Lee - Greenville Store

08/02/04 Lee
Keith Levene - Killer in the Crowd
Keith Levene, legendary for being an original Clash member and a founding father of PIL, has been silent for over a decade. Suddenly, he has reappeared, referring to himself as a “musician-magician“, with this 5 song, limited edition EP, “Killer in the Crowd“. Four of the Five songs are instrumentals, with all instruments played by Levene himself. The fifth is a regular song-type song with vocals and full arrangement. Of the five songs, the only ones that kinda sorta succeed are the fourth and fifth songs, the instrumental “Aztek Dub D“ and the title song “Killer in the Crowd“. Aztek Dub D is a short rhythmic dub that lays echo-y studio effects over a rainforest beat that sounds like it was played on empty bottles and a windchime. “Killer in the Crowd“ is a fairly standard repetitive guitar vamp (nice and fuzzy) reminiscent of some mid period Iggy solo work. Unfortunately, it lacks all of the charisma and balls of a Pop production. The remaining instrumentals sound like what they are: home studio jacking around by an uninspired musician. These could pass for demo tapes of any band that has no chance, or perhaps the soundtrack for the training video that comes along with a budget-priced 4 track recorder. I really wanted to like this record, but it is impossible to believe that this has any relation to the great early PIL music that Levene co-created. This CD was rightly limited, as it has very little appeal.

07/12/04 Lee
The Angry Samoans - Back From Samoa
Ok, so, normally, I don‘t like stupid stuff…
The Angry Samoans - Back From Samoa is really stupid. Absolutely moronic. Mentally retarded. BUT GENIUS!!! 17 minutes long. 14 songs with titles that I‘d be too embarrassed to list here. I reluctantly affiliate myself with it, even in this small forum. The record is downright puerile. However, I must declare that it is INSPIRED!! ENDOWED WITH GREATNESS!!! VIRTUOSITIC! This album has been on my top ten list for over 20 years! Only a couple other albums have lasted that long on my lineup. Dare I compare the Samoans to…to…the great Nevermind the Bollocks or Generic Flipper?? I‘VE GONE TOO FAR! I‘VE GONE TOO FAR! I‘VE GONE TOO FAR!

07/05/04 Lee
The Finger - We Are Fuck You
Where do the talents of Ryan Adams end? This is certainly the question that we all turn over in our minds constantly, I‘m sure. The Whiskeytown records are cool. The alt-country solo albums keep coming, one after the other, endlessly. He even recorded a fairly successful rock and roll album last year, titled, oddly enough, Rock and Roll. I‘m here to tell you, though, that you haven‘t heard the best Ryan Adams project yet.
In 2002, While Ryan was producing the first album of alt-country, singer-songwriter croonings by ex-D-Generation glam punk, Jesse Malin, the two stole some studio time and recorded the 10 song album of 80‘s style hardcore punk, We Are Fuck You.
Initially, the record was released only in a vinyl edition limited to 1000 copies. Later, an import CD version surfaced with even more material, the added “Punk‘s Dead Let‘s Fuck“ record, another 10 great songs.
Of course, Ryan‘s record company refused to allow him to put his name anywhere on the release, but he publicized it by making cryptic references to it in interviews. The collectors found it and quickly sold out the vinyl pressing. It is a rare and expensive e-bay item these days. The CD just kind of appeared out of nowhere and is probably similarly limited. For the time being, we stock it in the Ryan Adams section at CD World.
The record is notable not only because it is a weird Ryan Adams collectible. It is also a very competent punk rock album reminiscent of the New York Thrash scene, early Black Flag, and New Bomb Turks at their best. It‘s certainly 10 times better than anything that D-Generation ever recorded.

