Customer Reviews

Every Day Is Saturday

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not your usual "demos" & "unreleased" package which usually contains scraps or pieces of half finished songs and throw aways. Norton has compiled a first rate release of great and "complete" songs (yes a few radio promos too) which span the bands entire career. Yes, some of the tracks have "lo-fi" sound issues, but still would be considered very good to excellent by bootleg/Hot Wacks standards. Most of the tracks here sound phenomenal, so don't let the "small time" label release scare you away. The ultimate bonus here is the original demo recordings for the "Bloodbrothers" album.
With the exception of the Flamin' Groovies tune "Slow Death", the entire "Bloodbrothers" album is present here!
Ross the Boss & Top Ten flat out rip through the entire set; songs like "Faster & Louder" and "Borneo Jimmy" have so much energy, they may even be better than the "official" releases.
I can not stress enough how pleased I am with this album (10 stars if I could). I have been a fan of this band for over 30 years and I rank "Everyday Is Saturday" right up there with every other album. With so little Dictators material out there, ya' gotta snag this one before it goes MIA.
My strongest recommendation!

WHOA!
The greatest band of all time does it again! (And this time, they didn't have to Do anything! It's a comp., of course).
Okay, first off, any and ALL Dictators fans should not hesistate to buy this CD.
IMMEDIATELY!
Never mind the delay of over a year and a half (yeesh!);
This was worth da wait! FIRST, ya got the '73 demos, all FIVE of them.
FIVE? My old tape, which some miserable F*#@!s&*!!! stole from me at a party years ago, it didn't have Weekend! Outstanding, all of it, especially California Sun, which is WAAAAY better than the version on The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!, it is far more wild, naturally loose, with some Wonderfully 'obscene' lyrics! Trippin' like James Dean! that's me, babies! Ya-HOOOO!!!!!!!
Fireman's Friend makes no sense! A song about Superman?? When our hero and leader is of course Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli? Superman's cool tho!

America the Beautiful? HANDSOME DICK for PRESIDENT! Now THAT'S a ticket we can all get behind!

Sleepin' With The TV On is beautiful, proving the main problem with Manifest Stupidity is the production; most of the songs were pretty good, if not up to Dictators standards ('cept Disease, that's forever STUPID. And I DON'T mean that in a "stoopid-cool" way. It's laaaaaame!)
Sleepin' With the TV On is a GREAT song, anyways.

And now, what I had been waiting for the most (along wif California Sun and the chicks that--they do WHAT wherever ya go Andy? ha ha!)
BLOODBROTHERS DEMOS!!!! (for those who don't realize how exciting that simple phrase is, you -- do not worry, for this is still hope for you! It was the last album of the first three I discovered, and it is not merely their best, it is one of the best albums in rock 'n' roll HISTORY.

Don't just SIT there, SIT there and one-click order Bloodbrothers NOW and then come back here! Finish your reading (punks!)

Ah God, seriously, what can ya say about demos for the Masterpiece?
Well, the versions you shouldn't expect to be as great as the Bloodbrothers album, right?
But in some cases they ARE! Or ALMOST, anyway --that's saying something!
When I first heard Faster and Louder, I was driving my car, and when the opening came on, I had to just STOP. I couldn't drive! For a few moments. I had to take pause in what I had just heard--I was flat-out Startled!
An' you will be too --if you're half the fan I is!
The highlight of them all-- all eight originals, no Slow Death here (waaahhh!)-- the highlight is What It Is!
Yup, the album's dark horse comes in, with a spirit that is FAR less the version with melancholic undertones on the album version, and far more of a triumphant sound, man, this guy KNOWS he's THE ONE, and this chick better catch on Quick or she's Bullll-own it!
Baby Let's Twist is also really wonderful. The singing overall ain't as good as the album version, but dig how Handsome sings the opening line here! TRIUMPH! The emphasis, Handsome! Ya did it better here. At the beginning. The rest of the song is better on Bloodbrothers. But it's still awesome, God, listen to that guitar! Ross the Boss! For those who don't know, he ain't called the BOSS fer nothing!
Faster and Louder and Stay With me are also the highlights here, for MOI, from these demos.
AH, but I'm forgetting 16 Forever! Meant as the B-side to --some single!
It's a teriffic song, just fantastic--you may have heard the great Nomads covering it, getting some of the lyrics wrong but still kicking ass with it? Well, this is better. "I'll never be a man,I'll be just what I am, don't you try and change me!" You said it Andy! Great pop tune-manship there also (Tune-manship? what kinda word....?)
There's also a later version, but I prefer this one , the original.
Loyola is the same version that was/is the b-side of the original version of I Am Right, which is also on that import CD-single. But if you haven't heard it, MAN! What a great lost song!
Laughing Out Loud is an enigma. It was recorded for the mighty D.F.F.D. album -- now THAT'S what I miss here, I thought there would be more demos for D.F.F.D. Oh well.
It's about -- ????
Who the hell is this about? I guess you could make it about whoever you want to laugh at, I suppose! Oh man, some KICK-ASS guitar and drumming on this one!
What's Up With That? # 2 is very different from the D.F.F.D. version;
I don't have the soundtrack to Boys Don't Cry anymore, I don't know if this one is the same? i don't THINK so, but I'm relying on memory for that one.
The second version of 16 Forever is Still great, btw. (Of Course)

