MRR "Public Safety" compilation LP

I have been excited about this record since long before it came out, since I was visiting my friends at Maximum during some of the early planning stages. Of course, a number of my fantasies about the lineup did not come to pass–unsurprisingly, no Gauze, no Fucked Up, no Tragedy, no Lebenden Toten. On the other hand, the absence of such bands was exactly what made Welcome to 1984 (to which this is a kind of sequel) such a success: no Dead Kennedys, no Anti Cimex, no Poison Idea, no MDC, etc. On yet another hand, however, I must admit: this is no Welcome to 1984. I can’t even imagine punk without songs like “No SS” or “Fuck Authority,” and plainly nothing on Public Safety will make that kind of impression. And what amazes about Welcome to 1984 is that each time you listen to it, you can almost discover a new favorite band: sure, we all know the Stalin and BGK, but the Skjit-Lars and Depression songs are just as good, and of course we all remember the UBR Mania of the early 2000s. Also available for comparison are recent compilations like Lengua Armada’s Histeria series, Iron Columns, and the Crust War Konton Damaging Ear Massacre album.

So, here’s my review: as an album, this doesn’t work. I am glad to have a lot of these songs, and some I can deal with, and some I could do without, but I see no reason why they were all thrown together, and I am thankful to my itunes for letting me reconfigure these tracks as I please and leave out what I will. Unlike Welcome to 1984, which is so nearly perfect that there isn’t even the less memorable tracks at the end are totally worthwhile, or the Crust War comp, which is less essential but extremely consistent, Public Safety has about seven songs that I would have cut, eleven songs I really like, and eight that are just ok. Clearly the logic in ordering the songs was to intersperse the winners with the duds, so that we will listen to the whole thing. This strikes me as weirdly puritanical–why shouldn’t I be able to eat dessert and skip my vegetables? Or, to reverse this analogy, why should I have to wade through insubstantial fluff to get to the delicious nutrient-filled vegetables?

The album begins promisingly, with a Formaldehyde Junkies track which sounds like it could have been on Welcome to 1984–or more precisely, Flex Your Head, since the vocalist sounds just like John Stabb from Government Issue. It’s quirky and catchy, and you have to love any song that only waits eight seconds before going into a guitar solo. This is followed by the long-awaited new Framtid song, which is a monster, although I have no idea what the uninitiated will think of it–write it off as standard Scandi-crust, or abusive noise, or maybe see it as the devastating behemoth it is? I have to say, in isolation, Framtid sound very strange, since their greatness in part comes from their refinement of a specific set of influences, and in part from genius songwriting partially obscured by their devastating sound.

Then, the album comes to a virtual standstill during the Strung Up song, which is like a bad clone (pun intended) of Caustic Christ, with vocals that are unfortunately intelligible (rhyming “bitch” with “rich”), obnoxiously dumb riffs, mandatory you’ve-heard-it-all-before intro and bridge, and no attempt at a hook. I can just see these guys at practice blowing themselves away at the idea of singing along with the guitar and having multiple parts to a song. Ugh. Next is the weirdest song, “Cotton Fields” by Spanish band Disease–whom I know as a Poison Idea-ish band, but I can’t shake the idea that this is supposed to be a Leadbelly cover, since the chorus is “In those cotton fields back home.” I checked the lyric sheet, which only confused me more, since it has about three verses which do not appear in the song. Anyways, this doesn’t at all sound like Poison Idea OR Leadbelly, and is exactly the out-of-left-field-mix-tape-hit that makes a good comp. After this is No Hope for the Kids, who I think are overrated, an opinion confirmed by this serviceable but muddy and low-energy track, which seems to be in search of a hook.

The Regulations are a band I still haven’t made up my mind about–it seems like I like about half of their records (their second EP and the self-titled 12"), and even though this song is only 1:30 long, the word “Stop” is uttered twenty-seven times. I suppose there are worse words, and I’m glad to see this band has moved on from the word “problems” on which they were previously fixated, but this song doesn’t do much for me. However, I like the style it’s in, and an album of similar songs (if less repetitive) would conceivably be quite good. The same can also be said of the Limp Wrist song. Surely this will not be the first or last punk song about something fucking with your head, and the song doesn’t make much of an impression, but my criticism would be more that this was not a suitable choice for a comp, where a band really ought to stand out. Next is the Direct Control song, after which the entire comp is titled, and this really lives up to the bar set by NOTA on Welcome to 1984's “Propaganda Control”–I would make a snarky comment like, “Strung Up should take notes,” but these two bands have toured together and even put out a split record, so obviously Strung Up have already declined to take notes. Anyways, although stylistically similar, Direct Control hand Strung Up their asses on this comp.
Persevere are an example of that strange (but not uncommon) phenomenon of an excellent Japanese band that, for some reason, no one else cares about. While perhaps not as great as Laukaus or the Addiction, Persevere have the same squirmy catchiness–once people move on from “Myspace Crust,” hopefully these bands will be their next stop. Anyways, their song is predictably great. Signal Lost are another band overlooked by tastemakers, although part of that must be that their records pale next to their live set. This recording doesn’t do them any favors in that area, because this has to be the worst-produced track on the album. It’s just hard to hear! Which is a shame, because (as always) the song-writing is top notch, and this is one of their best recent songs. Had this been recorded HUGE the way it deserves, it would have been one of the best songs on here; as it is, I can only look forward to hearing it live. Also, who in this band is reading Heidegger?