06/28/04 Lee
The West Wing - The West Wing Season 2 DVD box
For the past couple of years, my bliss fix has been wholely dependent on the wide variety of West Wing showings on cable and network TV. My availability can be tracked easily by anyone with a TV Guide. If the West Wing is on, chances are that I‘m out of commission for an hour or so. Imagine my joy to finally own, watchable at any time, my very own copy of the very finest West Wing season, season two.
The second season is the one in which the writer and creator of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, really hit his stride. The season starts out with the President, aptly played by the great Martin Sheen, shot by white supremicists. Later in the season, the president reveals to his staff and the country that he has been hiding his pre-election diagnosis of the degenerative disease MS. Finally, the season ends with the decision to run for re-election in the midst of great controversy.
Now, granted, none of this may seem interesting to anyone other than the most addicted political junkie (which I may very well be...), but the crisp, clever writing, fantastic ensemble work by a very able cast, and the timeliness of the topics explored, make this a highly-watchable poly-sci soap opera.

06/21/04 Lee
Rudimentary Peni - Death Church
Like Flux of Pink Indians, reviewed nearby by Matt “Handsome Boy“ Hursh, Rudimentary Peni was one of those weird ‘80s British hardcore bands that had a little more going on than the usual “Society Sucks“ or “Reagan‘s Gonna Kill Us All“ battle cries of GBHC bands like the endlessly annoying Exploited or the full-on retarded Anti-Nowhere League. Nurtured initially by the anarchist group Crass, Rudimentary Peni crept out of a basement in sub-suburban Britain and released a handful of pretty swell Eps, full lengths, and the great album “Death Church“.
Led by obsessive-compulsive (check out the amazing album art), oft-mental patient, Nick Blinko, Rudimentary Peni initially created short metallic bursts of song dealing with a smarter, more personal political and social commentary, exploring themes of alienation, confusion and, of course, neuroticism and paranoia rather than broad-stroke political sloganeering. Later, the band experimented greatly with song structure and length, ultimately to create a noise-fest, Cacophony, that is a certain soul mate to The Flux of Pink Indians disc mentioned before.
Blinko has a way with the pen and creates horrifying images both pictorially and lyrically. I recall buying my first RP record simply because of the cover art. I was overjoyed to find the music contained within to be sufficiently satanic and the lyrical content clever and grossly poetic.
Rudimentary Peni has reformed over the years, releasing a couple of EPs here, and album of new material there. Each of these efforts has been interesting and bubbling over with the unexpected, some less successful than others. Death Church, however, is as solid as they get and is recommended as your introduction to this great and very fucked-up band.

06/14/04 Lee
Comets On Fire - Blue Cathedral
Five-piece neo-psychedelic garage-punk freakouts Comets on Fire serve up an eight song bucket of guitar /echoplex/ keyboard sludge on their forthcoming Subpop release Blue Cathedral. This new record is mostly instrumental, although screamed lyrics, tortured through the echoplex, find some air. Mostly, though, this is a record of guitars and loud, feedback soaked electric jams. Did I already use “freakout“? It¹s really a very useful word in describing this record. “Sonic destruction“ works, as well. Comparisons to Hawkwind, Blue Cheer, Early to mid-period Floyd, Neil Young (Down by the River), and even early Mudhoney would be appropriate. Check out the extremely kick-ass sax solo in the third song, Whiskey River. Wow, what a smokin¹ record!

06/07/04 Lee
Destroy All Monsters - Bored
Bored is a collection of the amazing singles recorded by the mid-period (1978 -79) incarnation of Destroy All Monsters. It is a short CD, with only 6 songs and an unimpressive bonus track. Vocals are supplied by ex-model, current viual artist and full-time whack job Niagra. Stooge Ron Asheton is the guitarist and co-songwriter. Bass and Drums are supplied by Mike Davis of the MC5 and Rob King.
These are freaky, challenging songs that border on psychedelic with a quasi-industrial attitude. Niagra‘s caterwauling vocal style compliments the difficult, crunchy music. Her Nico-esque delivery, cool and detached, lends much needed grounding to the psychotic musical mess. Her insane lyrics concern witches, boredom, and Jackie Kennedy collecting bits of the president‘s grey matter from the back of the motorcade limosine
Every once in a while a CD comes along with a statement printed on the sleeve encouraging you to “Play This CD at Maximum Volume“ or somesuch. For the most part, the suggestion is redundant (ie Motorhead). This CD has no such warning, but the listener would be better served if it did. The music on Bored is so thick with quiet chaos, that low-volume listening cheats the listener out of the full Destroy All Monsters experience; screaming distorted guitars intertwining, riff after riff after riff after riff...