So, ta summarize, the highlights here are the '73 demos, with california Sun the highlight of them all there (Great Master Race Rock too, with the original ending!); the Bloodbrothers demos, --pretty much everything but the radio spots! Sorry, but I'd rather have the bonus track available on the vinyl version, a cover of The Ramones "I Just Want To have Something To Do". Dammit, my turntable bit the dust. AGH!

I can't really find any fault here. Essential for any Dicators fan, first get Bloodbrothers and D.F.F.D. and The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!-- or go out of order, this is still a MUST!
FanTASTIC liners too! a really great booklet, filled with pictures galore, and a loooong essay by Scott Kempner on the band, a brief one by Handsome (he was busy being handsome, give him a break), and one by a roadie I coulda done without! And then there's liners about the actual recordings by Andy Shernoff, maybe the most important part of the booklet.
Jesus, just buy this already! There ain't nothing else out there NEARLY as great as this being released, now is there!? Nope.

BUY IT!
and have FUN.

The day may soon come when to understand how much fun pre-homogenized New York City WAS you'll have to play a Dictators record. And if it's this one you choose, you WON"T be disappointed.
Fashioned from the mind & music of the shamefully underappreciated Andy Shernoff, the Dictators ruled their musical territory like few bands have done before or since.This dynamic collection of demo versions of some of their best known tunes, plus interesting oddities, demonstrates that their powerful take on a truly male voice of rock and roll hasn't lost one iota of potency in over 30 years!
Equal parts raw power,wiseass humor and the type of edgy virtuosity only the streets of NYC (and the outer borough of the Bronx in particular) could have rendered, these sides constitute an endless party & celebration of rock and roll chaos.
One can't underestimate the contributions of the inimitable Handsome Dick, Top 10,Ross the Boss and various drummers here, and you'll adore the personal history the liner notes provide--but it will always be the tunes themselves that bring you back. Yeah,the NYC scene of the time gave us the far more celebrated Ramones,Television,Blondie,Talking Heads etc., but the truth is, it was the DICTATORS who REALLY got what rock and roll and its' culture (and lack of) was about. With this CD you'll find out why fans have long chanted "Dictators Forever,Forever Dictators"!

the dictators rock with energy and humour. if they keep this up, they may very well be the next big thing. near perfect driving music. musically they leaven a hard rock base with jewish funk and surf music. though they're not the greatest rock and roll band ever, they are damn close. i love this anthology.

This CD is a must for any Tators fan. There are demo versions of every song from Bloodbrothers plus all sorts of rarities and unreleased early tunes from Adny, Ross, HDM, Top Ten and a bunch of drummers. Anyway, the sound is fine and the disc rocks from end to end. Get it!!

If you are a Dictators fan -- or someone who is interested in the roots of punk rock -- you need to have this record. The Dictators are one of the most underappreciated rock acts of all time. In my opinion, if there were never a Dictators, there would never have been a Ramones. (Doubt me? Listen to "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Master Race Rock" side by side -- and don't even get me started on "California Sun"!)

The accompanying liner notes are cool also, with interesting stories and GREAT pictures (HDM and Henny Youngman! Adny's mug shot in a CREEM T-Shirt!) My only complaint is that I wish the book was bigger -- but the form factor of the CD has it's limitations.

These guys knew rockandroll was meant to be fun -- and I mean top-down, turned-all-the-way-up schafer-pop-top channel-11 screw-the-hangover creature-features chicks-in-tube-tops don't-question-authority-just-ignore-it-kinda fun. Don't miss this one.

If you're looking at this page, chances are you're already a Dictators fan. Quit wasting time and get this. You won't be disappointed.

If you like the Dictators, MC5, Stooges, Union Carbide, etc check out Mighty High...In Drug City.