God, I'm Really Fucked Now

The seldom-seen "I'm Really Fucked Now" multi-format set (combining a CD, 7", clear-vinyl LP, and cassette all in one package) stands as an early testament to Prisonshake's strong "bow to no man" ethic, especially if you consider a band with barely three 7"-ers to their name choosing a box set for their next jumping-off point as being somewhat of a head-scratcher. I had no problems with the concept myself, though much later I would find trouble with something else: the hollowed-out piece of 12" square green foam that was used to hold the cassette in place and make sure that all the other odd pieces would fit together in the same bag without getting all scuffed up. While I'm sure it seemed like a great idea initially, eventually foam does dry out and get crumbly, meaning that now-- decades later-- the records have a good chance of looking almost like they've been coated with asbestos or something. Luckily, out of the handful of sets that I own (with #0040/1000 being the lowest number-- I think that's the one I bought at Brass City Records), one of them is made up of only the 12" and 7", without the foam. I'm guessing that it might've been a budget edition for mailing out as a promo to reviewers and so forth, though that's only a guess.

To post the entire set here would be kinda daunting anyway, so I'm using the one vinyl-only set that I own as an excuse to post just the 12" and 7" now and maybe get to the cassette and CD later. Don't worry, you should still be able to hunt down the other half of the material fairly easily, if you're interested; just look for the identically-titled "I'm Really Fucked Now" 23-track CD that came out on Rubber Records in Australia a year or two after the original Scat set was released, as it contains most of the material from the original cassette/CD and on top of that is fleshed-out with a bunch of other goodies, representing a planned-for double-LP that was never finished.

The 12" included in the box set is a compilation of previous singles sides, and while I know I've posted a good chunk of the original 45s already, some of the tracks here were re-mixed for the box set or had a new vocal track added ("She Talks Trouble" includes a little bit of "Ginn Slips In" as a coda, which is different from how it was on the original 7"), plus now you can hear them with the different fidelity that a 12" LP offers... not to mention the "120 Days" b-sides, which were originally split-channeled (one song coming out of the left speaker, one song coming out of the right speaker) but the ones included in this set have been converted back to stereo. The 7" is a collaboration with Mark Edwards of My Dad Is Dead, a collaboration that the band sorta abandoned later on (saying it "wasn't really all that spectacular" in the liner notes to the Rubber CD), which means the Scat set is the only place where these two songs can be found. I sorta like the 7" myself, especially "Redeye", although both songs are merely re-works of previous Prisonshake/MDID songs.

The eight-page booklet that comes with the set pretty much nails down any of the other details you may need, and you'll also find a handy sheet of early Prisonshake fanzine reviews, which are mostly clueless. I'd sorta forgotten how badly Fred Mills sucked, though I know that Jim Testa won't like me saying that (I don't think he reads this blog anymore, anyway). There's also a show review for Prisonshake's May '89 opening slot for Mojo Nixon, the live tape of which I posted back in '08, and you can read the Gerard Cosloy and Tim Adams reviews back-to-back and figure out which one was the original and which one was the soon-to-be disgruntled imposter. A lot of the other reviewers keep trying to label Prisonshake as being some sort of Americana crap, which is as hilarious as it is depressing (remember when people actually thought the Del Fuegos were a good band?).

I may keep posting other Prisonshake stuff as I go along, but Scat does have a complete CD box set and a best-of '87-'92 overview in the works, so do take notice.




Prisonshake -

"Fairfield Avenue Serenade"

"She Talks Trouble/Ginn Slips In"

"Fall Right Down"

"Ode to Abe"

"Downtight"

"Redeye"

"Take My Wife, Please"

I Have No Reason To Be Mad

This might not be the best Spaceshits 7", but it could be the scuzziest sounding, which is maybe just as important. If an all-out blast like "Spaceshits Please" doesn't immediately have you considering backflips, then maybe I've got the wrong idea here (which I'm starting to think is the case anyway). Although I think most people already know this, "Von Needles" = Mark Sultan and "The Blacksnake" = King Khan, on this particular platter anyway. "Bridge Mixture", that was a good one, too.




The Spaceshits -

"Spaceshits Please"

"Spacetrekkin'"

"Showdown on 3rd"

I Tried To Feed Your Jackal But He Bit My Hand And Ran

If you're looking for another important piece of Connecticut indie music history, look no further head on elsewhere. This here's the second installment of the "Footprints of God" compilation series; the first one, which I posted a year ago, has M.O.T.O. and a pretty good Isolation Farm song, while the second one tails off a bit. I think if you chopped up Purple Eternal and the Deadbeats and put them together in a mixing bowl you'd end up with the Bunnybrains... I have the Deadbeats 7" laying around here somewhere, as well as a live recording, but don't ask me what either one of them sounds like, I have no clue. I'm regretfully leaving off Biker Mutt even though Jim reads this blog because their song reminds me of a Glen Thrasher birthday party that I wasn't invited to. As for Bimbo Shrineheads, don't be fooled by the goofy band name cuz they put up some pretty ace-sounding pedal-happy swirly guitar stuff. In summary, every single person involved with putting out this record deserves to be shot. No wait, that's my Butterflies of Love review. Never mind.