05/31/04 Lee
Soledad Brothers - Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move
I‘m coming in kind of late to the “Detroit Scene“ that everyone‘s already sick of, but I‘ve begun to find little nuggets of greatness. The Soledad Brothers‘ second album from 2002, Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move, crept out of relative obscurity and into my short attention just recently. This three piece band plays bluesy lo-fi rock that sounds like the AM radio in the middle of the night; a faraway signal from the swamplands that only the most unlikely convergence of clouds, planets and atmosphere will allow to travel the moonless airwaves into your pickup truck‘s receiver while you drunkenly try to find your way home from a particularly disappointing adventure with rotten love. When the singer, Johnny Walker, intones “My name is Johnny, you‘ll be with me now…“ you suspect that you‘ve been taken into the confidence of a man that understands (or perhaps abducted by someone whose sole mission is to bury you before morning…). The songs are sloppy, slide guitar-driven mossy rock, referencing Exile-era Stones, the Flaming Groovies, R.L. Burnside and even the Gun Club, circa Miami. While the production is suitably skunky, the sound is muscled up and sanctified by organ, saxophone, and various pieces of percussion. Fans of any of the aforementioned bands should seek out this record and rock it.

05/10/04 Lee
Germs - Media Blitz DVD
Anyone who has heard one of the many Germs live bootleg CDs (as well as any officially released live shows) knows that the band was a freakishly unlearned group of musicians and that lead singer, Darby Crash, was, frankly, a mess. While, for the most part, unlistenable, the recordings provide a glimpse of American rock and roll turning in on itself, retro-metamorphosing into the music of teenagers, instead of for the multinational corporations that co-opted rock in the ‘70s. While The Germs were a burning bag of crap left on the doorstep, they were an important, sometimes brilliant bag of burning crap.
The Media Blitz DVD documents the Germs at the peak of their popularity, near the end of their ride in 1979 at the Whisky in Hollywood. The video quality is generally suspect, and Darby’s performance is uncomfortable to watch. However, the band is tight, controlling the chaos in an awkward, yet admirable way.
The footage shot and included in the feature film The Decline of Western Civilization is better looking, better sounding, and more outrageous, but this might be your only opportunity to enjoy a full performance from the Germs.
Included also is a second DVD featuring an interview with Don Bolles, drummer for the Germs. He uses the interview to pimp his book about Darby Crash, but manages to sneak in a bunch of great stories and a fairly concise history of the Germs.
This is an item for fans of the Germs and the LA punk scene. For the uninitiated or merely curious, the Germs CD (MIA) is better recommended

04/5/04 Lee
Rollins Band - Come In and Burn
Considered by many to be the weakest of the Rollins Band albums, Come In and Burn is, in fact, the strongest by far. This record, which ultimately became their swan song, is evidence of a dazzling display of talent gelling into a monstrous unit. While guitarist Chris Haskett and drummer Sim Cain provide the virtuosity that fans had come to expect, Melvin Gibbs, on his sophomore performance with the band, blows the place up with some of the ugliest, fattest, distorted bass lines ever recorded. Soundman Theo Van Rock, the fifth member of Rollins Band, takes the aforementioned rock power and transforms it by liberal use of effects and volume into a audioscape of intensity and soul crushing despair matched only by the self-loathing and anger of Henry Rollins‘ lyrics and vocal performance. Yeah, it‘s brutish and dense, but rare and bizarre, too. All Tool fans need to shut up and listen to Come In and Burn by the great Rollins Band.

