Customer Reviews

Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

... but there are hit's nonetheless. Don't be discouraged after seeing many familiar titles in the track listing. Any "hits" from other albums that appear on this album have been rerecorded for this album. This album is more like a collection of b-sides and rerecordings that are not available on any other album. It doesn't have the continuity of a regular album, but it is still very good.

Of course I'm not going to review every song one-by-one like some people do, but I will tell you about a few highlights. Police Truck is awesome and great musically, I Fought the Law is awesome too and in this version the law doesn't win, Kinky Sex is a prophetic spoken word/noise track about the US and UK teaming up to start a war and it's hilarious, Night of the Living Rednecks is a very funny story about Jello being chased down by some dumb rich rednecks, and finally Buzzbomb from Pasadena is musically the same as the original Buzzbomb, but this time it's about an old lady and sung in an old lady's voice for a humorous and creepy feel.

This is one of the best three DK albums, so just go ahead and buy it. Also, it has come to my attention that the ex-DK's have been suing Jello and releasing remastered versions of the albums, so if you can, try looking at the Alternative Tenticles website (Jello Biafra's label) for the album first (Alternative Tentacles is the DK's original label with the original recordings and is ran by the DK's vocalist Jello. Alternative Tentacles don't have all the DK albums available, so if they don't carry it just go ahead and buy one from anywhere like here.

Before i go any further (and I made this mistake myself), "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death" is more of a Dead Kennedys rarities compilation than a career retrospective. Mind you, this isn't a bad thing, quite a bit of this material is essential-- A and B sides from early singles, some LP sides, and some live tracks all make for quite good listening, and the material is awfully good.

And since most people looking at compilations are thinking "introduction", I'll talk a bit to the band. Formed in the late '70s when vocalist Jello Biafra and bassist Klaus Flouride answered a magazine ad from guitarist East Bay Ray (eventually a drummer named Ted, later replaced by D.H. Peligro would round out the band), the band quickly fused British punk sounds with a political attack, their first single "California Uber Alles" being hte best example of this. Included on this set, the piece is a direct attack on then-California governer Jerry Brown. The band maintained a career of punk music laced with sarcasm, wit and quite a bit of groove and brilliant guitar playing. The band's career pretty much fell apart due to a decency law suit over the artwork of their last album, but by that point they'd laid down their legacy.

So this compilation is probably a reasonable introduction-- several essential pieces, "California Uber Alles", "Police Truck", the legendary titled "Too Drunk to F***", "Life Sentence", are all present, and show off the band's most well known side-- agressive, witty, and propulsive. But also of note is the band's ability to be almost minimalist as on the black "The Prey" and stunningly sarcastic and political, as in "Holiday in Cambodia" and "Kinky Sex (Makes the World Go 'Round)". These two are disturbingly relevent in the modern era, the latter in particular discusses establishing a war for corporate gain..... for that matter, there's music industry lament "Pull My Strings" (panning the Knack-- "my payola"). Again, given the news of the music industry that's emerged, it seems overly relevent now.

Another point of note-- the CD sounds fantastic-- remastered by the original engineer, the pieces are loud and in your face and all-in-all just superb. While the side effect of being a compilation is a lack of unity and not being a real intro to the albums of the band, its hard to give this five stars (I reserve that for masterpieces), but its a nice piece anyway. Recommended.

This album is ground zero for me. Prior to hearing this album, I was a weak, impressionable teenager who concerned himself with what everyone else around him was talking about: girls, and fitting in. I listened to whatever was on the small handful of radio stations I could get in my small eastern-Washington town, and accepted it as 'good' music. While so many in my generation claim Nirvana as their band, for me it was the opening riff of Police Truck that made me ditch hair bands. The music was raw and energetic and the lyrics spoke of things that I related too inside, and couldn't possibly be further from all the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll as a lifestyle songs that were considered 'heavy metal' by the radio. This album made me realize that I wasn't weird because I wasn't getting laid as often as Motley Crue and Poison claimed they were in their songs. It made me realize that it better to feel like an outsider and maintain a sense of self than to fit in and be something that I'm not. Since then, I have gone back into all of the Kennedy's material, and the entire punk genre, and continue to live my life by the philosophy I have developed from it. While I've learned many things in my 34 years, and have evolved considerably from the 16 year old kid I was back then, this album was the milestone that made everything I am today possible, and I am thankful for it.

