Author Archives: dan

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Bad Brains – I Against I

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Bad Brains - I Against I

Bad Brains

I Against I

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/31311003-Bad-Brains-I-Against-I

Year Of Release: 1986

Review

This is the perfect album. I know I’ve said that about a few albums on this weblog, but this one is really it – the perfect album. I was first introduced to Bad Brains via the older brother of a classmate in high school who loaned me a CD of I Against I in the early nineties. By that time, I’d heard Henry Rollins and Bad Brains perform a cover of Kick Out The Jams on the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack, I’d seen some advertisements for Bad Brains albums in Thrasher Magazine, and I was hungry for more.

This album is a heady mix of fast-paced punk rawk mixed with riff-heavy melodies and all kinds of stuff in-between. This is a guitar-laden album unlike the earlier albums from Bad Brains, and H.R.’s vocals are something else (for more background on why – check out this article).

This was one of the first albums I bought on vinyl when I moved to Brisbane and had access to real record stores, and I’m so glad I did. It’s since been released in various colours and there’s a “Punk Note” edition as well (I love the Punk Note covers – they just seem really crisp).

Standout tracks on this one are all of them, but I Against I, House Of Suffering, She’s Calling You, and Sacred Love are probably my favourites. This is a true, no-skips album. 31 minutes and 53 seconds of everything you need to get on with your day. To get some idea of the energy the band brings, check out the various live clips on YouTube, and the music video for the title track is great too.

Rating: 10/10

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Viagra Boys – Street Worms

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Viagra Boys - Street Worms

Viagra Boys

Street Worms

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/13414158-Viagra-Boys-Street-Worms

Year Of Release: 2018

Review

I wanted to start this review with a shout out to the KPunk podcast. It was hosted / curated / put together by Kevin Dunn (KD) and ran from 2007 until 2022. It was a great mix of classic punk and new punk and gave me an opportunity to rediscover classics I’d forgotten about, whilst also discovering new music. And each episode could fit on one side of a C90 cassette – which obviously had great appeal. I first heard Otoboke Beaver (a topic for another time) on this pod, and episodes 182 and 183 introduced me to the Viagra Boys tracks Just Like You and Sports.

The music video for Sports is also hilarious and absolutely worth checking out. Viagra Boys are a real treat to see play live, and you never know what you’re going to get on any given evening. The first time I saw them was at the Brightside in 2019 – a tiny (cosy?) venue in Brisbane – and there might not have been more than one or two hundred people there. It was a fantastic gig. I’ve been lucky enough to see them play once more since then. I gave my ticket to my little sister when they played here in early 2026, as she’d never seen them live. I recommend the experience if you haven’t had the opportunity.

If you can get a hold of the extended edition of this album, some of the bonus tracks will make the effort worthwhile. Standouts for me are Slow Learner, Jungle Man, and Beijing Taxi, along with the aforementioned Just Like You and Sports.

Rating: 9/10

Random Short Take #108

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Random short take #108. Looking for old news? You’ve come to the right place. Let’s get random.

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Down By Law – Punkrockacademyfightsong

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Down By Law - Punkrockacademyfightsong

Down By Law

Punkrockacademyfightsong

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/master/130199-Down-By-Law-Punkrockacademyfightsong

Year Of Release: 1994

Review

Punkrockacademyfightsong is Down By Law’s third album, and the only one I knew about for quite some time. It’s not that I didn’t like it (or the band). On the contrary, I thought it was brilliant. But for whatever reason (mainly due to limited funds and other musical interests I was pursuing) I never really got around to examining the Down By Law catalogue until many years later. This album was another one of those ones my friend (RIP Fat Greg) recommended to me some time in 1995 or 1996. I had this one on a tape with Rancid’s Let’s Go on the B-Side and I think that was a nice combination.

It starts out with the blistering Punk Won and delivers a loud, raw, punk rawk album that is nonetheless melodic in places. The cover of The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles is extremely well done (“And if I haver, whatever the fuck that means”), despite the original being an insanely irritating song. But it’s tracks like Hit Or Miss, Flower Tattoo, Minusame, Punk As Fuck, and The King & I that really shine on this album. Besides the occasional short interlude, this album is all fast tracks and catchy lyrics. There aren’t many songs that you need to skip on this one, if any at all. It’s a great point in time snapshot of the California punk sound of the early to mid-nineties and I recommend you check it out (despite the Proclaimers cover).