04/12/04 Lee
Dead Kennedys - Live at the Deaf Club / Mutiny on the Bay
Old-school hardcore fans will dig the latest release from the legendary San Francisco punk band, the Dead Kennedys, Live at the Deaf Club. Recorded in early 1979, this disc captures the band in their original incarnation with a second guitar, provided by 6025, and the original drummer, Ted.
The performance on the disc is an excellent recording from around the time of the DKs first full length, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. Those familiar with the band know that their sound changed significantly over their career. This gig recording reflects the early sound characterized by a clean, full guitar sound (enhanced by the presence of 6025) and more straightforward ‘80s punk feel. Drummer Ted provides a simple style of drumming that, while fast, is fairly conventional. This release appears to have come from the Jello Biafra side of the recent split up of all things DK brought about by the legal contest between band factions. Naturally, the focal point of the CD tends to be Biafra and his onstage personality.
The disc is packaged nicely, with an 8 page booklet of art by Eric S Goodfield. The artwork is Winston Smith-esque, but has a Jack Chick quality that distinguishes it from the artwork on previous DK releases.
This performance features a previously unreleased number, “Gaslight“.
Mutiny on the Bay, released about a year ago, seems to have originated from the band side of the legal dispute. It is made up of recordings from later Dead Kennedys performances from 1982 and 1986. This recording captures the band well established in their notoriety for musical insanity and the confrontational stage presence of Biafra. The lone guitar, supplied by the unforgivably overlooked East Bay Ray, wallows frantically in deep dub-like echo with a loud, vicious attack. The style that he developed over the few years between the two eras these recordings represent is unique to punk rock in general, and unusual in rock and roll as a whole. The surf element from earlier recordings is still there, but it is now played with such speed, intensity, and sonic authority that it becomes another thing altogether. Think Apocalypse Now rather than Jan and Dean.
This recording (as all later DK production) is also notable for the by-the-seat-of-his-pants drumming of D. H. Peligro, arguably the craziest and most manic drummer in ‘80s hardcore. Under his (de) control, the drums become less a rhythm instrument and more a back alley beating of John Coltrane.
While the earlier recording, described above, seems to highlight Biafra‘s antics, one cannot miss the skin-peeling, antagonistic confrontation between Biafra and his audience on this disc. Later shows were always violent, but on this CD you can hear him being pulled, hit, and attacked as he lunges at the crowd and provokes it. The antagonism and desperation scream through the echo-y fog of toxic fallout.
The recordings on this collection are top-notch, as well. The music takes the center, rather than Biafra, and the mix is loud. The CD sounds best at maximum volume, not so great low.
Dead Kennedys bootlegs have been floating around for years, but none that I‘ve heard capture the band in it‘s different phases as well as these two well made releases.

03/9/04 Lee
Superbees - High Volume
Before the inevitable backlash against the “high energy garage rock“ revival commences, fans of the sound should investigate the Los Angeles band The Superbees.
Lyrically, the songs border on retarded. There‘s lots and lots of “I feel alright“ s and the serial commission of one of the most annoying rhymes (for which Axl never got sufficient shit), “city“ - “pretty“.
Musically, however, these guys grab a riff and milk it. While generally faster and harder than your average rock, they do provide a healthy variety of tempos. You‘ll find face- shearing rockers and longer, more psychedelic tunes as well. The Makers (pre-Rock Star God (what the hell was that all about?)) come to mind immediately, but you can hear the definite influence of grungier bands, too (Blue Cheer, perhaps???).
The Superbees fit somewhere between Jet/The Datsuns, and The Forty Fives/The Greenhornes,: musically more mature than the first pair, but nowhere near as sophisticated lyrically as the second. After all, it truly is only rock and roll and this record succeeds by the modest standards set by its contemporaries. I listen to it about once a week, and still haven‘t figured out whether I like it or not.

03/29/04 Lee
Stickmen With Rayguns - Some People Deserve to Suffer
In 2002, Emperor Jones released this great collection of songs from the infamous Dallas punk-noise band, Stickmen With Rayguns. Many of these songs have never appeared anywhere else, as the Stickmen only appeared on four compilations and never released any records on their own. What you have, then, is a handful of professionally produced (?) numbers and a generous helping of live recordings and rehearsal tapes.
The sound quality of most of the recordings is suspect, but each has been mastered to provide, paradoxically, maximum clarity and maximum grunge. Anyone who remembers the Stickmen from their ubiquitous presence in the Texas punk scene of the ‘80s will appreciate the fact that these recordings are available at all, much less in some kind of convenient, well- conceived package (the liner notes are fantastic!).
If you are not familiar with the band, their unique brand of death punk falls somewhere between the god-like Flipper and the Germs, with a healthy fistful of Texas psychobilly, added only where necessary.
Song standouts include: Christian Rat Attack, What Am I?, Buttfuckers (Try to Run My Life)
Highly recommended for atheists, the unemployed and people that think they‘re smarter than everyone else. One should make haste in procuring this recording. I can‘t imagine that it will stay in print for much longer.

