Weird World, Vol. 1

Weirdos | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 6, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Frontier Records
• ASIN: B000003STU
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,960 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

It's rather ironic that while Los Angeles was the capitol of the American recording industry in the mid-to-late '70s, most of the seminal bands of the original New York punk rock scene (the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Talking Heads) were able to score major-label contracts, but nearly all of their West Coast contemporaries were ignored, having to rely on fledgling independent labels like Dangerhouse or What? if they wanted to be heard on plastic. Consequently, several important bands, such as Crime and the Screamers, managed to slip through the cracks without ever releasing a proper album, and the Weirdos, who were one of the first major bands to emerge from the L.A. punk underground, broke up in 1981 without making an LP. (They did reunite for a spell in the 1990s, recording an album called Condor with the help of friend and fan Flea.) Fortunately, the Weirdos did manage to release a handful of singles and EPs during their 1977-1981 heyday, as well as demoing plenty of material that never saw release, and Weird World, Vol. 1 collects 14 superb cuts that set the record straight -- the Weirdos were, quite simply, one of the best and brightest American bands of punk's first wave. Dix Denney's hard, angular guitar lines suggested melody without sacrificing any of his propulsive punch, while the various rhythm sections were invariably tight, hard-driving, and energetic (the band went through four drummers and five bassists in five years; one of the group's bass players, Cliff Roman, was originally their rhythm guitarist, and wrote a handful of superb songs, including "Teenage" and "Life of Crime"). And vocalist John Denny was a genius frontman; manic, funny, and just a little disturbing, John could pour a world of passion and meaning into a nonsense lyric like "Bop helium bar tonight!," and his more coherent numbers, like "We've Got the Neutron Bomb" and "Pagan" were as hilarious as the Ramones but with a genuinely ominous undercurrent their funny-punk brethren couldn't touch (check the claustrophobic "Solitary Confinement"). Weird World, Vol. 1 is hardly the final word on this great band, but if you want concrete proof that the Weirdos were the great unsung heroes of L.A. punk, you could hardly do better. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Guilty Pleasure, July 20, 2001

By 

R. T. Shepherd (Chas, South Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Weird World, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Tempus Fugit, and so in middle age the wise listen to serious music and abandon television for the novel. But wait! There is always time to monitor punk rock. After all, one might want to write a review. Last night I monitored "Weird World Volume 1" as I painted, and after a time all of the words and melodies came back to me from those glory days of hippie baiting and seeking out dadaesque 45s. How The Weirdos came up with such astonishing music I can't say, and why musicians today to not aspire to such glory is best left for psychoanalyists to explain. You must hear this fourteen song collection, the perfect compliment to both Fear and the Germ's debut albums.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2nd rate punkers? Hardly..., April 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Weird World, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

The Weirdos are one of the greatest of the early punk bands. I love every song on this album, and the more you hear them the better they get. My favorite song is "Fort U.S.A", a both funny and disturbing song about gun control: "Well everybody's got a gun; and you dont have to be 21" This band is awesome and is essential to any punk fan or rock and roll fan. I also want other volumes! Volume 1, what a tease.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Undisputed Kings of the L.A. Scene!, January 20, 2009

By 

M. McKay (Downey, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Weird World, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

THEY COULD HAVE BEEN AND THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN! But we say that about every band that we like that didn't get the recognition they so richly deserved in their heyday. But what exactly is real recognition? Does it solely depend on record sales or that the band member's faces are plastered all over magazines and television so much that the band looses it's original identity? To those who saw them at venues like The Masque or The Whisky in L.A. back in 1977 or '78, The Weirdos were HUGE! Their sound so wild and infectious and their stage presence so undeniable and bizarre. The Weirdos were tons more entertaining than their U.K. counterparts and much more powerful in their sound. It's just a shame they didn't get to release a full length album in their first phase line up from '77.

The band's 1977 single for Dangerhouse Records "We Got The Neutron Bomb" b/w "Solitary Confinement" has got to be in the Top 10 of the greatest punk rock singles EVER! You wouldn't believe a record like this came out in 1977, I mean, it out clashes The Clash of all things. It's not fast like the later hardcore punk of Bad Brains, it's just FRIGGIN' POWERFUL! LIKE TNT EXPLODING FROM YOUR SPEAKERS! That single is contained here on this collection of course, along with a couple other gems released that year such as "Life Of Crime." The power and aggression doesn't stop with "Neutron" however, there are plenty of great tracks from 1978 like "Fallout," "Fort U.S.A.," and my personal favorite "Happy People" with it's infectious "fa-la-la-la-la-la, yeah!" chorus.

Besides the brother duo of John and Denny Nix, the band went through numerous personnel changes. The band's best line up is undoubtedly the first one that released those first couple of incredible singles. What this compilation is missing is some live tracks. Now we know good and well that live recordings exist of this band, and probably in their first line up as well. That would've been a nice addition, even if they had a slightly bootleg sound quality. But to conclude, if you have any interest in what the L.A. punk rock scene sounded like or any interest in punk in general, this CD is an absolute essential purchase!