Customer Reviews

Hard Volume

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

 

 

When Black Flag ran out of gas in the late 80s, it took Henry Rollins six months to get this band together and running. This is THE Rollins Band album to buy, considering his body of work before 'The End Of Silence' came out.
This is the still poor, angry, we can make this band work Henry. Hard, angry, and not too poorly recorded. I love this album, all the tracks. But I only give it 4 stars because of the missing original CD track 'Joy riding with Frank', a 25+ minunite live track that had the best bass guitar work I have ever heard on ANY rock album.
Either way, its a great buy. Its funny, back when I bought this album around 1988, I couldnt think of Henry Rollins singing for anyone other than Black Flag. Now, listening to this album, considering Black Flags later work, it sounds like he was wasting his time with Black Flag, waiting to make this album, and when he did, he exploded. Recomended.

I never thought that I would like a Rollins related project better than Black Flag (or psychotic free Jazz tinged punk for that matter). But this album makes this band come close to being better than Flag to me. Chris Haskett is almost an antithesis to Greg Ginn. He is very restrained when soloing, uses tube amps and has a warm tone unlike Ginn, who was rude, unrestrained and out of control at times. Thats where their differences end though, as Haskett seems to worship Black Sabbath and Fusion just as much as Ginn. The rest of the band, easily outdoes Flag (even the classic lineup) as bassist Andrew Weiss could be pitted against any bass shredder like Billy Sheehan, and Drummer Sim Cain is amazing as well. This album is halfway from Lifetime to End of Silence, but add an Einsturzende Neubaten/Swans influence come mid album, and you have a killer cd. The song "Hard" sounds like they listened to a bit of Van Halen and Fusion and mixed them together (I'm serious, this swings alot like Hot for Teacher, listen to them back to back if you dont believe me). Rollins is more controlled than on Lifetime but he has a lot more power and passion. An essential album to buy..

This album is the last truly underground release of Henry's career (it originally appeared on Texas Hotel records) and while Henry has admitted that he withheld some of the stronger material that they were working on (Tearing in particular) for later release (End of Silence), this album is easily the darkest, hardest and most honest album in the Rollins Oeuvre. The opening track "Hard" is an awesome ode to self-preservation, while "Planet Joe" is a brutally uncompromising vision of the iconoclastic spirit. However, it is the amazing "Turned inside out" (Who's the criminal now? Is that you? Could that be you?) and the frighteningly honest "Down and away" (The closer you get, the farther away I feel) that dominate this release. The bonus tracks are great (mostly demos), particularly the unreleased "Thin air," one of the greatest Rollins band songs of all time. This disc is like the Swans on steroids. Don't beleive me? Buy it and see. Rollins plans on re-releasing "Joy riding with Frank" in the future, so don't despair. However, you should have bought the original release true fan

NOTE: This review is for the Rollins Band's 'Audio Airstrike Consultants 1986 - 1988' boxset, which includes Hard Volume, Life Time, Live 1987/1988 and Hot Animal Machine. Sadly it is no longer available.

When he was at his peak, Henry Rollins and his band created some of the most intense music on the planet. This box set collects his early outings into one invaluable resource for those who enjoy music that is committed to nothing less than audience annihilation. It is impossible to deny the sheer power and intensity of these sacrificial offerings. Henry had a very black and white view of the world (as evidenced by the album cover art) and he creates songs that capture the extreme nature of his loneliness and alienation at that time of his life. It's not really music in the normal sense of the word. It's more akin to taking psycotropic drugs and jumping out of a fast moving car. These tracks are cathartic in the extreme. A self-confessed iron freak, Henry makes every song seem like a bone-cracking work-out to the point of obliteration. With superb back-up from his band, he pummels, screams, whispers and bellows his way to nirvana while the band create an unholy racket to accompany him on his relentless journeys to the heart of darkness. The two core discs here are Life Time and Hard Volume. Both represent the Rollins Band at an absolute peak of their abilities. Hard Volume contains more truth and honesty than any other one thousand musical offerings you care to name. It is a brutal excursion to the outer limits of musical expression, crushing and total. You will whimper and beg for mercy but there is none. By the time you get to Down and Away you are curled up in the corner, head in hands. Henry's ability to reach down and pull his guts out time and again is beyond belief. It's a terrifying experience. The band are never less than brilliant, creating vast urban soundscapes that are almost three dimensional in texture and weight. Incredibly, the Live 87/88 document surpasses both Life Time and Hard Volume in intensity and shows what an incredible wrecking machine the Rollins Band are Live when they are in the groove. A totally unique chapter in the history of music.

