Customer Reviews

Sex Bomb Baby

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Flipper is one of the best experimental noise-rock bands of all time, and I simply can't believe that a masterpiece like that record is today out of print. "Sex Bomb Baby" is a fantastic compilation, which manages to capture all the fierce raging-fuzz sonic madness of Flipper with a selection of live and studio tracks, including a fantastic deal of rare cuts. We really got here a veritable goldmine for Flipper addicts: hilarious and frantic songs like "Get Away", "Ha Ha Ha" and "Lowrider", mind-bending slow, feedback-heavy menacing political rants like "Sacrifice" and "Love Canal", the psychosis-inducing 'irritationalist' anthem of "Brainwash", among other killer tracks. GO FOR IT, FOLKS!

In the early 80's much of the punk/alternative rock underground was stuck in a rut chasing a goal of trying to be louder, faster and more Hard-Core than the next band's uninspired irreverence. Flapping the bird to any such notion, Flipper concocted a sludgy, slowed down, damaged noise rock that was nonetheless still fun, a lesson forgotten by many bands that came later. The bass often carries the melody while the guitars churn out a noisy, earwax-melting underbelly for Will Shatter's, er, "singing".

This collection gathers the classic early singles and rarities that presaged the band's debut LP, "Generic". A perfect distillation of the various sides of Flipper, you lap up the original 7'' mantra of "Sex Bomb", the noisy falling apart live groove of "Ever", a completely f***ed and over the top reading of "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly ", dadaist hardcore--if there is such a thing--("Brainwashed"), and the live take of "Sacrifice", one of the most world-destroying things recorded in the entire punk/post-punk era.

This collection is every bit the equal of their celebrated "Generic" album, perhaps even more relevant as it both shows their lighter side and their pre-LP singles. Flipper's underrated second record, "Gone Fishin'", has also finally made it to CD, and its unusually structured songs and unconventional instruments (clavinet on a punk record!) demonstrate how singular and far ahead Flipper truly were.

For those wondering what the hell I've been talking about, you can bet that Nirvana adsorbed Flipper, who later paid back the nod by covering "Scentless Apprentice". Kurt Cobain even used to make his own Flipper T-Shirts. Hell, Krist Novoselic later joined the 2000's version of Flipper. Now THAT is some kind of ****ing karma!

P.S. Don't pay collector prices, the Flipper catalog is coming back in print in 2008 to accompany a new record.

Some albums get labeled "essential". So you buy them and wonder what the reviewer was doing describing that album as "essential". Okay, if you are into old school punk, want something different that will grow into one of those albums that you are going to play for every new friend as a way to find out if they are cool; Flipper's "Sex Bomb Baby" is an essential purchase.

That's great news that this album, along with the (long out of print) second album "Gone Fishing" is available again. I paid significantly more for a used copy of "Sex Bomb Baby" several years ago, but I consider it an essential part of my collection. This CD contains the material on the original LP version from 1987 plus a couple of extra tracks. Frankly the extra tracks don't stack up to the original material, but certainly don't detract from it either. It's a collection of their singles (yes, Flipper had singles!) and live rarities.

By the early 80's the creative spirit of the original punk scene had degenerated into a fairly conformist mindset. With few exceptions, most of the newer punk/hardcore bands were almost interchangeable. (Will Shatter, Flipper's bassist, had a side project called "Any Three Initials" - a name that mocked the lack of creativity). Flipper's sound, however, was unlike any other. Instead of "faster, louder, harder", the sound was bass-driven dirge with the guitar providing atonal screeching atmospherics.
Despite the pervasive minor chords and dark tone, there is something giddy about the music, best exemplified with the opener "Sex Bomb". A big part of that is, of course, their sense of humor. The humor ranges from black (Love Canal) to absurdist (Ha Ha Ha) to Dadaism (Brainwash), and is often mixed with pointed social commentary. Perhaps most telling of Flipper's attitude is the inclusion of a cacophonous live version of "Ever", which ends with an altercation with the bouncers, and the band ending the show in mid-song. "Brainwash" in particular is a work of sheer brilliance, I think. It needs to be heard to be believed! That every track has a totally different sound, but still manages to sound distinctively like Flipper, is a credit to their creativity.

Easily 5 stars!

Hopefully "Generic", their first album will soon be in print.

This is getting rereleased ALONG WITH "GENERIC"! This is as of 11/18/2008.
As much as I'd like to have Henry Rollins' Infinite Zero version, I know I can buy it for a sane price!

I almost gave this a four star rating because "Sex Bomb" is horribly cut off before it's over. But, I must overlook that glaring, brutal moment.

I drank a few beers and forgave them. And, I drank a few more and embraced the rest of the CD.

This is an excellent collection of Flipper tunes. I love what was done with "Brainwash." I cherish every six minutes of that piece of repetition. "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" just summarizes the band. It's just down right beautiful. "Isn't it sinsister to swallow a minister?"

Overall, some of the live performances just bring a smile to my battered face. This is punk/anti-punk-if there was every any anti-punk.

"Flipper" is a F-YOU band. I've said it before, and I say it again, you get it or you don't. This is great sh--.

In the scheme of things, this is hardly a masterpiece, this is not a brilliant band and these songs are not classic. There is a certain charm to how gutteral some of these tunes are. Some punk may warrant a curious boucing up and down to but this stuff can be danceable in a funk/big bottom way.

"Sex Bomb" is a throbbing, screaming, ambulance- siren blaring, two note, 5:19 exploration into how far a simple groove and bellowing "Sex Bomb Baby!" can be taken and deemed "a song". Inexplicably, it actually works!

The other standout song on this compilation of single and B sides, is the playfully sophmoric "Brainwash". Once again, this is an incredibly simple riff that get's continually interupted by the vocalist trying to explain something and then breaks down to state "never mind you wouldn't understand anyway"...over and over again. Great song? No way but it's certainly fun and entertaining.

This can be fun stuff for very short periods of time. I'm prejudiced towards 80's punk (with the exception of X, it sucked) so I cannot, in an intelligent manner, compare this to 70's Brit punk, it's New York/East Coast conuterpart or the much more legitimately ferocious stuff that came out of the Midwest and Detroit.

The single "sex bomb" is all you need to know about this interesting, yet hardly historically relevant band.