Customer Reviews

First Four Years / Singles

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When punk rock first came to be in the 70s, for the most part it was really just plain old rock & roll in new clothing. It was louder and faster and whatnot, but the songs still boiled down to the same old blues based riffs and pop motifs. Black Flag might not have been the very first band who took it to the next level (that credit should probably go to the Middle Class or maybe even the Germs,) but they were undeniably the one band who piled into a van and blazed the trail across the USA, introducing a lot of people to Hardcore for the first time.

Black Flag's sound was very agressive, very brutal, very angry. This music was literally scary in its day. Catchy hooks are sacrificed for sheer power and force. Melody is eschewed in favor of atonal rage. The evolution is pretty evident on this disk, if a tad abrupt; the first four songs from the debut 7" Nervous Breakdown have a very clear Ramones-ish tint to them. After that, prepare for a sudden left turn into the psychotic stuff. I imagine this will sound somewhat tame to someone who's never heard it before and is familiar with more contemporary "aggro" music. Guitarist and founder Greg Ginn was a true musical pioneer, which was evident in the fact that he quickly grew bored with the hardcore sound and continued experimenting and evolving his music. It didn't always sound this good, but at least he had (musical) integrity. One thing that must be said is that his insane sounding solos sound like he's playing random notes as fast as he can, but he isn't. He played them exactly the same at every gig. Genius.

This cd covers the early releases of Black Flag up to the Louie Louie 7"(Damaged was next). First up is Nervous Breakdown ep with Keith Morris(later of Circle Jerks)on vocals, and for a first ep this is real good. Released in early 1980(I think), it's 4 songs are early punk blasts that kinda show where they were headed, but more representative of their sound was their next release, the Jealous Again 12", 5 raging blasts that were more indicative of their sound to come, this had singer Chavo Pederast(Ron Reyes), who also appeared in the Decline Of Western Civilation film with them. Next up is a comp. track, Clocked In, taken from the Cracks In The Sidewalk compilation album. This was the first with Dez Cadena singing, and he finishes out the cd, as he sang right up to the point that Henry Rollins joined. The Six Pack single is next and is much like Clocked In as far as sound goes, and all 3 songs are excellent. After that, Machine, from the Chunks compilation, is kinda odd sounding at first, but soon charges along as per usual. the cd finishes up with the Louie Louie 7", and this is probably the best version of Louie Louie ever released. The b-side is Damaged I, and as much as I like the album version of this, the Dez version is pretty heavy. All in all a great cd introduction to Black Flag's early pre-Henry material, and a must have for any fan. Get it and trash your house playing air guitar.

Henry Rollins, who would later rise to fame as a spoken word artist and frontman for "Rollins Band", refers to this album as "The densest bunch of jams ever, with the possible exception of the Funhouse album by The Stooges". Rollins is not to be found on this compilation, as he did not become lead singer of Black Flag until after these tracks were released. This compilation represents everything that was righteous about California Punk in the early-to-mid-80's. With songs like Revenge, White Minority, Jealous Again, and Six Pack, Greg Ginn and company show why they were leading the assault against the boring Rock and Roll stereotype. It wasn't fortune and fame that drove this band, it was the desire to conqure the world with the toughest riffs and hardest raw emotion packed tightly into one-and-a-half minute capsules that America ever saw. If you think that Green Day and Weezer are punk rock, PLEASE buy this album. You will be enlightened, I promise!

This was the first album which got me into hardcore and out of heavy metal hell. As stated before this is basically everything Black Flag released before they hooked up with Hank. The cd definately has a Ramones feel to it, as the instruments are played with reckless abandon and the vocals screamed out. It's a lot less 'thought out' than the Rollins years (which still rule). This is an excellent introduction for anyone wanting to get into Black Flag or Hardcore.

