Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (CD + New DVD Documentary)

Dead Kennedys

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 2005)
• Original Release Date: October 25, 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Manifesto Records
• ASIN: B000B5KR2A
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,388 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #18 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Hardcore
  #18 in	Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative > American Punk
  #59 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Punk

Editorial Reviews

The Punk Vault
A welcome addition...double dip for superior sound quality...and for the excellent DVD which you can only get here.

Product Description
Now on Manifesto for the first time, just in time for its 25th anniversary, is the classic album of American hardcore punk rock, and one of the albums that helped to define the whole genre. First released in 1980, and one of the first hardcore albums ever, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables has been called the "Dead Kennedys signature statement." Containing the classics "California Uber Alles," "Holiday in Cambodia," "Kill the Poor," "Viva Las Vegas," "Chemical Warfare," and "Let’s Lynch the Landlord," this is an album that every hardcore fan must have. According to Kerrang, it is the "#3 Punk Rock Album of All Time," and Mojo has it as "#9 on the Top 50 Punk Albums of All Time." Original line-up of Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride, and Ted on drums.

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Eyeballs is the accompanying documentary by filmmaker Eric S. Goodfield. It is a celebration of one of the most influential Punk Rock albums of all-time. This special DVD features a brief history of the Dead Kennedys’ early years up to their first UK tour, never before seen live performances, interviews with band members, comments by music journalists, and insights from the key people involved with the recording of the DK's first album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.

The DVD is 55 minutes long, and there is footage of six full-length songs from 1978 and 1979.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's lynch the lawyers!, February 13, 2006

By	Scott Bresinger (New York, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This edition of the DK's classic first album, inspired either by its 25th anniversery or the regrettable lawsuit that put it in the hands of the band members not named Jello Biafra, is at least a chance to re-evaluate it anew. The question of whether it stands the test of time is perhaps overshadowed by whether any punk should be anointed "classic" status in the first place. The whole point of punk was to get rid of those BS designations and just blast the kind of stuff offensive to parents, guardians of culture and even rock music fans. Heck, a few of the songs on the album could only be considered relevant to a specific period of time. "Holiday In Cambodia" was made all the more relevant by being released during Pol Pot's reign of terror. Does anybody even care about Jerry Brown anymore?

That said, "Fresh Fruit" holds up remarkably well. The pitch-black humor of songs like "I Kill Children" and "Funland At The Beach" upped the ante of punk's deliberate offensiveness in its time and reveals today's pseudo-punk whiners as the childish pablum-pushers they are. Even the more topical songs hold up on their own. The Wagnerian flourishes of "California Uber Alles" are practically begging for a Schwarzenegger-era rewrite, but you'll find yourself singing along regardless. Likewise, "Kill The Poor" makes more sense today if you substitute "Hurricane Katrina" for "Neutron Bomb," but the devilish glee with which Biafra delivers his satire sells it all over again. Say what you will about the antics of the other ex-Kennedys, but East Bay Ray's surf-inspired guitar and Klaus Fluouride's just plain inspired bass created a new vocabulary for punk that was miles ahead of contemporaries such as the Germs (and they were great in their own right).

Now, what about this edition is notable? While one can argue about the lawsuit that made it possible (for the record, I'm mainly on Biafra's side, since even the band members admit that the royalty problems they had were due to an innocent accounting error) the opportunity to remaaster the disc was too good to pass up. Well, I hate to say they dropped the ball on this front, but this is sonically not all that different from the vinyl edition I've been abusing for years. Why an album that was the product of a 22-track studio still sounds like it's mono is a question that's not really answered on the DVD documentary that's included in the package. However, the doc does have some neato live performances (arguably not the best, but I'll leave such aesthetic distinctions aside) and "vintage" local TV news footage of Biafra's semi-dadaist run for mayor of San Francisco. This is about the only time we get to hear from the man himself, as he obviously declined to be interviewed for this project. This of course makes him kind of a ghostly presence here, as if everybody's talking about someone who's died. It should also be noted that Biafra's recently complained that (ironically) he hasn't received any royalties from the DK's reissues, which I fear can lead to yet more lawsuits, which is obviously the most un-punk thing they could do. So what do you say, punk fans? Before such a depressing occurence, get a few torches and ropes, and let's lynch the lawyers!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 26, 2005

By	Sylas Lapham "SM" (Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews

I've always loved this album and you should too if you like original, inspired punk with a cause. Dead Kennedys were an extremely unique and powerful band. They could be scary as hell but also hilarious. I would give this 5 stars based on the sound quality alone. This sounds MUCH better than the version I had on CD previously, although I must say that my expectations weren't that high when I bought the old copy. I probably wouldn't ever have bought this reissue but my brother just got it for me for Christmas and it's a damn fine present. My first copy of this album was on cassette and I think Alternative Tentacles were using those low bias 3-for-a-dollar cassettes at the time--- loved the songs but it was so unbelievably muddy. Then I bought a copy on vinyl--- better but not much. Ditto for the old CD. I figured it was the best it could be but apparently I was wrong. This new version sounds so unbelievably good. Never underestimate what technology can do (that's good and bad, but in this case good).

Then there's the DVD--- unfortunately Jello Biafra isn't interviewed here but it's to be expected with everyone "doing the slag" as of late. It would have been nice to hear his take on it but it's still a great mini-documentary and, to be honest, it's sort of cool to hear Klaus' and Ray's stories for a change. I've always liked Biafra (solo works included) but his stories have been pretty well documented and you rarely hear what the rest of the band has to say. For their part, I'm happy to say that they have kept the mud-slinging out of the picture. There's a few spots where they could have easily taken pot shots (such as when the topic of "why attack Jerry Brown?" comes up when discussiing "California Uber Alles") but they don't. They explain what Jello was talking about without a trace of bitterness. Maybe they have no choice on that legally, but they certainly appear to be over any bitterness at least on a professional level.

It's a drag that they still aren't on good terms because it would be nice to see them collaberating with Biafra on this stuff but such is life. I refrain from taking sides on what went down but I must say that I saw Jello give a spoken word performance in Detroit a couple years ago and he encouraged everyone to boycott the Dead Kennedys reissues. After hearing what they have done with the sound on this record, I may have to go check out what they have done with the others. It's hard to say who's srewing whom, but the fans aren't the ones getting hosed here because this edition is top notch. As a side note, I also had the "In God We Trust" DVD (before someone borrowed it from me a year ago and never returned it). That is also excellent and highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Apocalypse Now, April 5, 2006

By	Chromefreak - See all my reviews

One of the greatest punk albums ever conceived and executed, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables makes the Sex Pistols sound like Lawrence Welk. Jello Biafra and company design a sound so full of pure malevolence and latent aural violence that they make heavy metalists and their ilk--who always boast about the threatening nature of their music--look positively wimpy in comparison. "Kill the Poor," "California uber Alles," "Chemical Warfare" and "Holiday in Cambodia" still stand as a testament to the terrifying, apocalyptic vision of the Kennedys. Put this one in the time vault.