Dawn of the Dickies [IMPORT]

The Dickies

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 3, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Captain Oi!
• ASIN: B00004WZ6Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,893 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The L.A. punk legend's sophomore album. Includes the singles, 'Fan Mail', their cover of the Moody Blues 'Nights In White Satin', plus the bonus tracks 'Gigantor' and 'Bowling With Bedrock Barney'. Originally released in 1979. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth picking up for the lyrics alone, December 29, 2000

By	Kitten With a Whip "kittenwithawhip" (The Hellmouth) - See all my reviews

First of all, this has to be one of the best punk albums of all time. When my husband introduced me to the Dickies 10 years ago, I had never heard of them (and I called myself a punk! Shame). I was blown away by how consistently good and fun their songs were, how they could get me going in the morning no matter how little sleep I had (just TRY being mellow listening to 'Give It Back' ), and by the cool lyrics to songs like Attack of the Mole Men and Fan Mail.

Now while L.G. Phillips has one of the coolest singing voices of all time, most Dickies songs are so fast and furious that, for me at least, 50% of the lyrics are incomprehensible, and that 's after several listens. "Infidel Zombie" was always one of my favorite Dickies songs, but no matter how many times I listened to it, I could only get like 75% of the lyrics ("well I've been running for a while and I know that I'm the next in line, well she's a (something something a something with a something)" The most extreme example was "I've got a Splitting Hedachi" where all I could get was the first line and part of the chorus "Well it's a chilly chilly evening and I something something something" . I was overjoyed to find this on CD finally, but when we opened up the CD, we were even more overjoyed to find...lyrics! Man, was I ever wrong on some of them, and on a couple, the song even turned out to be about something completely different than I thought. With lots of bands, sometimes the lyrics you come up with turn out to be cooler than the actual lyrics when you find out what they are. Not with the Dickies! I managed to figure out "Where Did His Eye Go" was about Sammy Davis Jr when I first heard it (my husband actually had heard it a lot more, but never knew what it was about) only because I had just finished reading a book about him. Finding out all the lyrics made me love the song even more.

Dawn of the Dickies not only includes the classics 'Where Did His Eye Go'?, 'Fan Mail' , 'Manny, Moe and Jack', 'Infidel Zombie', 'I'm a Chollo', 'Nights in White Satin', 'I'm Stuck in a Pagoda With) Tricia Toyota', 'I've Got a Splitting Hedachi', 'Attack of the Mole Men', and 'She Loves Me Not' but also also has the bonus of having bonus tracks 'Gigantor' and 'Bowling With Bedrock Barney' (I actually danced so hard and fast to this song once I lost my balance and fell over) which before, I only had on vinyl. By the way, at chorus to 'Infidel Zombie' ends, " and I don't believe that there's a bullet with my name on it now".

Even if you already have this on vinyl, I recommend this CD for the bonus tracks and seeing the actual lyrics. One of the best records by one of the most underrated bands of all time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Classic Punk/Pop, September 22, 2005

By	Mark A. Carter (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Yay the Dickies. How can you not like a band with a name like that? While some of the overly serious British Punk Acts of the late 70's churned out their angst-ridden rants against society the Dickies took punk, mixed it with pop to give us deliriously catchy 2-3 minute classics. As a London School-Kid growing up surrounded by all the usual Punk bands of the era the 'Dickies' seemed like they weren't quite taking things seriously & of course they weren't.........thank God! Extremely funny ditties accompanied by fast beaty drums & white-trash vocals. No less than 5 single's on this wonderful album 'Where did his eye go?', 'Fan Mail' (My particular favorite & a wonderfully snide observation on bands relationships with their fans), 'Manny, Moe & jack', 'Nights in White Satin' & the completely daft 'Gigantor'. This is the sort of band that could only come out of America. They were hugely underrated, in part I think because they didn't have the tude' associated with most other punk-bands. But bugger that. For some of the catchiest ditties of the late 70's you couldn't have more fun than with the Dickie's. Go Dickie's!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the epitome of early 80's L.A. surf punk, January 18, 2004

By	Howard L Lambert (Lemoore, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

based on the 3 Dickies albums I've heard, this is their "masterpiece". It has some of the most catchy songs of any album I've ever heard. They're fun, silly and absolutely original...never heard anything like it before. The melodies, arrangements, vocals and lyrics are all very interesting and well crafted (unlike your typical "punk" band).

I probably could have done without the hyper-cover of "Nights in White Satin" and wasn't super stoked on "I'm a chollo" or "She loves me...", but the rest of the tunes make up for those by a long shot (no pun intended).