Naughty Women in Black Sweaters: The Complete Demos 1980-1986

Adolescents | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 22, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Frontier Records
• ASIN: B0007M42FK
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,969 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The title of this 16-song collection, Complete Demos 1980-1986 -- clocking in, as true short-sharp-blasts of hardcore should, at just under a half-hour -- might lead you to believe it's less focused on a certain time frame than it really is. Although it was recorded between 1980 and 1986, all but three of the tracks were done between March 1980 and July 1980. In essence, then, it's like hearing an unreleased Adolescents debut album with three bonus tracks, as all of the 1980 recordings predate their actual 1981 self-titled debut (also referred to among the faithful as "the blue album"). Seven of the songs on the 1980 demos (which include two versions of "Wrecking Crew") would be redone for The Adolescents, so as you'd expect, they're very much in the early Southern Californian hardcore style of the official album. Although the speed and energy jumps off the VU meter, fans can't get too over the moon, as the fidelity is often pretty mediocre. True, that's not something that matters to punk listeners as much as it does to followers of many other styles of music. But be warned that, although this will certainly be of interest to Adolescents devotees, the sound is quite substandard on about half of this material, the vocals suffering the most. The first four tracks, in fact, were recorded in Tony Reflex's garage in March 1980 on cassette. Though they brim with prototypical teenage rebellion, even the more forgiving aficionados might find the lo-fi result a significant loss, since none of these four songs were redone for The Adolescents. Things improve a lot on the four May 1980 numbers done at Phantom Studios -- and you can hear the band's attack getting fuller and more metallic -- but the five July 1980 cuts, recorded at the Casbah in Fullerton, are pretty muddy. (As the liner notes admit, the original tapes for the Casbah recordings were lost, and what you hear on this CD was "mastered from nth generation collector tapes.") Again the sonic mush is a loss for serious Adolescents worshipers, as among the Casbah material are versions of "Creatures," "Self Destruct," and "Amoeba," as well as the simplistic-to-the-point-of-moronic "Do the Eddie." Rounding out this archival release are the previously unreleased 1981 track "Richard Hung Himself," the last to be recorded by the early-'80s Adolescents, and later (as done by Curt D.I.S.S.) a highlight of the Suburbia soundtrack. There are also two efforts from 1986, when the group reunited after a gap of about five years. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Adolescents-'Complete Demos 1980-1986'(Frontier), April 2, 2005

By 

Mike Reed (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Naughty Women in Black Sweaters: The Complete Demos 1980-1986 (Audio CD)

Until I got this disc,I've never even heard of this Southern California hardcore punk band,which existed between 1980-1989.Total of sixteen tracks.Even though it's cutting room floor material,the music is decent.I usually enjoy hearing a band's demos ANYWAY.I know that many fans out there don't.Sometimes a demo CAN sound better than the actual lp version.Tunes that had me leaving this CD in my 'current rotation stack' were "Black Sheep","No Friends","Wrecking Crew","Do The Eddie"(good guitar playing)and "Richard Hung Himself".Line-up:Tony Reflex-vocals,Frank Agnew-guitar,Steve Soto-bass and Casey Royer-drums.Should appeal to fans of Bad Brains,Fugazi,Fear,Minor Threat and Agent Orange.Enjoy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad, June 30, 2005

By 

Petar Ticinovic (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Naughty Women in Black Sweaters: The Complete Demos 1980-1986 (Audio CD)

Five of the best tracks here have previously been tacked onto the great "Live 1981 and 86" cd. If you already own that, you're left with some early, bratty basement or garage recordings of first-set songs that got quickly dumped from their repertoire, which are interesting but not too listenable, and a few more pre-Blue album demos, including the awesome "Creatures" and "Amoeba". A worthy purchase for those tunes alone, in my opinion.