Customer Reviews

Weird World, Vol. 1

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

The first time I saw them was at the Whiskey A GoGO in 78. Never been the same since. Class of 1977 LA Punk Rock. LA was Weird and different with it's own Rhythm and style that was so great and like no where else. We copied no one. All the bands were great from that time and the Weirdos were the King and the Bags were the Queen.

If you were a part of the punk rock scene, this is a must for your library. It's great to hear "Fort USA" again! I had been looking for that song for almost 20 years!

Classic punk from the L.A. scene. The Weirdos were a great and early example of what would come to define L.A. punk. Nicky Beat laid down a strong drum foundation that would be incorporated into the standard L.A. sound later by drummers such as: Don Bolles (The Germs), Robo (Black Flag/Misfits), Ted (Dead Kennedys), and even Gina Schock (The Go-Go's).

This is one of L.A. punk's classics. Though not the best band (that would be the Screamers but good luck finding any of their material), it is along with X, the Germs and Black Flag one of the great bands of the L.A. punk scene. Hard edged punk rockabilly with more than a bit of Clash style politics thrown in, this is not only a great comp., it is a fun listen. Green Day can only hold a candle to classic stuff like this. This was just before punk morphed into post-punk and hardcore and when it was punk for punk's sake.

The Weirdos were the Kings of the Early L.A. punk scene. That's saying alot considering the bands that were around back in '77-'80. This is classic punk. No mowhauks. No trendy clothe. Just crystal pure punk. These guys, along with The Plugz and The Screamers, were teaching us youngsters what music could and should sound like. It's great to see bands like this being discovered by a new generation. They're touring again and I took my two boys (11 and 13) to see them a few months ago. They were blown away. Helium Bar is one of the best punk songs ever written and is worth the cost of the whole cd. If you want real oldschool punk by the guys who invented and defined it, this is it.

"We Got the Neutron Bomb" is one of the best songs ever. Too bad it's so dated. My ears recently stopped ringing from their St. Patricks Day '81 show at the Starwood in LA. John Denney dressed like a leprechaun and Dix Denney was Godzilla or something. If the world was just and "Happy People" was the giant blockbuster hit that it deserved to be, the 80's would have been completely different.

The only great songs here are 'Life Of Crime" (I've covered this one in a couple bands)and 'We Got The Neutron Bomb'. The rest ain't much; and the two stellar tunes I've mentioned are available on Rhino's D.I.Y compilation "We're Desparate", featuring all the late 70's LA groups, a much better value. At least they included a lyric sheet with this.