Looking for "Joyriding with Frank?" There's a bit of confusion about the track listing. Amazon currently has the track listing of the re-issue in the product info of the original album. Plus, Amazon seems to be lumping all the reviews of both versions together under "Audio CD."

The thing is, they're two different albums! The album cover with just Henry's naked torso is the original CD, and it includes "Joyriding with Frank" - the 32 minute colossal live jam of "Move Right In."

If you're not sure, send the seller an email and ask if the disc lists "Joyriding with Frank." After hours of being confused by Amazon's track listing, that's what I did. Seller confirmed the track was there, and we snatched it up.

A big step back from the heights obtained by "Lifetime", "H.V." starts out very strong with "Hard","What Have I Got" and "Planet Joe" easily the equal of the material on "Lifetime". For the very first time though, Rollins has given the fans a throwaway tune not intended as a joke ("I Feel Like This"), this , coupled with the mega long, self-indulgent dirges at the end of the CD knock it down a long way.
The original Texas Hotel release added on a live track called "Joy Riding With Frank", which was basically "Move Right In" stretched out with scat singing by Rollins for 18+ minutes....it's so thrilling and intense that you never notice the length of it. I recommend that release over the newer rerelease which adds extra tracks, some of which went on to form the spine of "The End Of Silence"..either those tracks or "Joy Riding" save "Hard Volume" from medicority.
Unfortunately for us and for the Rollins Band, the dirge quotient was about to increase over the next couple of releases with dire results.

Whatever people may choose to believe about Rollins', his later work after 'The End of Silence' will never hit us quite as hard as 'Hard Volume (whichever edition you may happen to own).'

I knew vaguely that Hank had his own band since Black Flag, but I never bothered checking into it, due to the law of averages, which states that solo efforts are often incomplete by nature, and more experimental. I loved the Ginn/Stevenson/Roessler/Rollins combo, and didn't think anything could match it.

Here, it's a step sideways, more towards Hank's Sabbath fixation, which is a very good thing--I got the chance to see him at Lollapallooza '91, and after hearing the best ever version of 'Love Song' segueing into an even BETTER 'Turned Inside Out', I had to pick it up, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

The original CD version contains the 30+ minute jam 'Joy Riding with Frank' which is enjoyable but not essential, but the rest of the album is brilliant, sludge-volume guitars and a rhythm section most bands would kill to obtain.

The new version including the demos are negligible; they don't enhance the CD or detract from it. But 'Life Time', 'Do It' and 'Hard Volume' are the Rollins trilogy that probably won't ever be matched. They're all equally good.

next to "life time" i find this disc to be their strongest.its raw and heavy, but also experimental and very uncomfortable and in your face.like all of rollins work, this is not for well adjusted folk, or people who see the world through rose colored glasses. the lyrics and vocals are intense and direct, and take a strong look inward, in an attempt to strip away the bull. songs like "what have i got"(i like the demo version best), "turned inside out" and "planet joe" are great genre shattering music.again, most people wont get what rollins is talking about, but if you are any bit open minded, check this out.

this album is a personal, close friend to me. i learned a lot about pain, torment and strength under the influence of this album. when one listens to HARD VOLUME one hears the stress, effort and strength that comes from creating a time defying masterpiece of a musical statement. these are the songs that you will never hear on the radio because the reality of the power and emotion behind them is just what it is , too real. if you enjoy the product of true musicianship, soul, and heavy licks HARD VOLUME will blow out your left ear and have your right ear begging for its turn. p.s. i agree that the original release of JOYRIDING WITH FRANK should have been kept intact, that is one jam noone should be deprived of.

I was searching for his new album with his new band and saw that a lot of their older stuff was re-released with extra tracks. Well in this particular case it is a travesty of justice as it looks like they removed the classic Joyriding with Frank to fit the bonus tracks on. The song in question is basically an extended live verision of Move Right In that just jams on and on for some 30+ minutes, and was the high point of the recording. I would have rather seen it remastered intact than re-released with bonus tracks that replace the high point of the album.