Rating: 8.5/10

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Beowülf – 2 ¢

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Beowülf - 2 ¢

Beowülf

2 ¢

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/1541461-Beow%C3%BClf-2-

Year Of Release: 1995

Review

I know, I’m writing about a CD, not a vinyl release. I don’t think this album was ever pressed on vinyl. I remain hopeful that one of those shonky labels in Europe will take a run at putting an unofficial pressing out at some stage. I hadn’t really heard of Beowülf before a friend (RIP Fat Greg) gave me a copy of this CD to listen to some time in 1995 or 1996. I was a big fan of Suicidal Tendencies, so enjoying an album from one of the founding bands of the “Venice scene” probably wasn’t going to be a real stretch. But I was surprised by just how much this album kicks arse. The music is fast, the lyrics aren’t overly taxing, and there’s some positive messages buried in there.

You might be familiar with the title track 2 ¢ – it was featured at the start of the Tank Girl movie. I can’t for the life of me work out why it wasn’t included in the soundtrack. As tempting as it is to blame Courtney Love (“Executive Music Coordinator”), I don’t think it’s entirely her fault (if at all). There’s some chatter about possible limitations of soundtrack length at the time (because most everything was being produced for CD, rather than vinyl) but I don’t know if that’s it either. It might have been a licensing issue, or a result of the band somewhat imploding following the release of this album. It all happened before everyone’s business was all over the Internet, so there’s not a lot of information to be had about the real story.

In any case, this is a cracking 40-something minutes of thrash metal / punk rawk. Standout tracks are the aforementioned 2 ¢, Throw Your Rock, Bullet Hole, and Life Ain’t, Life’s Only. But this is really a no skips album. A little hard to get hold of, but worth it if you can find it.

Rating: 9/10

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Iggy Pop – Lust For Life

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Iggy Pop - Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

Lust For Life

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/10382943-Iggy-Pop-Lust-For-Life

Year Of Release: 1977

Review

Lust For Life is one of my favourite solo Iggy Pop albums. I purchased a copy on CD in 1994/95 (at a Virgin Megastore in France – seems like you’ll eventually read about every title I bought there). My prior experience of Iggy Pop was reasonably limited. I owned a copy of Pop Songs (a compilation of tracks from 1979 – 1981) and I had a copy of Raw Power on CD, with a copy of the American Caesar album (which I thought was amazing) rounding out my (very limited) exposure.

But when I heard The Passenger blaring in a nightclub late one evening I knew this was part of Iggy Pop’s discography I needed to get more familiar with. And I’m glad I made the effort to get more acquainted with earlier solo Iggy. Despite the heavy influence of Bowie on this one and the prior album, this one is a bit more Iggy than Bowie, and it’s a brilliant arrangement of pop songs. Some of the lyrical content is problematic when looked at through a modern lense, and I’ll probably leave it at that.

Standout tracks on this one are the aforementioned The Passenger, Lust For Life, Some Weird Sin, and Fall In Love With Me. If you ever need to get up and go in the morning, just put on the first track at high volume and you’ll be all set. Also notable is the length of the album, fitting comfortably on one side of a C90 cassette tape for those of you out there still making tapes for your friends.

Rating: 8.5/10

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Faith No More – King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime

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Faith No More – King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime

Faith No More

King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/5145542-Faith-No-More-King-For-A-Day-Fool-For-A-Lifetime

Year Of Release: 1995

Review

Faith No More has released several excellent albums. Many people love Angel Dust, as do I, but King For a Day Fool For A Lifetime is my favourite Faith No More album. It’s a heady mix of rock and roll, cocktail lounge jazz, and the kind of music that had fans of Angel Dust sometimes scratching their heads and wondering what on Earth they were listening to.

This was the first album without Jim Martin, and the band seemed more than willing to demonstrate how capable it could be without him. The music on the album was described in this review as “a stranger, more eclectic beast, taking in the usual metal, pop and twisted funk, while consciously adding lounge, jazz, bossa nova, big band funk, soul, gospel and country and western into a deathly boiling pot”.

For me, though, it’s the lyrics throughout the album that make it as entertaining as it is. From “It’s always funny until someone gets hurt / And then it’s just hilarious” in Ricochet to “What a day, what a day / If you can look it in the face / And hold your vomit” in What A Day, the listener is taken on a dark, twisting journey through the band’s turmoils and, perhaps, gets some insight into the apparent difficulties they had with getting the album done. I remember I’d just returned from some time living in France, and this album felt like the perfect bookend to my time in a foreign land whilst also helping me process the integration back into Australian society.

Standout tracks for me are Ricochet, King For A Day, Ugly In The Morning, and The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies. If you were put off by Angel Dust, or thought Faith No More was just funk-rock, check this album out. There’s something on there for everyone.

“Don’t let me die with that silly look in my eyes”.

