BLACK FLAG – JEALOUS AGAIN

 

BLACK FLAG – JEALOUS AGAIN 12˝ EP (SST Records 1980.)

By the time the second Black Flag record – Jealous Again EP was released, Keith Morris left the band and Ron Reyes joined the band as the second vocalist. Also the original drummer Brian Migdol was out of the band and he was replaced by Robo. Before joining Black Flag, Reyes was playing drums in Red Cross aka Red Kross and he actually played on their first „Self Titled“ 12˝ EP in 1981 on Posh Boy Records (although it was recorded in 1980). The early Red Cross lineup also featured Greg Hetson on guitar who after leaving the Cross formed Circle Jerks with Keith Morris. But, let´s back up a bit. I've realised that in the previous post I didn't say much about what I think of Morris as the Black Flag singer. Well, I think Morris was a solid vocalist in Black Flag, especially for the early period of the band where he fit in perfectly. What I gather from the various books and interviews, Morris was a quite wild showman and the band got a reputation from the early on for having a furious and wild performances. Those early shows with Morris probably wasn't seen by many people outside of the LA area. I think Morris was a great on the Black Flag records which are Nervous Breakdown EP and the sessions that later were released on Everythiung Went Black compilation, but I don't think he would be as good as some of the other Black Flag singers on the later records. Morris left the band around October of 1979 in the middle of recording in the studio which was actually supposed to be the first Black Flag LP but eventually it became the Jealous Again EP. Some say that Morris wasn't at that point commited to the band as the rest of the members which I don't think is accurate considering that after leaving Black Flag he fronted Circle Jerks quite succsessfully for so long. Morris and Ginn's personalities weren't getting along and they were getting into many fights which caused Morris to leave the band. This was confirmed in some of the interviews with both of Ginn and Morris. Something good came out of it, we got Circle Jerks, another great hardcore punk band that was important for the early 80's LA hardcore punk scene and even beyond that. I'm not sure why Migdol left the band, but with Robo joining the band got much tighter, faster and even more straight forward.

 

The recording of Jealous Again is an interesting story, at least to me, because the band attemped to record it on various different sessions with three different singers from October 1979 to April 1980 when recording was finnaly finished. Originally these sessions were meant to be released as the first Black Flag album but the things weren't going so smooth. When the band recorded the first few songs in early October 1979, Morris was actually still in the band and he recorded vocals for five songs that were released on the before mentioned Everything Went Black compilation in 1982. Thern Morris left the band and the band recorded some more songs in October and November 1979 but as Ginn didn't think that the new singer Reyes was ready to record the vocals, the tracks ended up being shelved for a few months. Then Ginn did some guitar overdubs in early 1980 and after Reyes left the band in April 1980, the band wanted to finished the recordings with a new singer which was Dez Cadena at the time (which eventually they did and recorded a few songs with Cadena), but then Reyes agreed to finished the vocals although he wasn't officially in the band anymore. It's quite ridiculous, when you think about it. From all of these sessions, the band decided to release the five songs with Reyes on vocals as a 12˝ EP which was released as of course, the infamous Jealous Again EP. The rest of the sessions were released on the Everything Went Black compilation in 1982. Before I begin with the actual review of the EP, I just want to mention that if the band succeeded to record and release the album in 1980, I think that this would also be an iconic and legendary debut album as the Damaged is and in that universe, we can assume that Damaged would be the second Black Flag album which is not a bad thing at all, actually.

Members playing on the record are: Ron Reyes – vocals (credited on the record as Chavo Pederast, but we'll get to that later), Greg Ginn – guitar, Chuck Dukowski – bass and Robo – drums. The EP was recorded at Media Art Studios in Hermosa Beach, California just like the previous first EP and it was released in August 1980. The record was produced by Spot and the band and it was engineered by Spot who at that point became the bands producer but also a regular SST Records producer. Artwork was done by Raymond Pettibon and it's one of my favorite Black Flag covers. Production is more balanced and not as raw as the first EP by the band and you can hear each instrument equally. The record has a kind of a punchy sound which is just perfect in my opinion. As I've mentioned before, comparing to Nervous Breakdown, the band sounds more tight and faster and you can really feel that they played these songs over and over so many times and that's whay they sound so good (note that some of the songs were written back in the beggining of the band).