This record had a huge impact on myself. ... The first record I bought of thiers was this one, and it had a huge impact on me at the time, that still lingers on. I recongnize that people liberally hand out 5 stars, and this record has some weaker tracks that are dull and sonically annoying (tied to a clock song for example). But the tracks that are awesome make up for this. I give the 5 stars for the impact and honesty of the record, and how it affected me for better or worse. It has been one of the biggest musical influences on me personally. Much Much better then thier later records which are not are bad, but still have that annoying repetive feedback and song structures. This record stands the test of time, I discovered it 7 years ago, and it still sounds good and raw.

This is the hardest album one could possibly encounter. Today's music pales in comparison to the mighty Black Flag. Future Rollins albums such as "Loose Nut" and "Slip it In" were equally great but no other release could capture the power, rage and genius that was Black Flag. This has got it all from the opening riff of "Nervous Breakdown" (a classic) to the dark "Damaged I". "Jealous Again" is signature Flag and encapsulates everything that hardcore should be. "Revenge" and "Clocked In" are personal favorites and can be applied to everyday life. They are the best and there will never be another band like them.

Here we have 3 discernable phases and "vibes" of Black Flag, aided by line-up (mainly vocalist) changes, and amounting to separate (although closely-related) and refresheningly liberating stances in themselves.

There's the first, 1978 'Nervous Breakdown' e.p. with vocalist Keith Morris (later frontman of the Circle Jerks), which is a really powerful and trashy, beach-bum, 'don't care', messed-up, kind of lazy scream of throwing glitz, false manners, composure and status to the wind.

Then, using the previous as its starting point, there's the snotty, obnoxious, incorrect, directly anti-authority, impudently individual and nihilistic, even threatening, and even more powerful, almost violent venom of the 1980 'Jealous Again' e.p.

Then there's the sharper, darker, sinister, even more cynical and controntational stance (attacking a perceived even wider, more impersonal, deep-rooted, frightening authority) expressed in barking rejection and overdrive guitar in the 'Dez Cadena' phase of, I think, 1980/81 (having moved from guitar to vocals, and moving back to guitar to provide a second guitar when Henry Rollins joined in 1981), including the 'Louie Louie' single ('Damaged I', from the b-side of that single, may be slicker, but it's also sharper and more sinister than the version on the 'Damaged' LP) and the 'Six Pack' e.p. (massive rebellious rage and screaming powerful guitar on 'I've Heard it Before') and the compilation tracks from 'Chunks' and 'Cracks in the Sidewalk'. All that hatred of work, of being forced into a conformist system, of being told how to live and be, and expressed so rawly and unequivocally. And this is an even more muscular, powerful, totally rejecting rage.

This last is probably my favourite phase of the three (though I love the others too, and it's maybe a matter of mood) because it strips even more flesh from an even darker, visceral reaction to the world around itself. And this then basically becomes the musical background that backs up Rollins on the thinner-sounding, but nonetheless brilliant 'Damaged' album which followed when he joined the band a little later.

The only ommisions here that could add to the whole journey are the 'TV Party' e.p. (at least its b-side, with 'My Rules' and particularly the brilliant and powerful 'I've got to run', seems like it should have been here, but I guess it doesn't fit the concept, being 1982 and featuring Henry Rollins), and the powerful compilation version (on 'Let Them Eat Jellybeans' and 'Copulation'; far better than the 'Damaged' version) of 'Police Story', which would have perfectly completed that 'Dez Phase'.

Nontheless this is a full transitional picture of Black Flag, their sound and attitude, as it developed until 'Damaged', and along with that very LP and maybe 'Everything Went Black', it is to me an essential for anyone who loves the freedom that rock music can both represent and inspire.

It has to be said that to many this music might seem like garbage (metaphorically) and you could easily imagine that technical ability and musical correctness were the furthest things from the minds or even capabilities of the performers here (and so beware, if slickness and 'professionalism' are what you admire, because they really aren't the values cherished here). But I would go so far as to say that, to people who see this music from 'the other side', that not only sounds like a potentially good approach to making a record, but is also a far-from-unreasonable, artistically vivid and in-no-way necessarily negative evocation of this music. In fact, as a more elaborate metaphor, it may be possible to say that it really is garbage, maybe a little filth, or grit at least, maybe some 'headache' thrown in, a whole bunch of stress, and certainly some violence, even if suppressed from actual physical expression. But that's the beauty of it. And this record is one of the best in that tradition, and probably the ultimate fusion of enraged frustration with the world and patterns around oneself and total release into a sonic blast of freedom.

