Rollins Band

Come In And Burn

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/5270010-Rollins-Band-Come-In-And-Burn

Year Of Release: 1997

Review

I’ve been a staunch fan of whatever Henry Rollins produces since I first heard Low Self Opinion on Rage. But I seem to be an outlier when it comes to my thoughts on Come In And Burn, with several reviewers not taking well to it, and I get the impression that Rollins wasn’t over the moon with the album either. But I love it.

I bought this album on CD as soon as it came out, and happily went along to see Rollins Band perform at The Roxy in August 1997 in support of the album as well. I remember that the CD I purchased was an “enhanced” CD with some kind of multimedia component, and my PC was incapable of playing the most basic videos, including the content on this CD. I wasn’t able to see what they were for some years to come, and questioned whether this whole PC multimedia thing would ever really be ready for the mainstream. It’s funny when I think about the quality of video we can now stream in our web browsers.

This album isn’t perhaps as sonically “clean” as previous Rollins Band efforts, but I think it’s as strong as I’ve ever heard them (although sadly this incarnation of the band only put out two albums). Lyrically, it’s been described as “transcriptions from a therapy session“. I frequently think we’re asking of Rollins something that we don’t necessarily ask of other performers, but that’s in part something that he may have welcomed at times too.

The music video for Starve gets special mention, as I found it an entertaining representation of a song from inception, through to recording, and finally to live performance. And the puppet in The End Of Something is something else too. Standout tracks for me are all of them, but particularly the aforementioned singles from the album, along with Shame, During A City, Neon, and Saying Goodbye Again.

“I left town and heard that you did too / The difference is I can come back, I can come back!!”

Rating: 10/10

Rollins Band

Weight

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/1013918-Rollins-Band-Weight

Year Of Release: 1994

Review

I was eager to hear Weight after falling head over heels for The End Of Silence (the first Rollins Band album I owned). It wasn’t until a few years after it was released that I finally got my hands on the album though, as I was living in France for some of the time, and didn’t have access to a CD player when I returned to Australia. Weight is a powerhouse album – taking the listener through rock, blues, and spoken word, while dishing out some absolutely punishing tracks. It’s the kind of album that plays through well, but you can also take what you need from it without having to take on the entire load. I’m guessing it’s a result of my advancing years, but my favourite tracks on this album are now Volume 4 and Shine. When I first heard the album though, Liar and Disconnect were my go-to tracks, and I loved the message behind Civilized. The video clip for Liar and subsequent live performance of the song at the Grammy Awards in 1995 put Rollins Band on the map for some people (and absolutely freaked some other people out), but for Rollins Band fans, this was situation normal. This was one of my favourite Rollins Band line-ups, and I thought (and still think) that Melvin Gibbs was an absolute beast on bass.

I don’t know if this pressing is official or not, but they seem to be a lot harder to come by now than when I randomly stumbled across this one on eBay years ago. That’s thanks to the record label. If you can, check out Weighting as well – some brilliant tracks on there that didn’t make the cut but popped up elsewhere. Right Here Too Much was on the Disconnect single and it is an excellent non-album track. 

Rating: 8/10