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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Utterly phenomenal rock and roll, January 24, 2002
To me, The Wipers are comparable to bands like the Velvet Underground (before they finally became famous), Love, or Big Star: one of the greatest bands to ever plug in their amplifiers, and yet relatively unknown to the public at large. These guys are unreal! I profoundly regret that I never heard them live. I almost did. In the Winter of 1994 Nirvana was going to play the Aragon in Chicago, and the Wipers were going to open for them (the Wipers were major influences not only on Nirvana but most of the great bands to come out of the Pacific Northwest in the eighties and nineties). I was primed and ready. Unfortunately, the Wipers pulled out, and tragically I decided not to go to the concert. It turned out to be the last time Nirvana played Chicago.This box set collects the first three albums by the Wipers. I have to confess that the second of these albums, YOUTH OF AMERICA, is my least favorite Wipers album. IS THIS REAL? isn't their best, but over the years it has had more replay album than almost any other album I own. Just one phenomenal cut after another. But the real gem of the album is OVER THE EDGE. It is far and away my favorite Wipers album, and one of my favorite albums period. The title track is also my favorite Wiper cut. I write "The Wipers," but that is a misnomer. "The Wipers" was Greg Sage, and whoever he had playing drums and bass at a particular point varied from album to album. Sage is a decent singer, a very fine song writer, a musical visionary, and a stunning guitar player. I think comparisons to Jimi Hendrix are absurd. Their playing styles are strikingly different. Sage, unlike Hendrix, very rarely plays "trumpet solos" (when what we think of as guitar solos were first being introduced in music, they were seen as analogs with what was being done with trumpet solos, with the emphasis on a succession of single notes), but instead focuses almost exclusively on thick, massed chords. A Sage "solo" will consist of the aggregation of a large number of driving, distorted, piercing chords of maniacal force and energy. These albums contain almost the first stirrings of post-punk music. It is alternative rock over a decade before Nirvana made alternative pop. Whatever it is, this is absolutely essential music for anyone who loves awesome rock music. It is also essential because it is the only way to obtain the incredible album OVER THE EDGE. A must-own. And the bonus tracks aren't bad either.
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See all 22 tracks on this disc
by Wipers 
