardcore fans, this is an album anyone interested in political music should own.

"bloody revolution" critiques punk extremists hungry for violent uprisings, the infamous "do they owe..." comments on governments which allow unemployment and homelessness to co-exist with upper classes, "Smash the Mac" attacks American dominance. Buy it for the liner-notes and lyrics alone!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not bad, but....., December 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Best Before (Audio CD)

this cd isn't bad, makes a nice addition to a music collection already including some Crass. i would've liked other versions of some the songs....but hey!