A Small Circle of Friends: A Germs Tribute

Various Artists - Alternative

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 1996)
• Original Release Date: August 27, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Grass Records
• ASIN: B000005B4G
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #283,768 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Forming - NOFX

2. Sex Boy - Free Kitten

3. Lexicon Devil - Melvins

4. Circle One

5. No God - D Generation

6. What We Do Is Secret - J Mascis, Mike Watt

7. Land of Treason

8. Richie Dagger's Crime - The Posies

9. Strange Notes

10. Manimal - White Flag

11. We Must Bleed - that dog.

12. Media Blitz - Flea

13. Other Newest One

14. Let's Pretend - The Wrens

15. Dragon Lady - Matthew Sweet

16. Caught in My Eye - Gumball

17. Not All Right - Meat Puppets

18. Now I Hear the Laughter

19. Lion's Share - L7,

20. Shutdown [*] - The Monkeywrench

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Circle of Friends, April 17, 2003

By A Customer

I loved the Germs when I was in Jr. High School and bought GI on vinyl when it came out. This seminal album has inspired many other bands and is a masterpiece. I picked up Circle of Friends at a used CD store yesterday and it brought back old memories. This is a great CD if you liked the Germs. I found the Posies rendition of Richie Dagger's Crime to be hilarious.

5.0 out of 5 stars great collection, some very eclectic stuff, recommended, October 3, 2009

By	Apple-O "[e-mail]" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This is an inspired tribute that not only serves as a "gateway drug" into the Germs' classic seminal hardcore punk but expands that band's songs with new styles.

Some highlights:

Matthew Sweet takes "Dragon Lady" and turns it into an awesomely smooth new-wavish synth gem.

The Melvins manage to play "Lexicon Devil" even better than the original (in the very least they do it justice!)

The Meat Puppets play "Not Alright" in their sorely-missed hilariously anarchic early style (which was so obviously influenced by the Germs, check out Meat Puppets 1 if you want to hear Curt Kirkwood's best impression of Darby Crash's "singing"). Sadly this tune could have been about the Meat Puppets themselves around this time when Cris Kirkwood was sliding deep into drug addiction and the group fell apart. (Now that they're back, I wish they'd do some more of the dabbling in Germs territory which they're so good at, if only because it's such great fun.)

But the real stand out here for me is the Posies' version of "Richie Dagger's Crime" which they take apart and put back together as three Beatles tunes from different eras (and they nail the sound, it really sounds like something off of "Rubber Soul" and then "My Guitar Gently Weeps"). This track alone is worth the price of the CD and for me earns the Posies their place in the history of true rock greatness (and I'm not even a Posies' fan! I tried to get into their "Dear 23" CD but it was a little... eh. But I shall keep trying, if only because this Germs cover is so damn great. This track alone earns them their place in the new line up of Big Star.)

As a whole this is a good CD, tribute, and intro to the Germs. There are a lot of other great tracks by other artists on here that probably deserve mention, but the above is what sticks out in my memory. I haven't even listened to this CD in like 3 years or more! But even though I don't listen to it every day, it's one of those discs in my collection that will never end up in the trade pile, and without which my Germs collection is not complete.

Apple-O 10/3/09

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A diverse tribute indeed!, July 5, 2004

By	Rob Brooks (Whittier, CA) - See all my reviews

The late Drew Blood, a good friend of mine submitted the hidden track which follows the final track of 'Shutdown'. It is a spoken word poem he wrote about Darby, The Germs and LA Punk in general. It doesn't get credit but is audible if you wait for the last track. I really love the diverse versions each artist brought to show the influence The Germs had on them in whatever way they did. Darby you are missed and so are you Drew.