I remember having many of these songs on seven inches and twelve inch EPs (45 RPMs instead of 33 RPMs, fewer songs, usually extended versions, remixes or singles deemed worthy of the extra work and effort) before this first came out. This has everything, plus various items not released on LPs (or taken off, like Police Truck).

Probably the key releases to me are Police Truck, Too Drunk to F***, Life Sentance, A Child and His Lawnmower, Saturday Night Holocaust, Pull My $tring$, Kinky Sex Makes the World Go 'Round, The Prey and Night of The Living Rednecks (more a signal of what he would become than as an actual tune). But the rest of the tracks are good to excellent also.

A necessary release for any DK fan, and worthy for those learning about the band.

A lot of people refer to this as a DK "Greatest Hits" compilation. Well, it's not. It's a compilation of early singles and other rarities that aren't available anywhere else. The only "hits" on this disc are "California Uber Alles" and "Holiday in Cambodia", and they're both different versions.

That being said, I'll go on and review this awesome record.

As I said before, this is a collection of early DK singles, B-sides, and other rarities. Records of this type are usually to be avoided, but this is an extremely well-rounded collection that's perfect for new and old fans alike. New fans will be introduced to DK classics such as "California Uber Alles", "Holiday in Cambodia", "Too drunk to ****", and "Police Truck", while DK freaks (like myself) will love the extra B-sides/rarities (most of them from around the Fresh Fruit era) such as "Straight A's", "Insight", and "The man with the dogs". However, the highlights of the comp. are "I fought the law", "Pull my strings", "Kinky sex makes the world go 'round", and "Night of the Living Rednecks". "I fought the law" is a great cover of the Clash's classic tune, "Pull my strings" is an awesome awesome song singing of corporate/sell-out artists who are only interested in money ("I ain't no artist, I'm a buisnessman, no ideas of my own!"), "Kinky sex makes the world go 'round" is a fake phone-call which must be heard to be believed, and "Night of the living rednecks" is a hilarious, spoken track which tells of Jello's encounter with some...jocks in Oregon.

This is probably the best place to start if you're just getting into the DKs. While Fresh Fruit is their masterpiece, it's slightly inaccessible to new fans. This, on the other hand, is a delight from the start. A new fan might tend to skip over quite a few of the tracks, but, in time, it'll grow on them, and hopefully, they'll become full-fledged DK freaks and go on to buy all their other albums.

Bottom Line: Best place to start for new DK fans, but has plenty to offer for veterans.

When I see people lavishing hero like worship on Rage Against the Machine, I just point them to Jello and the boys and say this is everything Rage wants to be. Not only are the Dead Kennedy's as political as Rage Against the Machine, but they do it in a more original, funny and smart way.
Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death is a collection of some of the most smart ass and funny songs they ever produced. This collection focuses mainly on non-album tracks, making it a must own for any fan of the band.
The material on this album ranges from standards like California Uber Alles and Holiday in Cambodia, presented in different versions than on their first album, to live performances like the Knack riffing Pull the Strings, and the funny as hell as improvised Night of the Living Rednecks. Not to mention I Love Short Songs, any punk fan will not be disapointed.
If your just getting into the Kennedy's, I would recommend Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables first, but after that move on to Plastic Surgery Disasters or this album. Great collection of songs from a great band. Screw emo and Sum 41, this is a real punk band.

i bought this cd just for jollies one day. i'd heard so much about jello biafra that i just had to hear some of his stuff and this was the most convenient thing, no pun intended. i have to admit that this stuff didn't wow me the first time around. but the more you listen to it, the more you come to appreciate biafra's english, vibrato-laden accent and some of the more talented guitar playing you'll find on a punk album. my personal favorite has to be "pull my strings." this is a fun song to play too, when i get my band going, i'm putting it on my set list. this is just a fun album, pick it up, you won't be disappointed and if you are, you've got no sense of humor.