Punk was, besides other things, a reaction of the depths of the human organism to the overly abstracted and ordered, gilded and veneer-like, gaudy and glitzy, quiffed and stale, haughty and uptight, closed and superficial, if complex and 'professional', processes that had developed in mass culture over the previous decade, particular, of course, in popular music and the culture around it, that in turn served as a model for values and aspirations of young people's lives. Or, perhaps, the life everyone was (is?) supposed to swallow was the model for the culture. Whatever it was (and even is now, and always has been, wherever it might be found), here's a reaction.

Any live person, should, it seems to me, be able to see beauty in the person who reacts to a very controlled corporate cocktail party by tearing his clothes, using the most direct and coarse language, talking about all the 'wrong' and taboo things, and expressing deep and confused feelings of loathing and impulses to destroy the patterns around himself. All of us sometimes want to sweat and flex our muscles and rage about all of that controlled pandering to some idea of life that somehow didn't really come from us, but became some stifling system with a life of its own.

Punk at its best and most real is an antidote, whether snotty and irreverant, or perhaps angry, cutting and potentially violent. And Black Flag were one part of this, moving from the former snottiness to the latter rage, and one of the more real, honest, intelligent, straightforward and generally free exponents of that lifestyle and form of expression (and they were very organically tied in with their place, time and culture, the influence of the fashionable explosion of punk accross the Atlantic being a small part of what influenced and gave birth to them). Real life, real people, real context, real freedom; as far at least as virtually any human has been capable so far in human history. No fashion, no bs, no imposed ideology; visceral but not against the cerebral (rather, allowing the two to have a genuine and open relationship). A real primal blast that is served by a sharp wit and perception of what it's blasting against, breathing freshness and energy into the young mind that doesn't fear its id, but rather lets it rinse out, energise, inspire and become integrated with its rational counterpart.

There are other, already 'integrated' and mellow, controlled, ways to be, of course, which are perfectly valid, and many probably didn't and don't need this kind of catharsis, but for many it was and remains a vital release and tool for personal freedom. If you look at a band like the Minutemen (friends, tourmates and labelmates with B.F.), you see more clearly how this is the challenge of opening up the energy of the the whole breadth of life and feeling, with full honest breadth and clarity of mind. Black Flag were closer to the abyss of dark raging feeling, and in a sense narrower, because the letting rip with abandon took over more than the humanistic awareness and analysis (unlike the minutemen), but it's just a position on a line that accepts and facilitates the whole breadth of human existence, and the 'project' was really very much the same. The band themselves gave themselves to the process, started to grow, went through some confusion, became less urgent and more controlled, and confirmed their art as a real process in a real-life, moving context, as compared to a shell-like, frozen, pretty artefact. I might not have liked it all, but a great and highly valuable process it was, and this, with the other records I've already mentioned, is it at its sharpest and brightest point.

This music is freedom.

'You know, the pain, that's in my heart...'

There's a lot of reasons to buy this album. You could buy this album because it was made by Greg Ginn, who founded the biggest independent record label of the `80's, or because it had such as a large influence on the alternative rock of the `90's. You could impress a lot of your friends when they come over and see Black Flag in your CD collection. If you buy it to earn indie-rock credibility with your friends or for historical value, chances are you'll never listen to it.
If you want to buy this album because you like the sound of raw, aggressive punk rock, then you will be spending your hard earned money very well. If you want to know about indie-rock, then go buy the books "Our Band Could Be Your Life" or "American Hardcore," which have great stories about Black Flag.

