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I saw these guys live recently--living punk legends but without all the nostalgia baggage. Punk before it was thrash--when it was still quirky and anything could happen. This CD grabs that weird little live sound--what it sounds like when guys record in a shed somewhere--fueled by nervous energy, creative genius, and strange creepy angst. Black Hole is my favorite. As the title says, check it out!

So pure, so fresh sounding 20 years later... true DIY spirit in a band that blossomed into 100 Flowers (one of the best bands of the 80's). Worth the price alone for the 1:09 of "Sex" ... plus, there's an accoustic version! Hot Damn Tamale, this is the real thing. Put this on and let it rub all the pleasure centers of your brain...

Punk the way nature intended. And it goes like this, "Johnny got his gun and ack ack ack ack".

I had the good fortune of getting to see this great band live more than once. For me their straight ahead approach on stage was even more impressive than that of Talking Heads or Television, two of my other favorites from this time frame. The tunes are oh so simple and to the point. Or are they?

I used to think the later 100 Flowers (same band) recordings, once available from Rhino on CD and now sadly out of print, had more bite and focus. Today I prefer these versions of the repertoire recorded before the band became serious and polished. (It's all relative.) The first dozen cuts here are not to be missed, though some of the bonus material is a little hard to take. Then again, just the title, "Orange Anal Sin" is worth the price of admission. I do remember "Mr. Encore." It bugged me then too and I didn't even know it had a name.

Is this disc enjoyable only to those who experienced the band live way back when? No, not at all. What you have here is a classic and unique bit of garage rock / pop / art. If you love Wire, The Buzzcocks or Monochrome Set by all means buy this CD. It will make you very happy.

There's nothin' like your first. Once I heard them I was permanently hooked on punk rock. I sought them out and saw them live about 5 times back in the day and another 3 or 4 times in the 90's. This cd contains their 3 7"s (for the uninitiated, vinyl records sometimes called eps that were sometimes singles and other times had a number of songs as you could fit up to 14 minutes on one). Those records they released are, in my opinion, and I'm a massive punk rock, uh, consumer/enjoyer/punk rock for 29 years, 3 of the finest ever made. They crackle. You get the great opportunity on amazon.com to actually listen to about 1/2 the records listed on the site and, fortunately, this is one of them. Tell me if you've ever heard anything like this? It's fresh, minamal, sharp and tight. 3 UCLA students who hit a maybe semi geek groove which is too narrowing, still, they weren't leather jacketed GBH fans type guys. They remained true to who they were and continued to over the decades. Funny thing is, in person they're rather low key. But on stage they just tear it up. Personally, Ack, Ack, Ack, Ack is the finest punk rock song of all time. When I'm a Bug comes on or I hear them do it live that also just sets me off, punk rock explosion of tune and music and energy delivered with a certain joy and abandon. The lst 11 songs are from the lst 3 7"s and they have a stripped down feel to them that I've simply never found anywhere else. I'm always impressed when music still sounds great to me decades later. I don't sit around and listen to the same musician(s) daily or weekly or monthly or even annually. But in the ebb and flow of listening, they keep zinging me when I get back to them. Thank goodness for this collection. It includes some live stuff that's not not up to the same crispness as their 7"s material but that and other unreleased studio songs are still welcome cuz you just don't run across a band like this every day, in fact, there's no one like them and any song I can get from them, I'm happy to hear it. Great guys too. Who could ask for more. chrisbct@hotmail.com