Customer Reviews

Maggots: The Record

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

 

 

I am a big fan of the Plasmatics' work and I personally feel that their albums are all severely underrated, including this one. What I really love about the Maggots LP is that unlike the band's past releases, this album possesses a real concept. In this case, Maggots tells the story of how a scientific experiment accidentally triggered an invasion of giant-sized maggots that carried an insatiable appetite for human flesh. Like a graphically gory Dr. Who recording, the CD features a narrator telling listeners how panicked New Yorkers are consumed one by one while unprepared for the situation. Only 6 tracks carry songs, and each one puts forward spontaneous drums and guitars with Wendy's furious shrieks and growls. Maggots came out originally in 1987, the year when heavy metal and grisly camp horror movies reached their peak. Now after the the September 11 attacks, followed by TV reports of pollution and bio-terrorism, the album now seems to have made predictions that are frighteningly real. The Plasmatics WILL live forever!

I bought this album on a whim when it first came out back in the 80's. The cover looked cool, I'd heard of the Plasmatics and liked heavy music. Little did I know I was buying what was to become one of my favorite albums of all time...ever!

I can't even describe it. For those of you who are Maggots fans, you know exactly what I mean.

For those of you who are considering this record: If you like B movies, terrible (yet hilarious) acting, good old fashioned punk rock that is well put together, VERY catchy and contains fantastic lyrics, you should buy this record!

The "Maggots" album is, I think, the best piece of work the Plasmatics have ever done. It's a concept album that's heavily inspired by sci-fi movies and overlayers loud, nearly chaotic heavy metal with gore and bloodshed. I had actually purchased the album earlier this year, and both the narration of the story and the songs gave me the absolute chills. The story is about how mutant maggots went on a rampage (as a result of a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong), devouring the people of NYC, and increasing in size before finally eating every last living thing on the planet. Every song that's on the album paints an ominous picture of apocalyptic doom. I really don't have a favorite of all the 6 songs on here, but if I had to pick one, it would be "Brain Dead." What's unique about this album is the fact that it originally came out in the year 1987, the year when Poison, Motley Crue, and Guns N'Roses were in heavy rotation on MTV. Yet despite the year of the release, "Maggots" is so far ahead of its time that it may as well have come out in the new millenium. Right now in 2002, there are issues of cloning, terrorism and Armaggedon, and the Plasmatics have sung about that nearly 2 decades before. The Plasmatics will live forever!

Each Wendy O. album is in its own way a historical breakthrough but if I had to pick the best Maggots: The Record may be the finest achievement. Of course it's way ahead of it's time a poitical satire concept album or 'thrash' opera as some people have called it, no one even knew what to make of it when it was released. The predictions and the lyrics (some of Swenson's finest in a long history of memorable ones) as one reviewer has already well pointed out have a lot to say about the current state of the world. Lyrics like

"soldiers for the DNA, dissidents are put away, dragged off in the dead of night, disappear without a sight
for global peace is what we pray, as long as things are done our way..." (from Brain Dead)

are classic. The production on this is also huge. The drum and other sounds are spectacular. But beyond this the music is awesome, complex, sometimes melodic, sometimes operatic, and often hard thrash, speed metal played and arranged with an astounding virtuosity. The only regrettable part is that because of all the dialogue there's only 6 song trax on the album, but these are every one of them killers, from Brain Dead, to You're a Zombie, Destroyers, Propagators, Day of the Humans is Gone, and Wendy's vocals are completely superb...really at her peak. My only regret is that this was not a double album so we could have had twice the songs.

I have not had this recording since I was 12!
I am happy to own a copy again!
Just as creepy as I remember it being! :P

This release of _Maggots:_The_Record_, as put out by Plasmatics Media, was mastered from a worn vinyl record on a cheap turntable. Most of the clicks and pops have been removed, but there's an appalling level of turntable rumble, and sibilants smear the soundstage in the way you'd expect from damaged vinyl and a worn stylus.

The levels jump around from track to track. I don't know if this was a problem with the original recording.

The production sounds dull -- drums and guitars sound as if you're listening behind a blanket. Comparisons to KISS' _Hotter_than_Hell_ come to mind. Still, the lapses in production pale in comparison to the careless job done in procuring a master and transferring it to CD.

It's a shame, because in _Maggots:_The_Record_, there's a really great work of music struggling to get out. Stylistically, it has a maturity (and, obviously, a coherence) that was lacking in some earlier Plasmatics albums. It's about half as long as it should have been, but on the other hand, there's no filler.

Believe this lp to have been the last ever 'actual' effort to be put out by Wendy O. and her demented henchmen.'Maggots...' appear to be a concept album.What,a concept album,the Plasmatics?An okay disc,but there's a Rod Sterling-like narration all through the CD that features too much dialogue(for the disc's running time of 35 minutes,that is).Tracks I liked best were "The White's Apartment","You're A Zombie","Propagators" and "Brain Dead"(with the lyrics,"WE ARE BRAIN DEAD,WE MARCH WITHOUT A HEAD!").Sort of tough to take this record seriously.Liked the story line where the Earth is being taken over by giant maggots that are increasing in size as the hours go by.Line-up:Wendy O.(R.I.P.)-vocals,whip cream&sledge hammers,Wes Beech-guitar,Michael Ray-rhythm guitar,Chris Romanelli-bass and Ray Callahan-drums.Check it out.

Geez, I really don't even remember making this thing. I just know that years later when I was working a day job I heard a training video by the same narrator. Small world.

I absolutely adore Wendy O Wiliams and I am a hardcore Plasmatics fan but I kinda wish that the narration had been placed in one whole chunk at the end of the disc instead of between the somgs. The music is great! Intense and fast! Wendy's vocals are vocal chord shredding (almost literally) and perhaps the best of her career. The recording tends to be a bit muddy,but I guess I've heard worse.

Wendy is missed terribly. 80's rockers will always remember her for her outrageous albums, insane concert performances (chainsawing a guitar, blowing up a car, getting naughty with a microphone) and as Charlie in her flick 'Reform School Girls'.

This album sounds like it was thought out, recorded, and mixed all in one weekend in a garage. The whole album is so spontanious, that you would swear not even the band had a clue as to how it would turn out. Let's face it music like this just isn't made anymore. This set of tunes is fun, loud, and can't be taken seriously. Unlike today's mainstream garbage that MTV is shoving down the throats of America's Youth.

I say long live the days of 80's hair, Headbanger's Ball, and horror flicks. Wendy will always have a place in our hearts for those who lived through those days. Wendy scared the hell out of all our girlfriends.