 

 

The EP begins with a title track Jealous Again. What a song! I don't think that there'e anyone out there who at least like the ealry Black Flag period if not the later, who wouldn't agree that Jealous Again is one of the best Black Flag songs. The song begins with distinctive Ginn's guitar riffs but it's not the tempo building like in Nervous Breakdown case, it's more direct and it kind of kick you in the face right at the beginning when the rest of the band members kick in. I like how the song is catchy while being raw and the punkest song ever plus I love the Ginn's solos in this song. There's also a lot going on the drums and bass parts of the song and if I didn't mentioned already, Reyes is a perfect vocalist for this EP. Lyrically the song is about jealous love partner (obiviously), but it can be also looked as an ironic take on couples fighting because one partner is being possessive and jealous. Either way, it works perfectly with the music of the song. The second song on the EP is Revenge which starts with the iconic spoken part: „It's not my imagination, I've got a gun on my back!“. Revenge is even more straight forward and shorter than the previous track. Lyrically, the song is about getting even with someone who screwed you over which is quite relatable considering that there are always people who wants to screw you over no matter what. It's again one of the bands classic songs and one of my favorites next to Jealous Again. And that's tha A side of the record.

The B side of the EP begins with White Minority, yet another classic Black Flag song and again a great song in my opinion. The tempo and intensity of the song is similar to Revenge but musically it's more on the catchy side like Jealous Again. Lyrically the song is a critical but also ironic take on „American pride“ stereotipes which pretty sums up in this line: „White pride, you're an American, Why can I hide, when and where I can“. The next on the EP is No Values, another punk as fuck tune with great stop and go parts, especially on the drums part. „I've got no values, nothing to say. I've got no values, Might as well blow you away“, the chorus says it all, it's a nihilistic „go away, leave me alone“ theme, again relatable for anyone who ever felt like that. The last song on the EP is You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You which is actually the music of a I Don't Care song (from the Nervous Breakdown studio session, later released on Everything Went Black Compilation LP in 1982) but with the new lyrics directed to Keith Morris for taking I Don't Care and Wasted songs to Circle Jerks. Also, it's interesting that Dukowski sang the song which is the only Black Flag song he ever sang. The band seems pretty pissed off in the lyrics: „We know You stole our song, You were there every touch is wrong, You were there fuckin' wrote it all down, You invent everything you've done, Now you bet that I've got something personal against you!“. It was definitely the case of getting even with Morris for the „song theft“, so the band made song about it and put it on the record. Anyway, that's the last song on the Jealous Again record which is in my opinion, one of the best hardcore punk records ever recorded, it's a record that I can listen to every day ten times in a row and it will never get bored. All the songs except the last one was written by Ginn while the last one was credited as Black Flag. While comparing the Jealous Again EP with the bands previous Nervous Breakdown EP, you can easily notice how the band progressed a lot and got much tighter and more focused which is no surprise because there's a two years period between the recordings of these two EP's.

While Ron Reyes wasn't long with Black Flag, he left quite a mark in the bands legacy. Not only being on one of the best Black Flag's records, Reyes also left a quite impression during live performances which can be seen in documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, a movie directed by Penelope Spheeris about early LA hardcore punk scene. The movie was released in 1981 but it was filmed during 1979 and 1980 while Reyes was in Black Flag. There's also a soundtrack compilation LP from the movie where you can find all three songs that are in the movie performed live: Depression, Revenge and White Minority. With Reyes, Black Flag toured up and down the West Coast for the first time. Lots of people outside of LA saw the band with that lineup for the first time. While being great punk vocalist, especially for the early Black Flag period, Reyes wasn't the easiest guy when he was dealing with the band stuff. While recording the vocals in studio, Reyes left in the middle of recording session more than once and he actually left the band in the middle of the live set leaving the band finishing the set with the long version of Louie Louie while various members of the audience sang the song. Because of his behaviour in the band, Reyes was credited on Jealoius Again EP as Chavo Pederast as a joke. After leaving the Black Flag, Reyes felt betrayed by the band and especially by Dez Cadena who replaced him on the vocals and Reyes sabotaged few shows in Canada during the bands US/Canada tour in 1980 which was quite a dick move in my opinion. Reyes also sang on that 2013 Flag album that I don't give a fuck about. It's kind of ironic that after that 2013 album was released, Reyes was fired by Ginn (again) from the band.

 

Jealous Again was also released on a CD and tape and on a Black Flag compilation called The First Four Years, originally released on Cassette in 1983 by SST Records. Later the compilation was also released on vinyl and CD format. The compilation contains the first four EP's by the band plus few comp tracks and it's an essential material not only for the Black Flag fans but also for any hardcore punk newcomer.

That't it for the Jealous Again part of the Black Flag history, one of the bands best records in my opinion and also one of the best hardcore punk records from the late 70's and early 80's period. If you want to comment anything relating this post, you can do it here or at my Instagram account: @deadly_138

Btw, the photos were taken from the various sources on the net and they are not credited because they weren't credited on the sites that I took 'em from. Thanks for reading this, the next review on the blog will be the Six Pack 7˝ EP, Louie Louie 7¨ EP and a few compilation tracks from the 1980/81 period.

