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