Purple Eternal -

"Johnny Extremity"

Bimbo Shrineheads -

"I Will Die In Willimantic"

Deadbeats -

"Garbage Stew"

Higher Standards Don't Mean Anything

On Friday I got my hands on my copy of the "Judge's Cave" box set, which is four cassettes of mostly New Haven bands along with an old school cut-and-paste zine inside a spray-painted box. I haven't listened to any of the tapes yet (so far I've only opened the box a couple of times to check the zine out), but this thing is awesome. I mean, how could it not be; there's one side of Medication tracks, recorded with a full band for the first time ever. There's eight tracks from the aborted Sudden Walks LP, and I know I didn't write a lot when I posted the two Sudden Walks 7"-ers a year ago, but they're literally two of the best singles to come out of Connecticut in this century. There's also a live recording of Ehreizig and one side of tracks from Permanent Feels, which are two of Stefan's (Estrogen Highs) side projects. (There's a second stand-alone Ehreizig tape out now, by the way, to go along with the first one that came out at the end of '08). Only 66 of these sets were made, so if you're at all into good CT shit like I am, you should seriously try to grab one right away at myspace slash neverheardofitrecords.



The Libyans were great, and brought along some cool merch of their own; an etched, one-sided single housed in a clear sealed cellophane envelope, and then also what I'm guessing is a tour edition/test pressing of their upcoming 12" on Sorry State. For the hell of it, I'm posting two rips from the 12" below (sounds kinda loud and fuzzy, like your ears are pressed up against the speakers-- the way I like it), plus "Paralyzed" from the one-sided single, which is from a download that the band themselves were giving away not too long ago, since I don't think I'm ever gonna open the envelope. Libyans are sorta in-between Foreign Objects and Social Circkle, to mention a couple of fellow Boston bands, but harder-sounding than either one of them, with some really poppy songs that sound a lot like the Fastbacks or the Muffs alongside some ripping thrash-type ragers. I'd actually passed up on seeing Libyans a couple of times before, including a couple of months ago when they played the Whitney House and I left before they went on. They're totally worth seeing live, though, and this was easily the most pit action I've ever seen at a Fucking Discovery Zone show (though admittedly I've never been to any of the really hardcore ones). The Libyans feinted covering The Descendents and Wire but didn't follow through in either case, though they did cover "Beverly Hills" by the Circle Jerks. All in all, it was a pretty entertaining set, even though Liz' mic kept going dead.

I missed the two opening bands, but caught The Marshes, who were playing a couple of reunion sets over the weekend after being dormant for 10 years. If you don't remember The Marshes then you also probably don't remember the mid-to-late 90's, and the whole mess of fake-indie bands and labels that first sprouted up thanks to the Nirvana/Green Day factor. Not to hold The Marshes responsible for the sins of an entire decade, but seeing them in a basement playing on a DIY punk bill (I guess the Libyans asked them along) seemed a little odd to me, like watching Dan Barry humping Byron Coley's leg, though not enough that I didn't stand there and take some pictures. What little else I know: Colin Sears (ex-Dag Nasty, Alloy) is the drummer for The Marshes, and the last three songs they played on Friday were probably their best ones, don't ask me to name them though.


Libyans -

"A Common Place"

"Blood and Rust"

"Paralyzed"

I Wouldn't Piss On Your Body If Your Heart Was On Fire

Speaking of the greatest rock outfits of the past quarter-century... super-crackly bootleg/Monkees Fan Club edition of the "Winged" 7" that was originally given away with one issue of Forced Exposure or another; this (a Cramps cover and a Urinals cover) plus the "Headburn" EP should be all it takes to convince anyone of the beauty and greatness that was Halo of Flies... includes a reworked "Ballad of Extreme Hate" tacked onto the end of side two, which has never been mentioned in any of the discographies I've seen (perhaps they didn't recognize what it was). There you go, I solved that mystery for you.





Halo of Flies -

"Human Fly"

"I'm a Bug"

"Ballad of Extreme Hate"

We Totaled Your Car

I think the cover photo on this one-- the fourth or fifth "official" Drunks With Guns single, depending upon where you look it up-- is the same photo that's on the back of the first Drunks With Guns single, which I have right over here but I'm not gonna bother getting up to check... in any case, DWG are easily one of the top five or fifteen greatest rock outfits of the past quarter century, by any normal way of thinking... non-essential tidbit: the name, Drunks With Guns, was said to signify how in America "anyone can get their hands on a gun, a car, and a six pack in 20 minutes"... fukkin'-A right... "Drug Problem" in this case means you bought a bunch of drugs that didn't work... lotsa "increased rhythmic skill" on this one-- in fact, Schooly D should've maybe sampled some DWG drum/bass lines instead, and saved himself a pile of trouble.




Drunks With Guns -

"Drug Problem"

"DWI"

"A Beer"