03/22/04 Lee
John Frusciante - Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T Shirt
In 1992, John Frusciante walked off of a Japanese stage in the middle of a gig with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, quitting the band after experiencing months of paralyzing neuroticism. By 1994, he was strung out on dope, severely depressed, and slowly losing his mind. Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T Shirt is the hauntingly beautiful document of the two years in between.
Recorded on 4-track in his apartment, the record is like a sketchbook, yet freakily whole. Acoustic guitars are used to create the rhythm, while electric guitars noodle on top creating odd points and counterpoints and some semblance of melody. Vocals are then grunted, muted, howled, screamed and sung over the rest. Tape loops and the occasional keyboards fill out the sound.
Highlights include a bizarre Middle Eastern sounding cover of the Bad Brains‘ “Big Takeover“ and the creepy “My Smile is a Rifle“.
This is not a record for the casual Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. It might be more closely compared to the work of Captain Beefheart or even Nina Hagen
This is one of my all time favorite drug albums. I played it for my friend Dave a few years back and he accurately characterized it thusly: “Ah, another lost soul screaming into the void. I love it.“

03/2/04 Lee
New Christs - We Got This
For the last 20 years, Rob Younger, the voice and front man of the legendary Australian band Radio Birdman, has presided over a revolving group of musicians who record under the moniker “The New Christs“. The output of this band is fairly hard to come by, available only by import. These releases are well worth seeking out, as few bands have produced such a remarkable legacy: One great record after another.
The newest release, 2002‘s We Got This, is the first New Christ record to be released in the US, only recently issued on the Smog Veil label.
Lyrically, the songs are smart, cynical, and sharp. Younger creates vignettes detailing the overwhelming regret and frustration of a jaded middle-aged man. The passion and poetry of his songs are underscored by the most desperate vocal performance I‘ve ever heard recorded. He shares the soul of a Howling Wolf, although this is no blues.
The musicians play the songs with a fire that has vanished from modern rock. Two lead guitars sloppily compete for attention over a raucous drum track, played a little too fast and a little too hard for a group of near-seniors. This is what the Stones could have matured into after Some Girls if they hadn‘t been so lazy and bourgeois.
I‘ve gone around saying that this might be the best rock record ever made. While that may not be entirely true, it is certainly an album of indisputable integrity. Plus, it just rocks like a fucker.

02/16/04 Lee
Twenty Bucks Well Spent - 5 cool things that I found in $4.91 this week
1) Chapel Of Love : The Very Best of the Dixie Cups
Fantastic compilation of hits from one of the great Brill Building / Phil Spector girl groups of the ‘60‘s. Rates 4 1/2 stars on AMG.
2) The Unband - Retarder
Kick ass drunk-rock from Boston‘s Unband. I saw these guys open forMotorhead a few years ago. They wore tuxedo shirts and shot fireworks from their guitars. The ballad is titled “Cocaine Whore“. 3 chord rock at it‘s finest. I give it 4 stars.
3) Elvis‘ Golden Records
Fourteen of Elvis‘ biggest early career hits including Hound Dog, Love Me Tender, and Teddy Bear. A 5 star find for only $4.91!
4) Public Enemy: There‘s a Poison Going On
Not quite up to the standard set by “It Takes a Nation of Millions...“ or “Fear of a Black Planet“, this album was still a killer. Features what might have been their best single after “Fight The Power“, “Do You Wanna Go Our Way“. This album was released when PE‘s stardom was on the wane and had lousy distribution. It might be the first PE record that you never
heard. Easily a 4 star record.
5) Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun Revisited
Re-release of Thorpe‘s 1979 concept album about interplanetary travelers with extra tracks. Anybody familiar with KZEW remembers this jam. The rest of the album is quite good, too, as I remember. 4 1/2 stars on AMG.
Each of these classics is available in our discount $4.91 section right now! As always, $4.91 CDs are 5 for $20.