CLUB SANDWICH REVIEWS
(c) 2001-2002 Charlie Yuga

Fu Manchu - Eatin' Dust
(EP compilation, including a worthy version of Blue Öyster Cult's "Godzilla", most of this is probably Fu Manchu's better slabs of heavy stoner boogie rock'n'roll outings, with tracks like "Module Overload" and "Eatin' Dust" bringing to mind the punk energy of bands like The Fluid or the metallic riffing and heavy groove of doom bands like Cathedral... on Man's Ruin, 1998, its even better than any of their real albums!)

Entombed/New Bomb Turks - Night Of The Vampire/I Hate People split 7"
(Swedish rock'n'roll deathers Entombed cover Roky Erickson & The Aliens' classic track, being a gloomy and foreboding statement of vampiric lust, fear of death seemingly closing in with each violent act of doom and despair... Crunching guitars with punk production makes this a classic version in the blackmetal dept! US garage hardcore and rock'n'roll punkband The New Bomb Turks do their own song, "I Hate People", a fast, short and violent statement of hate and utter human disgust, a raw slab of sheer noise and certainly a glorious chunk of man-hatin' punkrock! On the UK Earache label, 1995.)

Cro-Mags - The Age Of Quarrel
(Seminal 80's NYC hardcore band, having moved quite irregularly through a string of albums of varying degrees and lineups, 1986's "The Age Of Quarrel" along with 1992's "Alpha Omega" remain their probably two best known albums, the latter being an epic metal masterpiece mixing hinduist enlightenment, political protest and social awareness, whereas the former being an early, raw hardcore album with a far more gritty political and social stance and undertow. Tracks like "We Gotta Know", "Survival On The Streets" and "Don't Tread On Me" defined the Cro-Mags' militant and inner city survivalist stance in the harsh US political climate of the 80's and early 90's, still remaining a classic hardcore band to this day, having found more universal social concerns and religious convictions since.)

Alan Davey - Chaos Delight
(Black Widow, 2000, Davey's energetic and hard driven instrumental guitar-psychedelia veers towards science fiction soundtracks and souped up garage spacerock brimming with 'tronics, it should appeal to fans of Helios Creed or F/i. Coming with a Heavy Metal-style comic book with an intricately illustrated Conan-type story, the album is a nice addition for fans of Hawkwind, spacerock and psychedelia in general, though not gaining any extra points for creeping musical monotony.)

Discharge - Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing
(Most excellent early 80's UK punk, the raw anger and sheer brutality of tracks like "Protest And Survive" remain violent punk statements on this first album, a brutally aggressive slab of extreme hardcore dissent and hatred, of bare survival in the streets, of hatred of stupidity and idiots, and the immediate threat of nuclear holocaust killing millions of people during the blast, apocalypse warfare and raw survival driven by human disgust leaves little room for anything but the primal instinct to survive no matter what in the wake of suffering excruciating agony and pain... witnessing the inhuman butchery of heavy metal hell without an end to the madness of war and human extinction... Yes, millions of years ago you were a fucking ape... but, Discharge are still fucking excellent!)

Captain Jesus And The Sunray Dream - All Thanks To The Lord Jesus Christ Amen
(with Ron Bastard of Hawkwind on vocals and bass, it is rabid and deranged acid fuelled raw garage punkrock mostly involving the miraculous Christ himself, the band covering the oldie "I Wanna Be Me" along with several of their original numbers like "Number One", in addition to exploiting the classic MC5 song "Starship", as well as covering and retitling the infamous Sex Pistols' hit to "Anarchy In The USA" against all enforced regulations of Christ. Jumpin' Jehovah! This arguably remains one of the better of their two LP's, however.)

Chameleons - Strange Times
(2CD, this classic Chameleons album, also being their final studio album, was released in 1985. Containing more anthemic and subtly sinister slices of psychedelia, highlighted by songs like the soaring "Mad Jack", and the creeping melodic and atmospheric mystery of "Swamp Thing". The bonus disc includes a cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows". Fans of the sweeping gothic psychedelia of Siouxie And The Banshees' mid-80's period, or even the more antique sounding acidpsych of early Screaming Trees, would fall for The Chameleons' original, heady and ethereal, and essentially British psychedelic sound emerging from the 80's "paisley" underground...)

Gong - Planet Gong: Live Floating Anarchy '77
(Daevid Allen & Co. team up with the Here & Now band and produce a classic and scorching punkrock album with some great acid jams. Anthemic punk has never been as true as "Floatin' Anarchy" and "Opium For The People"... Probably along with "You" and "Angel's Egg", this record remains the creative and quality peak of Allen's classic 70's Gong output.)

Blue Öyster Cult - Live 1976
(Closing with a killer version of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild", and aside from including other classic BÖC songs like "Stairway To The Stars", "Cities On Flame", "Astronomy", "Dominance And Submission" and "Don't Fear The Reaper", this somewhat raw quality performance contains lots of funny political stage banter from a very stoned Eric Bloom throughout the set, the band here captured at their peak, carrying the torch of MC5 and their ilk, it certainly is a well preserved 70's relic and a drunken yet spirited call to revolution...)

Ant-Bee - Lunar Muzik
(Master psychedelia by Billy James with a star studded crew of Glenn Buxton (Alice Cooper), Daevid Allen (Gong), Harvey Bainbridge (Hawkwind) & Jimmy Carl Black. Aside from an excellent Rolling Stones cover, the always wonderful "Child Of The Moon", "Lunar Muzik" is mostly dangerously drippy, wacky and goopy grade A psychedelia... Hell, "Return Of The Titanic Overture" is a bona fide masterpiece, and I'd sell you my grandmother if it wasn't so! Cover artwork by Syd Barrett himself, nonetheless... you've been warned!)

F/i - Five Crowns Of The Saxon King/From Poppy With Love 7"
(A mindaltering and brutal avalanche of industrial punkrock, this 1995 RRR release sounds like a sinister and souped up "Interstellar Overdrive" or "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" as jammed out in a basement by a bunch of speedfreaks, building violently beyond Hawkwind speed and dangerously beyond the laws of boogie, so wear a crash helmet if you are high! Lots of crazy 'tronics, loadsa deafening guitar fuzz feedback, a rumbling punk bass, the B-side track also with distorted and spooky gothic vocals.)

Hüsker Dü - Everything Falls Apart And More
(Hüsker Dü's first album from 1980 is a definite hardcore classic, and the CD version comes with several bonus tracks. Uncompromisingly political and brutal in their early days, Bob Mould, Grant Hart and Greg Norton blasted through angry and brutally heavy hardcore punk 100 mph workouts like "From The Gut", "Signals From Above", "M.I.C." and "Lets Go Die", yet they shone through with the melancholy pop sensibilies of songs like "Do You Remember?" and "Everything Falls Apart", finely crafted pop something the band would later be swallowed by on albums like their final effort "Warehouse,Songs And Stories" from 1987, which recognized Mould & co. as forefathers of US indierock, as well as being remembered as hardcore pioneers.)
- Charlie Yuga