My younger brother was, in his teen years, a big fan of the American west-coast hardcore bands (Germs, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, etc, etc), myself, not as much (mostly because I got sick of him playing the stuff all the time), but when he became a homeless/hopeless derelict a while back, I got custody of all of his music, for better or worse.....The complete (I think) Circle Jerks included. I know I've featured The Germs and DK's here, Fear, not as sure, and all the "Rodney on the ROQ" comps, so I may as well continue my commitment to variety and throw some Circle Jerks your way.
Vocalist Keith Morris (late of Fear) formed the Circle Jerks (originally known as The Bedwetters) in 1979, along with guitarist Greg Heston, bassist Roger Rogerson, and drummer Lucky Lehrer......they cranked out a similar din to the Germs or Fear, perhaps with a bit more musical chops.The actually kind of grating "Group Sex" album, their debut, shoots out fourteen tracks in FIFTEEN minutes, it's a bit rough to listen to these days, although one can get a laugh from "Paid Vacation" (sample lyric: "It's Afghanastan!")......a true period piece,genuinely specific of an era and a region, no question.
"Wild in the Streets" is nearly as machine gun in its approach, as always, a sense of humor can save a lot of these type of things, as wittnessed by some good cover choices (title track, "Just Like Me", and, especially "Put a Little Love In Your Heart").....my brother always claimed that the best Circle jerks album (BY FAR, MAN) was "Group Sex", I'd say it'd be a "difficult" choice but I may go with this one.
"Golden Shower of Hits" seems to be an attempt at gaining some mainstream exposure, the longer, more traditional hard rock songs ("Rats of Reality", "When the Shit Hits the Fan") are kind of lame, actually, more "conventional" Jerks numbers prevail, such as "Junk Mail" and "Coup d'Etat"...also the title track is quite creative, stringing together six unconventional cover versions (see track list) to tell a complete story, really ambitious actually.
The next release, "Wonderful", with a revised lineup, continues the move towards desired commerciality,
and, it sucks period. If you want it here it is.
The decline continues on "VI", quite an odd title for their FIFTH album, nevertheless, I don't like this one much either. Again, here it is if you want it, I have not much to say about it.
"Gig" is a live release, not terrible, but I do wish it would have included the classic lineup (pre-"Wonderful"), but it's not terrible, at times it crackles like some of the early stuff.
GROUP SEX-01 Deny Everything/02 I Just Want Some Skank/03 Beverly Hills/04 Operation/05 Back Against the Wall/06 Wasted/07 Behind the Door/08 World Up My Ass/09 Paid Vacation/10 Don't Care/11 Live Fast Die Young/12 What's Your Problem/13 Group Sex/14 Red Tape
WILD IN THE STREETS-01 Wild in the Streets/02 Leave Me Alone/03 Stars and Stripes/04 86'd (Good as Gone)/05 Meet the Press/06 Trapped/07 Murder the Disturbed/08 Letterbomb/09 Question Authority/10 Defamation Innuendo/11 Moral Majority/12 Forced Labor/13 Political Stu/14 Just Like Me/15 Put a Little Love In Your Heart
GOLDEN SHOWER OF HITS-01 In Your Eyes/02 Parade of Horribles/03 Under the Gun/04 When the Shit Hits the Fan/05 Bad Words/06 Red Blanket Room/07 High Price on Our Heads/08 Coup d'Etat/09 Product of My Environment/10 Rats of Reality/11 Junk Mail/12 Golden Shower of Hits (Jerks on 45) (Along Comes Mary/Close to You/Afternoon Delight/Having My Baby/Love Will Keep us Together/D-I-V-O-R-C-E)
VI-01 Beat Me Senseless/02 Patty's Killing Me/03 Casualty Vampire/04 Tell Me Why/05 Protection/06 I'm Alive/07 Status Clinger/08 Living/09 American Way/10 Fortunate Son/11 Love Kills/12 All Wound Up/13 I Don't
GIG-01 Beat Me Senseless/02 High Price on Our Heads/03 Letter Bomb/04 In Your Eyes/05 Making the Bombs/06 All Wound Up/07 Coup d'Etat/08 Mrs Jones/09 Back Against the Wall/10 Casualty Vampires/11 I Don't/12 Making Time/13 Junk Mail/14 I, I, & I/15 World Up My Ass/16 I Just Want Some Skank/17 Beverly Hills/18 The Crowd/19 When the Shit Hits the Fan/20 Deny Everything/21 Wonderful/22 Wild in the Streets
ODDITIES, ABNORMALTIES, AND CURIOSITIES-01 Teenage Electric/02 Anxious Boy/03 22/04 Shining Through the Door/05 I Wanna Destroy You/06 Sinking Ship/07 Brick/08 Fable/09 Dog/10 Grey Life/11 Exhaust Breath/12 Career Day
GROUP
ReplyDeletehttp://www58.zippyshare.com/v/7GggzMOe/file.html
WILD
http://www107.zippyshare.com/v/RiRYD2AB/file.html
GOLDEN
http://www105.zippyshare.com/v/4SdvU07u/file.html
WONDERFUL
http://www79.zippyshare.com/v/9ULkW2jy/file.html
VI
http://www118.zippyshare.com/v/SrGFv3dB/file.html
GIG
http://www15.zippyshare.com/v/tWro8DGq/file.html
ODDITIES
http://www32.zippyshare.com/v/2Qs2A4V2/file.html
Keith Morris was in Black Flag not Fear and Greg Hetson not Heston. Thank you for sharing your brothers collection.
ReplyDeleteYeah thanks they all kind of blur together in my mind
DeleteYep, and Hetson was in Red Cross. Greg Ginn wrote "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You" about Keith Morris after Morris left Black Flag. Years later, Keith Morris formed OFF (get it -- Black Flag? Off?) with Steve McDonald from Red Cross aka Redd Kross. I remember all this shit but can't remember where I left my phone!
Delete"I Wanna Destroy You" on that Oddities record features Debbie Gibson on backing vocals.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Circle Jerks. I think Oddities, Abnormalities, and Curiosities merits a mention for the novelty value of the cover of the Soft Boys' "I Wanna Destroy You" featuring Debbie Gibson (!) on backing vocals. Who woulda thunk?
ReplyDeleteWell, I obviously didn't refresh the page before posting. Great minds think alike....
DeleteI grew up on these guys, and still think the first album is a hardcore classic. "Paid Vacation" is more topical than you might think, as it is about American soldiers sent to fight rich men's wars. Substitute Iraq for Afghanistan, and you're talking about current events. "It's not Vietnam/ It's just an oil company scam." I agree that the CJ's went downhill from there, although there are a few bright spots on Wonderful like the title track and "American Heavy Metal Weekend". And the Jerks spoofed themselves in the movie "Repo Man" with an acoustic version of "Shit Hits the Fan". Shabby-doo-wop, say what yeah...
ReplyDeleteYoutube the original Wild in the Streets by Garland Jeffries, it's a killer 70's Stonesy/Lou Reed jam. The video someone put together of 70's NYC is killer. Had to write a paper in high school about positive and negative song lyrics.For the positive I picked Wonderful by the Circle Jerks, for the negative I chose I Saw Your Mommy by Suicidal Tendencies...man I thought I was cool,ha,ha!
ReplyDelete