Nihilism,
situationism and surrealism might be old news in these post-postmodern times,
but when this gaggle of Clevelanders began their short-but-stunning assault
on the public consciousness back in 1973, jaws dropped and fists flew. The
word "punk" wasn't yet in common use, but there's little doubt
that the songs contained on this retrospective outstrip just about anything
from that first wave in terms of both outrage and -- no pun intended --
raw power. Guitarist John Morton strangled an amazing array of extra-terrestrial
sounds -- think Albert Ayler duetting with a wood planer -- from his guitar
on avowedly confrontational songs like "You're Full of Shit,"
"Cold Meat" and "Agitated." Underpinned by the primordial
thump of drummer Nick Knox -- who'd later go on to join the Cramps -- the
two-minute stomps are plenty unsettling, their arty surface shot through
with closed-fist punches (kind of like a cocktail party at Jackson Pollock's
house). Topping it all off, vocalist Dave E -- a frail, sickly fellow prone
to festooning his clothing with rat traps and begging audience members to
try something -- delivered strings of disconnected one-liners ("Sometimes
I think that the whole world stinks/I don't know what to think/I just hate
it") in a whine that makes Jad Fair sound like Glenn Danzig. Ugly?
At times. Hilarious? You bet. But -- as the Eels, who broke up before the
Ramones hit the recording studio, note in one of the many quasi-theme songs
contained here -- more than anything, "It's Artastic!"
DAVID
SPRAGUE
(October 22, 2001)