I am The Snake

BLACK FLAG – NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

 

INTRO

This is something that I wanted to do in a long while, so here it is finally. I always liked to write about the music and bands I love and that inspires me a lot and the bands I write about are usually the 80's hardcore punk classics because those bands are what got me into hardcore punk in the first place and some of the best hardcore punk records were recorded and released in that era, in my opinion. One of those bands is definitely Black Flag. Love them or hate them, you can't deny the impact of the band and that some of the records and songs Black Flag put out are some of the best hardcore punk music ever written. Black Flag is one of my favorite (hc/punk) bands and the band influenced me a lot through the years and it's not just about the music or the lyrics, with Black Flag it's something more than that. To this day I'm still fascinated with the band and with the stories from the time when the band was active, so that's why I chose Black Flag for the first band in this written blog series where I'll be writing about some of my favorite hc/punk bands and records. The goal is to write about every official (and even some unofficial) record of the band.

The reason why I wanted to do this except for the love of the bands and their music is to express my opinion about certain bands and records because often reading stuff about some classic hc/punk bands and records I keep seeing that lots of people are very uninformed about the bands and records that they supposedly like. People tend to think they are so right in their opinion and write completely inaccurate information about some bands and records. That thing always bugged me and Black Flag is definitely a band that draws a lot of misinformed fans and there's a lots of nonsense written about the band out there. Also, people tend to pick sides with Black Flag, which singer is the best, which is the worst, some people don't like some particular members (usually Henry Rollins is the most hated guy) and people who are like that instantly feel insulted if your opinion is different from their or if you don't care to go into a long and unneccesary argument about who's the „best“ Black Flag singer. I definitely don't care about these kind of arguments, I think they are quite silly and sometimes even stupid. Also I understand if you prefer a certain Black Flag singer or a record and that's OK but going into a heated argument with someone about this is just dumb as far as I'm concerned. Also it's OK to like more than one Black Flag singer, haha. And the big one, I don't think that Rollins ruined Black Flag and this argument is also very often the one that make some people want to kill eachother because they have some pick with Rollins and don't like the guy for some (usually dumb) reason. Which just confirmes my critic that lots of people are not very well informed about Black Flag and are talking and writting bunch of bullshit and have some strange bias with some of the band members, records or whatever. 

I won't write about how many pressings of the records were released or about all the different versions of the records because this is something that don't interest me that much. If collecting records, writting, talking and reading about it is your thing, fine by me, but I won't cover that in my blog rants. Also, one record that I won't write about is the last Black Flag record from 2013. I haven't listened to that record and I have no interest in listening to it so that's that. Other Black Flag blog posts won't have the intro, but since this is the first one, I wanted to clarify few things before I go into the Black Flag discography. Also, the photos are taken from the various sources on the net. Hope you'll enjoy my writtings. If not, that's also OK. 

BLACK FLAG – NERVOUS BREAKDOWN – 7˝ EP (SST Records, 1979.)

Members playing on the record are: Keith Morris – vocals, Greg Ginn – guitar, Chuck Dukowski – bass (originally credited on the record by his real name: Gary McDaniel) & Brian Migdol – drums (although on early pressings Robo was credited as the drummer). As most of you may know, Black Flag was formed by Greg Ginn and Keith Morris in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California, USA. After few different short time bass palyers and drummers, Dukowski and Migdol joined the band. At the time, the band was called Panic and they changed the name to Black Flag in late 1978. It's interesting that at the time when Nervous Breakdown was recorded which was January 1978, the band was still called Panic. The name Black Flag was suggested by Raymond Pettibon, Ginn's brother who also designed the band's famous bars logo and he pretty much created almost every Black Flag record, flyer and poster art. The band under a Black Flag name first played a show on January 27, 1979 at the Moose Lodge Hall in Redondo Beach, California. 

The EP was recorded at Media Art Studios in Hermosa Beach, California. The record was produced by the band (probably Ginn and Dukowski), David Tarling was a record engineer and Spot (a friend and a fan of the band who also played bass before Dukowski joined) was a recording and mix engineer. While the EP contains 4 songs, the band recorded 8 songs during the session. The other 4 songs that didn't end up on the EP were later released in 1982 on the bands compilation of unreleased recordings called Everything Went Black. Originally the record was supposed to be released on Bomp! Records (well known Los Angeles based indie record label lead by Greg Shaw and Suzy Shaw that released bunch of great punk rock, proto punk, garage rocknroll and power pop bands and records). For some reason that never happened and Ginn decided to release it under his and Dukowski's (new at the time) label SST Records. Nervous Breakdown 7˝ EP was the first SST release and it was released in January of 1979.