Rating: 10/10

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Ice-T – O.G. Original Gangster

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Ice-T - O.G. Original Gangster

Ice-T

O.G. Original Gangster

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/14429450-Ice-T-OG-Original-Gangster

Year Of Release: 1991

Review

I don’t know why I bought Original Gangster on CD in 1991. I’d heard of Ice-T, but I don’t think I’d heard any of his music, as it generally wasn’t playing on the radio in the part of the world I grew up in, and that style of rap music was not necessarily on display in the few music stores I had access to at the time. Surprisingly, this one was available in my local Chandlers (maybe thanks to the marketing power of Warner). The cover looked intriguing to an easily influenced 15-year-old male, and I think it was one of those CDs that made the store clerk look at me askance when I bought it. In any case, I’m glad I bought it, as I think it’s a really good gangster rap album. As gritty as anything I’d heard from N.W.A., but also more subtle and a little more humorous in parts as well. It also introduced me to Ice-T’s other project, Body Count, which is a tale for another time, but also something I’m grateful for.

As a young male living in regional Australia, there were plenty of concepts covered in this album that I had little to no real-world knowledge about, but Ice-T’s ability to put together a compelling story along with solid samples, interludes, and catchy beats makes this an album that’s extremely re-listenable. As I got older, I started to understand more of what was covered and appreciated the perspective from which some of these stories were being told. It’s funny to think that most people are aware of his work as a police detective on a television show, rather than his work as a gangster rapper and corrupter of youth.

This is my favourite Ice-T album – there’s what feels like the right amount of storytelling and entertaining beats – without it feeling like it’s comically over the top. Standout tracks for me are O.G. Original Gangster, Lifestyles Of The Rich And Infamous, The Tower, and Fly By. The most striking comment on the album was during the introduction to Body Count where Ice-T says “I feel sorry for people who only listen to one style of music”. That’s stayed with me since then.

Rating: 8/10

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Beastie Boys – Jimmy James

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Beastie Boys - Jimmy James

Beastie Boys

Jimmy James

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/167546-Beastie-Boys-Jimmy-James

Year Of Release: 1992

Review

I’m generally not bothering to post reviews of singles in the Sunday Afternoon Vinyl series, saving the typing and brain energy for full album reviews, but I’m posting about this one because A – it’s a Beastie Boys title, and secondly – I have a somewhat amusing anecdote to relay.

I was in Melbourne on holidays a few years ago and wearing a shirt with the Jimmy James cover art on it. A gent saw the Beastie Boys bit, but misread Jimmy James as Jimmy Barnes, and wanted to know what was up with that. A reasonable question. I confidently explained that Jimmy James was in fact the second single from the album Check Your Head (the third studio album from the Beastie Boys, and my favourite) and nothing to do with Jimmy Barnes. The gentleman seemed satisfied and walked back to his friends to relay the information. This must be what it feels like to spread misinformation on the Internet, because Jimmy James is actually the third single off the album Check Your Head, not the second. I know, I have brought great shame upon my family name.

In any case, it’s a fun track, and a great way to start one of hip-hop’s greatest ever albums.

Rating: 9/10

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl – Del The Funky Homosapien – I Wish My Brother George Was Here

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Del Tha Funkeé Homosapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here

Del The Funky Homosapien

I Wish My Brother George Was Here

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/8941032-Del-Tha-Funke%C3%A9-Homosapien-I-Wish-My-Brother-George-Was-Here

Year Of Release: 1991

Review

Mistadobalina was something of a surprise hit for Del The Funky Homosapien in 1991. I remember buying the cassingle when it was released, but I didn’t buy the full album until a few years later. While much was made of the fact he was Ice Cube’s cousin, I Wish My Brother George Was Here has little at all in common with the Gangsta rap associated with Ice Cube and his West Coast contemporaries, nor does it necessarily sound like anything that was spawned by popular acts associated with the East Coast either. Rather, this is an album that demonstrates Del’s ability (and desire) to go it alone and do things his way.

In my opinion, it’s not Del’s best work, but there are real glimpses provided into his potential. The observational lyrics, combined with the heavy use of P-Funk samples, delivers an album that is a rollicking journey through the foundations of the underground hip-hop that would follow it.

Del is still kicking it, after some years in and out of the public eye, and it’s nice to see him getting his flowers from both those who benefited significantly from his trailblazing style, and those fans who stuck with him beyond some surprise hit singles in the early nineties.

Standout tracks for me are the aforementioned Mistadobalina, Pissin’ On Your Steps, and Dark Skin Girls (with Dr. Bombay getting an honourable mention).

Rating: 7/10