The Dead Kennedys were a band who's very name provoked a reaction from almost anyone who heard them or even OF them. Arguably the most (in)famous band in the rising California hardcore punk scene of the '70's and '80's, the band rode a tide of underground hero-dom with it's wacky mutated surf-guitar of East Bay Ray and the biting sarcasm and pull-no-punches social commentary of Jello Biafra, who's political leanings are just slightly to the left of, oh, say, Abbie Hoffman.

Now, considering my inclinations toward black/death metal as well as my admittedly right-leaning Reaganite Republicanism, theoretically, I should find all this about as appetizing as toe jamb. But man, I gotta admit it, they got me with their catchiness and groove. The DK's were one of the few bands of their ilk that actually wrote CATCHY hardcore punk; songs you'd listen to and find yourself humming all day long. And it's to their credit that their material has held the test of time considering the now-irrelevancy of some of their lyrics (referrences to Gov. Jerry Brown, Pol Pot, the assasinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, etc.).

All the classics are here, like "California Uber Alles" and "Holiday In Cambodia", arguably among the most famous punk songs of all time, as well as some harder to find gems like "Police Truck" and "Too Drunk To F**k" (love those sound effects at the end!). There's also some more obscure stuff on here such as a cleverly-rewritten cover of "I Fought The Law" (Twinkie defense, anyone?), "Night of the Living Rednecks", a live recollection by Jello while Ray was changing guitar strings, and the sheer speedblast of "A Child and His Lawnmower" (short, simple, and hilarious); all of the material predating the lackluster 'Frankenchrist' album, the point where I felt the band lost their musical direction and Jello started getting way too preachy for my tastes.

Admittedly not for everyone, the Dead Kennedys were nonetheless one of the most influential bands of their time, and if you're looking for a good place to discover them, you can't go wrong with this CD.

All the loose ends of the Dead Kennedys non-album singles, B-sides, and/or comp. tracks are compiled here for our convenience, which the title of the collection takes its name, twisting Patrick Henry's famous "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!" line. "Give me Convenience or Give Me Death" was originally released in 1987 about a year after the band's demise. Though all these songs came together as a collection of leftovers, they coincidentally all work together as a solid album. This is one of my favorite releases by Dead Kennedys ranking on par with "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables."

Everything here is indigenous to this album with even the single versions of "Holiday in Cambodia" and "California Uber Alles" being different recordings than what's found on the "Fresh Fruit..." album. "Police Truck" and "Too Drunk..." are also classics in their own right found on this and no other DK album. There's even a premonition of Jello's spoken word work on "Night of the Living Rednecks" as he stalls for time by telling one of his road stories during a live set while East Bay Ray changes a broken guitar string.

Being recorded at different points in the band's career, the tracks here jump around through different incarnations of the Kennedys' sound. Your always kept on your toes with each tune a little bit different than any of the others on the record as their sound thoroughly evolved from year to year. Some of Dead Kennedys' best gems can be found here from all its different eras.

Sure, Jello's voice takes some getting used to, but honestly; what punk fan isn't sick of the same ol' raspy voice mumbling unintelligibly? Jello's insight as well as his voice provide interest in a genre where the message is often lost in translation.

And Insight has to be one of the best songs that the Dead Kennedys have recorded.

Hell, I popped in one of his spoken-word CDs last week and it was eerie how appropriate Jello's words were, even though he was speaking of the corrupt president over a decade and a half past.
Give this album a listen as well as checking out some of his spoken word albums.