The EP opens with the record title track Nervous Breakdown, probably one of the well known songs of the band and you could say, one of the bands best songs, at least I think it is. The opening riffs of the song are so iconic and catchy that you can't help but nod with your head with a smile on a face every time you hear it, the opening is that great. The lyrics also have some catchy classic lines like the opening verse and chorus: „I'm about to have a nervous breakdown, my head really hurts, If I don't find the way out of here, I'm gonna go berserk. 'Cause I'm crazy and I'm hurt, head on my shoulders it's going berserk˝. The whole song can be described as an powerfull assault on your ears and your brain. Nervous Breakdown is the only song on the EP that clocks above two minutes and it's the only song on the A side.

B side opens with another classic BF song: Fix Me which is also one of my early favorites of the band. Fix Me is a bit faster than Nervous Breakdown and even more direct and in your face. The theme of the song is similar to the previous song with more classic lines like: „Some day I'll feel no pain, Some day I'll have no brain. They'll take away the part that hurts and let the rest remain. Fix me, fix my head, fix me please I don't want to be dead˝. The song is intense and short, it clocks under a minute which at the time when it was recorded, this was something new in music. Even the most raw garage rocknroll bands at the time mostly had songs that were around two minutes long if not longer. The third song on the EP is I've Had It which is my least favorite song on the EP. Not that song is bad, far from that, it's just that I have the feeling that it was a new song at the time of the recording, so it feels kind of sloppy performed and it's a bit slower than the rest of the songs. The theme of the song is again very similar to previous two songs on the EP, personal frustration with work, school and people around you. While I think that Ginn was a good lyricist as riff maker, the range of his topics was not too diverse. Which is OK for the Black Flag music, especially the early period of the band. Just to be clear one more time, I don't dislike the song, but the thing is that I like better the live versions of the song on various BF live recordings that I've heard so far. The fourth and the last song on the EP is Wasted, a 50 seconds surfy punk rock anthem. While all 3 previous songs were written by Ginn, this one's written by Ginn and Morris which means that Morris wrote the lyrics and Ginn wrote the music. The song is about Morris being wasted on alcohol and drugs and how he was „a hippie, a surfer, he had a skateboard and he lived on the strand“. In 1980 Morris formed Circle Jerks after leaving Black Flag and recorded slightly changed version of Wasted on their debut 12¨ called Group Sex. That caused some turmoil between the two bands. As for me, I like both versions. 

Production of the EP is very raw, especially the guitar sound and while the drums are little buried in the mix, you can still hear the surfy tight punk rock beat by Migdol who sounds pretty good on the record. The bass guitar is like the drums a bit behind the loud guitar and vocals which are more up front. Still, the powerfull and raw production of the EP creates the feeling like you're there with the band in the studio. Artwork was done by Raymond Pettibon and originally the drawings that were used for a front and back cover of the EP were published in a fanzine called Captive Chains that Pettibon was doing at the time. From early on, Pettibon became an important part of the band (he even played bass for a short time before Dukowski joined the band). I think that each of Pettibons Black Flag covers and flyers are iconic and they speak for themselves so I won't go too much into cover art, but I will say that I like most of the cover art by Black Flag.  

When you listen to Nervous Breakdown EP, you have to realise one thing, that at the time of the EP recording there was nothing like it musically. While by the time the EP was released, some other early hc/punk bands like D. O. A., The Misfits, The Germs and Middle Class released records before Black Flag, but with the exception of Middle Class, Nervous Breakdown blows all these records by its intensity and rawness (although, all the mention bands put out great EP's in 1978.). The same can be said for early LA punk rock bands like The Zeroes or Weirdos who were at the time basically playing traditional rocknroll mixed with power pop. Also, you have to consider the fact that the songs from Nervous Breakdown were written in 1977 and maybe even earlier and when you also compare the EP with some of the most popular punk rock bands at the time like The Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols or The Damned, all these bands sounds quite mellow comparing to Black Flag. 

Nervous Breakdown was also released on Black Flag compilation called The First Four Years, originally released on Cassette in 1983 by SST Records. Later the compilation was also released on vinyl and CD format. The compilation contains the first four EP's by the band plus few comp tracks and it's an essential material not only for the Black Flag fans but for any hardcore punk newcomer. I think that the EP is also still in print on original 7˝ vinyl format on SST Records.

That pretty much covers it what I wanted to say about one of the most important records ever, at least in my opinion. Bare in mind that all of this was written from my point of view as a music „fan“, I'm not a rock critic or journalist but I may know few things about hardcore punk. I also want to mention that two of the bands where I play/ed covered Nervous Breakdown and Wasted and we played it live many times. Nervous Breakdown was even recorded and released on a record by one of my old bands. If you want to comment about this post, be free to do so, you can do it also through my instagram account: @deadly_138  Also, thanks for reading this. The next review on the blog will be the Jealous Again 12˝ EP by Black Flag, hopefully very soon so stay tuned.

I am The Snake 

PS - I couldn't find any photos with Migdol on drums, so all the band photos are from the period when Robo already joined the band