Customer Reviews

Diy: We're Desperate La Scene

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4 star:		(2)
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In that it's comprised by the highlight songs from the bands on it.Most of these bands' lps are not as good as these songs may suggest,so this is a comprehensive overview of the LA scene of those years.Maybe with the exception of The Germs,this is all the LA scene you'll be needing.The sound is very good on top of it all.I've owned this comp for 14 years now and I still listen to it.That good.But the Dangerhouse series are a better deal indeed.The booklet on this one is so thick and full of info an pics you won't believe your eyes ! Rhino is a very generous record label and you just don't see that anymore nowadays.

I've found myself listening to this CD a lot since I bought it. This is part of a series of compilations focusing on the early punk scenes in various cities. This compilation is a very good collection that pretty much covers the most important bands of the LA punk scene of the late 70's and early 80's. It focus on the period before punk mutated into 80's hardcore. Later LA hardcore bands like Fear, Black Flag and Circle Jerks got a lot more prominence nationwide, but it started with bands like the Germs, the Dils, and of course, X.

Some of the bands featured are obvious and necessary inclusions, especially X, but also Dickies, Germs, Dils, and Wierdos, but many of the other tracks are also excellent. The first few tracks, by bands like the Motels, do not fit the narrow mold of the punk sound. In LA, as in other places, the early scene was much more diverse than the caricature which would ultimately become a parody of itself (Think Talking Heads & Television).

There is one very notable omission from this collection, but perhaps it was inevitable. I am referring to the Screamers, one of the greatest bands of the early punk period, who unfortunately never released any records. The band used synthesizers and electronic keyboards to generate a racket to rival any electric guitars. There are examples of their material available on the usual places on the internet, and I would encourage you to check it out. Their absence from this compilation is notable. Nevertheless I don't know how feasible it would have been to include demos or bootlegs, so I can't take any points off.

I have not heard the other CD's in this series, but I can strongly recommend this one.

This is a fine compilation but unfortunately out of print and, subsequently, expensive. You can get most of this material on the Dangerhouse Vols. 1&2 and What Stuff comps for much less $. Also, check out The Quick "Untold Rock Stories" on Rev-Ola records. This is a GREAT collection of tunes from one of the most underrated bands ever. The Quick influenced alot of the LA punk bands.

If D.I.Y.: We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene (1976-79) is one of the weakest installments in the D.I.Y. series, it's only because the Los Angeles scene wasn't nearly as rich and diverse as those in New York and London. New wave pop didn't have a stronghold in the L.A. punk community, which tended to favor raw, hard, often amateurish punk. Essentially, Los Angeles was one of the first towns to embrace hardcore, and almost all of We're Desperate plays as proto-hardcore punk. Of all the bands on the collection, X displays the greatest songcraft and style with their edgy guitars and tag-team vocals. No other group has their finesse, but then again, they don't attempt to write songs, they just want to make noise; on that level the collection works, even if it may get tedious to listeners who have just a passing interest in this style of punk. Still, We're Desperate is a good overview of the L.A. scene, featuring its handful of major players - the Germs ("Forming," "Lexicon Devil"), the Dickies ("You Drive Me Ape [You Big Gorilla]"), the Weirdos ("We Got the Neutron Bomb," "A Life of Crime"), the Dils ("I Hate the Rich") - plus many lesser-known acts like the Zeros, the Furys, Eyes, Bags, the Last, Alley Cats, the Plugz, and the Dogs, as well as a demo from the Motels. It's an accurate representation of the 70's Los Angeles punk scene. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

basically this release is similar to those comps put out by the 'Dangerhouse'label. a lot of history is packed into this cd. a good mix of pop and punk songs, for us who love to revisit our past. X and theDils hold the #1 and #2 fastest songs here.

This compilation can only appeal to someone that has a nostalgic appreciation for a very weak subgenre in the late 70's and early 80's.

While British Punk kickstarted a musical revamping and New York punk perfected it by injecting a variety of appreciable and endearing talent into that movement, L.A. simpy adopted the angst and posturing yet ignored that there should be musical talent and quality songwriting.

With the exception of X, the L.A. bands stunk.

This is a series of compilations that tries to painstakingly categorize the different forms of punk music. L.A. punk is not worthy of consideration. The other cds in this series range from execellent to good.