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• Good interview with Eyehategod by Brandon Soderberg in the Village Voice. “The best music is unique unto itself.”
• Dobek Ohashi’s comprehensive Mental collection.
• Larry Ransom on The Storm.

I’m a lover of basically all P.I. records, and so while it might not be Feel The Darkness, “We Must Burn” is still a pretty great record with only a couple of relative missteps. In comparison to the rest of their career this is probably the most straight Rock ‘n Roll they ever did (along with the accompanying “Religion and Politics” 10” e.p. from the same sessions). P.I. for most of their career though had as much Rock as they did Punk in their sound and so it’s no surprise they can turn out a pretty convincing and good rock lp.

The opening cut, “Don’t Ask Me Why” is actually one of my favorite tracks they ever did, working on a mean sounding later Motorhead template (Phil/Wurzul era) with Jerry spinning some more pessimism about the human race your way. “Hung Like A Savior” and “Hard and Cheap” continue in the same vein with just enough glam sleaze added in to give the tracks a little swagger. Filthy rock music, guitarists with cigs in their mouths, beers lined up on top of amps, all that shit. Real deal though, not downtown fantasy douchebags.

Track 4 is an amazing curve ball: a cover of GISM’s “Endless Blockades for the Pussyfooter” sounding amazingly spot on and energetic. The solos are pitch perfect, the vocals are right on. Poison Idea is probably one of 3 bands that actually can pull off covering a band like GISM. Closing out side A is a great organ led track called “Not The Last”. It sounds like something that ought to crash and burn but it’s probably my second favorite on the album. Firmly in the rock vibe and definitely a bit glammed out, it has a nice big riff in the verse and some heart break kinda lyrics. I feel like shit saying this, but I kind of pick up almost a G’N’R type vibe on this one, but mostly in the way that I could see Izzy penning these riffs. I hate G’N’R though and I like Poison Idea so this song wins the race by a mile.

The B side has a couple more highlights, like the opener “When I Say Stop” with the classic line “when I say cum, unload” and more thrashy Motorbanging. “Foiled Again” is a quicky that’s over in a minute and twenty, and “Jessie’s Arms” is a PI take on the NY Dolls, which is good but I could do without. Glam to the MAX. “Slumlord” and “Stare at the Sun” close it out definitely on a Rock note, but the riffs are again pretty strong. This was the last proper PI album until 2005’s “Latest Will and Testament”. It’s a good havin’ a bad day lp. I think they’re all pressed on splatter vinyl like this so I wouldn’t pay the BIN price if I were you.

Poison Idea - “We Must Burn” LP

Last December I actually got to see the Abused, reunited after 25 odd years of not playing. I couldn’t believe how good they were (blowing Antidote and Urban Waste off the stage in terms of performance) after 25 years. Kevin Crowley’s barking, teeth gritted delivery was still perfectly intact. Raf Astor’s guitar playing was still spot on, including his solos which might have even been more fluid than the ‘83 live ape I have. Dave Colo’n and Brian Dundon still brought the savage and primitive stomp of their glory days. I really mean it, I’ve seen plenty of reunited hardcore bands, plenty stink, and most are merely passable but the Abused were one I’ll always remember for utter greatness. I responded in the only way I could of course, slamming my brains out till I was panting, hanging off the bar, and grabbing for water while my heart tried not to explode.

Of course it wouldn’t have mattered how good they played if it weren’t for their lone (and still not properly reissued!!!) “Loud and Clear” E.P. (as well as their rare and oft bootlegged demo). Loud and Clear is one of the first pure hardcore records to come out of New York City, and also one of the first anywhere that was more Hardcore than Punk. In 1983 this was the new sound. The sound of the youth rising up. The Mob still had some of the old NY Punk sound in their pedigree, AF were basically just cavemen bashing and thrashing in 30 second bursts, but the Abused were a band that could have both the compositional maturity and genius of the Mob, and the crushing brute force and power of AF.The opening cut, (the title track) opens like Sabbath’s War Pigs rewritten for the A7 crowd. Massive power chords crashing down through all the overdrive a cheap amp can muster, cymbals and drum fills match the guitar attack, and even though there’s no air raid siren, there might as well be, because this song hits like a bomb. Kevin Crowly’s inimitable bark kicks in declaring things like “Won’t be pushed around no more, cause I know I’m not alone”. Dead serious and loud as fuck. Of course it’s 83 so this one’s over in 1 minute but not before a proto death grunt that simply proclaims “YESSSSS” under a wash of endless reverb. A few seconds later “War Games” is coming down on you with Raf Astor busting a Ron Ashton quality, fret grating guitar solo over another bomb raid level intro. It helps that the song actually contains lyrics like “flying low your target’s set” and “blow them up and shoot them down”. It’s an anti war song, but it sounds so violent it’s easy to forget. It’s also maybe the first song by an NYHC that has a pretty pronounced heavy metal influence. Metal in NY was also exploding around this time, and these solos must have singed the eyebrows of any metal head who happened to be lucky enough to lay ears on this. The Krakdowns, Sick Of It Alls, and Warzones of the world used a similar formula of simple heavy hardcore with metal accents a few years later, so in some ways this is (as well as probably Antidote’s 7″) is the first instance of the typical 80’s NY sound.And what else…

And what else? 6 more songs of perfect thrashing, stomping, barking mad hardcore punk. Want to hear one of the most perfect songs ever written (of any genre) - check out “No End In Sight”. I could have wept hearing this one so perfectly executed live, but I was busy throwing myself across the dance floor like a maniac. It’s so simple just a mosh part and a thrash section that each repeat twice, but just listen… everything just perfectly falls into place like every other perfect song on Earth. It’s far more than the sum of its parts. The thing is though basically all the songs are this good.

Oh and btw, I think this copy might end a little low because it’s in Japan and has a high opening bid. Who knows though…

The Abused - Loud and Clear 7″

It’s just shy of six months since I last made a bidhardcore post. There’s no specific reason as to why I haven’t bothered to look at the site more than once or twice in that time. I’ve made some changes in my daily routine, and my work duties have changed pretty drastically which are both contributing factors. I was in a bit of a funk for most of this year, and I think sometime it’s easier just  to cut out the shit you don’t feel is necessary for a little while. I’ve been online the least ever in the last 6 months than I have anytime in the last decade. So a lot of days would go by where I didn’t even think about “blogging”. I’ve still been up to the same shit, playing in some bands, doing recordings, playing gigs… I had a pretty fast paced but generally high quality summer.  Everything’s fine, and I’m feeling like a little stimulation via writing might be fun again, so I’m going to try and have regular posts coming your way. No promises, but hopefully someone will still want to read this (AND LEAVE COMMENTS). AJ and I also still want to do a redesign on the site at some point although there’s no concrete plan for that.

Anyway down to business. Somehow I’ve never actually done a real Abused “Loud and Clear” post despite the 7″ being linked several times on here. It seems fitting for a “first post back” since for my money, it’s one of the truly great US Hardcore 7″s, and possibly the best of the early NY crop of releases.

(part 2 tomorrow)

The Abused - Loud and Clear 7″