"The First Four Years" is Black Flag's best album. It's the type of album that lights a fire right under your as*. Over the course of the album you can hear them develop from a Sex Pistols imitation into a unique brand that would be later called hardcore.
There are three different singers showcased on this album in chronological order of their membership. The first one, Keith Morris, has a classic style punk voice and later became the Circle Jerks lead vocalist. The second vocalist, Chavo, was their weakest singer, but the song "Jealous Again" doesn't sound right without him singing it. The third singer, Dez Cadena, had a rough, raspy voice that fit Black Flag's overall sound the best.

Every song on this album is an anthem and a parent's worst nightmare. Never before had youthful angst been so clearly conveyed as it was on this album. "Nervous Breakdown," "Jealous Again," "Wasted," "Louie, Louie" and "Damaged I" are easy to memorize and impossible not to sing along with.

"The First Four Years" is an essential compilation, obviously for any Black Flag fan, but also for any fan of the true meaning of punk rock music and it's foundations. These are all recordings from before Henry Rollins became the 4th and final vocalist for the band in 1981.

Black Flag originally formed in 1977 in California. The group was founded by guitarist Greg Ginn and bassist Chuck Dukowski (also the founders of the legendary SST record label). The band was completed with vocalist Keith Morris and drummer Brian Migdol. This line-up produced the debut EP "Nervous Breakdown" (the first 4 tracks on this compilation).

Soon after, Morris & Migdol left the band (Morris formed the Circle Jerks) and were replaced by Chavo on vocals and Robo (also of Misfits) on drums. This line-up released the "Jealous Again" EP (tracks 5-9). Chavo was soon replaced by Dez Cadena who provided vocals on both the "Louie Louie" single and the "Six Pack" EP which finish out the remainder of the compilation. Two additional songs, "Clocked In" and "Machine", are also included.

In 1981, Dez Cadena wanted to make the transition to guitar and the vocal duties went to a then 20 year old fan and ice cream store manager, Henry Rollins. He quit the ice cream gig, if you didn't know. The First Four Years is essential because the pre Rollins Black Flag was just as important and provided the groundwork for what would come later. The style here, in comparison to Black Flag's later work, is closest to the immortal "Damaged" in speed and intensity. Just after "Damaged", Black Flag slowed down their tempo, altered the line-up and cranked out some awesomely heavy albums. This compilation is a perfect starting point for your Black Flag collection. If you want more of the pre-Rollins stuff, check out "Everything Went Black". For a compilation of the later Rollins years (although I recommend the original albums) check out "Wasted...Again".

If you're like me and don't like that Henry Rollins character because he looks like a jock and is a tool, this album is for you. It's also way better than paying $8 for each of the EPs that are on this record. My favorites are the first four songs from the "Nervous Breakdown" EP because I think that's the best line-up they've had (not saying the others on this record are bad though). Now on this on you've got your Kieth Morris, sounding like he's drunk on all four of the songs he's sings. Now I don't think this is Black Flag's best EP just because I think Kieth Morris is great or anything, in fact I'm not crazy of thoses later Circle Jerk tapes. Next, onto the "Jealous Again" EP.

The "Jealous Again" section features some new singer who's name I am not sure of, and maybe some other new band members (Greg Ginn was the only original band member throughtout Black Flag's career, except for bassist Chuck Dukowski I believe). The reason I'm giving honorable mention to this one is because "Jealous Again" is one of my favorite Black Flag songs of all. With its agnst filled singing and feedbacked guitar with messy soloing thrown in there too.

Track 9 sounds slightly different then the others, named "You Bet That We've Got Something Personal Against You!" The power chords seem higher than normal, and it's sung by bassist Chuck Dukowski (the only song he sings).

The rest of the songs have that signature Black Flag sound to them, Greg Ginn's heavily distorted guitar playing heavily distorted power chords, with some of that soloing in there. The bass is there too, but not as noticable as the guitar. Drumming by Brian Migdol and Robo is energetic and fast, and singing is done with a bit of anger on every song. This is a great album for either a new Black Flag fan, veterans who don't want to hunt down all those EPs and get the money for them, or for those who don't like Rollins-era Black Flag.