The Pedestrians song is better than I remember them being, with some neat parts, while I kind of can’t believe that the chorus to Sleeper Cell’s song is “Blind from the fear.” What a fucking tired cliché. Then, I had to laugh at Deadfall’s lyrics, which rhyme “into the fray” with “protegé.” That’s funny! Bravo, guys. Oh, but your song sucks.

The Nightmare song starts off side B, and it is wild! What is weird about this band is that they ditched the much-derided saxophone player, but their newer records all have this crazy, squealing guitar noise laid on top of everything, as if they still want a bunch of wild squeaks everywhere in the mix. I think that’s cool, because everyone is like, “Oh, I’m so glad there is no saxophone anymore,” but then there might as well be. This song also wins “best guitar solo” award for the comp. Look Back and Laugh have one of the best drummers in hardcore, and their song vies with Framtid in terms of sheer leveling-power, but unlike Framtid, LBAL haven’t really mastered hooks yet, and I can’t tell this song apart from any number of their other songs. This band’s best material remains their most recent 7", but sometimes I wonder if they will ever get beyond turning their amps to 11 and bulldozing the audience. The Ääratila song is over before it starts, but (along with Nightmare) is a perfect example of hardcore veterans schooling younger bands–in barely over a minute, they do everything they need, it’s catchy, it sounds cool, there’s a guitar solo, blah blah–they are geniuses.

The Observers song is ok, I have always thought the vocalist for this band, by trying to sing everything, just sounds like Christina Aguilera, and all their songs sound the same. Honestly, I am not entirely convinced that this song isn’t on one of their other records, but I checked and at least the title is new. The Sunday Morning Einsteins turn out a good song, which makes me think I should go back and listen to their new album. According to the liner notes, it has a “7 Seconds-style chrous” to offset the negative lyrics, but now I wonder if they have ever heard 7 Seconds. Holy Shit’s song is awesome, although this band creeps me the fuck out, and I hated them live. It’s called, “We’re Going Out and It Sucks,” and it sounds like they improvised the whole thing. I can’t really review the Gorilla Angreb song, because it seems like a joke at my expense, down to the dude on the right channel singing (what sounds like) “duh duh duh duh” in a ridiculous low-voice during the chorus. They do have the coolest band photo, though.
In theory, I like the Regress song, but since it is about drafting Ivy League kids to fight wars, maybe I shouldn’t. But for real, their guitar tone is just amazing, although if you listen very close, it’s uncertain whether the drummer can even play! What is he doing?! The First Step are a boring straight-edge band, but actually their song grows on me with every listen. They obviously have done their homework, and thankfully it is not that new-fangled faux-hipster straight-edge style like Righteous Jams–just a bunch of uglies wearing khakis and living in Connecticut (probably–if not, they should get working on that).

Career Suicide put out too many records and sort of lost my interest, but I still count them as one of my favorite current bands, and having just one song to go through here, instead of a whole slew, reminds me why they are so great. This song is maybe a bit busy, but it’s great, and it’s hardcore, instead of (what would have been the easy way out) a slower KBD “rager” with angsty lyrics–I guess Regulations have cornered that market.

The Smalltown song is easily the best song on here, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m not just saying that because it is the most poppy and most legible song. In fact, I really don’t even like this band, but this reminds me of the Replacements “Bastards of Young,” and the vocalist really sells lyrics like, “I don’t know any reason for me to go on; tell me, who can I count on?”--which, as poetry, suck, but here it works. There’s no point reviewing this song, because all I can say is it is catchy, catchy, catchy, and you won’t believe me until you hear it, or care what I think once you have.

Smartut Kahol Lavan’s 7" didn’t impress me, and neither does this track, really, but I have to give the vocalist credit for sounding *exactly* like Steve from 9 Shocks Terror. Sin Dios don’t really close the album on an interesting note: their song is overlong, weak, and kind of jammy. Further, I’m not sure I even agree with their politics–the song is called “Iraq,” and it celebrates “Armed uprisings against the English, / How they threw out the puppet king, / of how Iraq was forged from these battles.” I find that to be weirdly nationalistic, and it is perhaps no coincidence that the song has no idea what to do with the 24 years of Hussein’s secular, nationalist rule. “Onward, people of Iraq” seems to me an unhelpful and even misguided propaganda, to the degree that the “Iraq forged from these battles” was by no means universal and inclusive. Whatever, it’s a punk song, and the sentiment is in the right place, but the political situation is so much more complex than, “Steadfast, until we throw them into the sea,” because–what then?

So, both sides separately run out of steam, the B-side is overall weaker, and most of the American bands are disappointing. The five best songs are by Smalltown, Direct Control, Framtid, Nightmare, and the Pedestrians, followed by a pack of less distinct but still strong hardcore songs. The worst songs are by Strung Up, Deadfall, Sleeper Cell, and the Observers. I would add to that, Gorilla Angreb, but it would ruin my claim that all the worst songs are by American bands, and also I plainly made no effort to get into the Gorilla Angreb song, so it isn’t “bad” in the same way. There’s no point speculating on why bands like Criminal Damage or Human Bastard aren’t on here–but my overall complaint is, there are so many great bands out there, that even allowing for differences in taste, the difficulty of getting all the tracks on time, the requirement that all songs be new and unreleased, and the peculiar vortices of taste operating on the MRR staff, there is simply no excuse for filler. For instance, there was no need for there to be FOUR bands from the Bay Area on here, especially when none of those of those songs are great, and Welcome to 1984 had zero. I had high hopes for this, and it has its moments, but I don’t think it lives up to its potential. To end this review on a high note, though, I love the essay on the back cover, which is perfectly constructed and unembarrassedly enthusiastic.