Customer Reviews

Dance With Me

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A must have for any punk rock! Probably the best hardcore record to come out of California. This is an '82-83 album, so it IS "old school" For those of us who were there, it was hard to find even then. The pace never slows down, and moves quickly from song to song. "Funeral March" sets the standard for this album, its impossible to sit still thru, definately not to drive with! Before you know it, the album is over and its time to listen to it again-you will never get sick of it.and there is no way you can listen to just one or two songs.Once you start, you must hear it all..Be glad its on CD so no flipping vinyl!. One of the top 10 punk rock albums ever made..along with Bad Brains and Bad Religion's "How Could Hell..". As a singer for a DC hardcore band I always wondered how this album came out of California at the same time the Dead Kennedys did! 16 years later and I still listen to this ALL THE TIME. BUY THIS NOW!

Sorry, but TSOL was never really a "Death Rock" or "Dark Punk" band. They did this album in that vein but it was just one phase of an evolution they took on. Christian Death were more of a true death-punk band, at least on their first album, but TSOL just dabbled with it for a brief period when this album was made.

The first EP was straight-up aggro beach hardcore with a political edge, but if you notice, Jack's in full death-rock mode on the cover of that one already. This album didn't sound that much different from the EP, except for a few tunes like "Silent Scream", I'm Tired", and "Dance With Me"... which were really just adding a little b-movie horror imagery to the hardcore stew, and of course there's the cover art. After this they did the amazing "Weathered Statues" EP, which was a perfect transition into the next LP, "Beneath The Shadows", which could be looked back on as possibly the very first psychedelic hardcore album. After that Jack split the scene and it went downhill into no original members and butt-rock for a while.

Bottom line: TSOL never recorded the same album twice, and that's why I've loved 'em for 20-odd years. I could have done without the cheese-metal period of the late 80's, but to me that was a different band using the TSOL name. This is my favorite proper TSOL album... always has been. The death rock schtick is fun and the aggro levels are high. I always come back to this one. Never gets old.

TSOL are tragically overlooked in the glut of early California punk bands. They never stayed with one style for long and some of their experiments just didn't work, but their best records are truly great. On the surface, this comes off as a california hardcore record in the tradition of the Adolescents, DI and Circle Jerks. All the characteristic youth, nihilism, and roughly melodic atonality are here. Closer inspection, however, reveals a starkly ambitious, gothic psychedelia struggling up through the primitive framework. Starting with the paranoia of 'Sounds of Laughter', through the necrophiliac 'Code Blue' and ending in the incantatory 'Dance with me', the whole record exudes a certain undead palor. They would pursue this sound even further on their next album, the equally brilliant (but much less 'punk') 'Beneath the Shadows', before sullying their names with mediocre glam metal. But this album still stands as a perfect middle ground between hardcore and death rock and should appeal to fans of the Misfits, 45 Grave and early Christian Death as well as classic california punk heads.

Never before and never since has a band managed to make a sound like this. Rocking, gothic, silly and mature all at the same time. Sweet.

THIS ALBUM WAS SO FAR AHEAD OF ITS TIME, EVERYTIME i LISTEN TO IT,IT TAKES ME BACK TO THE OLD SCHOOL PUNK, GOTH DAYS ...CHRISTIAN DEATH ... 45 GRAVE ...AGENT ORANGE.DEAD KENNEDYS,Black Flag, The Germs, X.. UNLIKE OTHER REVIEWS THE EVOLUTION OF THIS BAND TSOL WHO I DID MEET A FEW TIMES AND SEE MANY TIMES LIVE, ONCE YOU ACCEPTED THAT THE SINGER WAS REPLACED AFTER JACK LEFT, THE ALBUM "CHANGE TODAY" WAS A GREAT ALBUM, i GUESS IF YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE AWFUL, YOU NEEDED TO KEEP AN OPEN MIND, "FLOWERS BY THE DOOR" REALLY PUT THIS BAND ON THE MAP, CHANGE TODAY WAS STILL A TRUE PUNK ALBUM WITH SONGS ABOUT NUCLEAR WAR AND SOLDIERS COMING HOME, i LOVED THEM THROUGH ALL OF THE CHANGES, AT LEAST THEY TRIED TO ADAPT , BUT ONCE THEY PUT IN GUITARIST SCOTTY PHILLIPS FROM SAN DIEGO, i SAW THEM LIVE AND HE WAS OK BUT THE BAND REALLY WENT INTO ANOTHER DIRECTION AND i WAS DONE AT THIS POINT......BELIEVE THIS IN 1988 TSOL OPENED FOR GUNS n ROSES I WENT TO SEE TSOL, CARED LESS ABOUT SEEING "GUNS AND ROLE MODELS" ANYWHO BUY DANCE WITH ME IT IS THE ULTIMATE AGELESS ALBUM.Turn it up!!! LATE GARY P. "Velvethead666"

TSOL is the Bad Beatles of LA Punk. It's hard to hate them. Great bass, guitar, drums, songs, and then there is Jack. Hmmm. Jack... Don't take the lyrics to seriously these are just a bunch of bad seeds from the good side of town. The sound is unique, original, and nobody has reproduced it. Except for the offspring ripping off some guitar riffs. Silly Offspring.

Best they ever did. Saw them live many times in SF back in the 80's and none of the plastic they put out after ever represented them well. TSOL is one of the original punk bands that had their own style and were fun to go and see. A definite for any good punk collection.

Following the success of their EP, TSOL released Dance With Me, a dark but fun record that introduced the world to Goth Punk. With influences ranging from Black Flag, The Damned, and Misfits, TSOL made punk a black and bleak statement of rebellion all over again.

One of the best examples on this disc is "Code Blue", a creepy and fun semi-anthem about necrophilia. The track remains one of TSOL's definitive tracks and is well loved by punk fans world over.

The production on the album is way ahead of its time. The vocals are harsh but melodic and painful at the same time. The guitars give unmistakable punk speed to the mix, and the bass gives it that definitive goth sounds. Songs like "80 Times" "Sounds of Laughter" and "Code Blue" are probably some of the most amazing punk anthems ever recorded. The power and emotion in the songs sends chills down my spine.

The album is great because it features the explosive vocals of original frontman John Grisham, who left the band much later. Not sounding like anything else at that time, TSOL gave influence to millions of bands including The Offspring, AFI, and Danzig, and their songs have been covered by the likes of Slayer and Anthrax. Combining disturbing lyrics with haunting but undeniably catchy hooks, this is a must own for anyone who loves punk rock.

TSOL is really something else in my opinion. The only thing that sounds remotely like it, is The Offspring's self/titled album, the offspring were heavily influenced by TSOL at this time. This album is eerily melodic and it flows so nicely.

You know with a cover that looks like it came from an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons undead monster manual that this album is gonna smoke. In fact, this is great So. Cal., early 80's hardcore punk, sped up and with a sound similar to the Germs ("What We Do is Secret"), the first (and classic) Bad Religion LP, etc.

TSOL's lyrics focus more on the dark side, however, and because of this they're considered to be one of the most important L.A. death rock bands, too, along with 45 Grave and early Christian Death. "Dance with Me" was TSOL's first full length album, and every track is a rocker. At its slowest, the album is mid-tempo; at its fastest it is about as fast as anything else coming out of the punk underground in the early 80's. The drumming really shines through on the album opener, "Screams of Laughter," and the closing track, "Dance With Me," which are two of the best songs on the album. This LP also contains the classic necrophile's anthem, "Code Blue," covered by so many since.