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 | VariousRise Above - 24 Black Flag Songs2002 Sanctuary 
 Review by: BrandonSideleau See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
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Published on October 22nd 2002
Black Flag, easily the most harsh, brutal, and rebelious band of all time, was a suitable band to cover for ex-Flag frontman Henry Rollins' West Memphis 3 Benefit Album. First off, the West Memphis 3 are 3 young men who were convicted in 1994 of killing 3 young kids. Whether they are guilty or not is not certain, but what IS certain is that these young men had an unfair and unjust trial full of poor defence and questionable evidence. For more information rent the HBO documentary "Paradise Lost" or the new book "Devil's Knot". Anyway, on to the album itself- brutal, loud, distorted and totally rockin'! People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
"I'm only wondering what happened to Jim Lindberg from Pennywise 's take on 'Don't Care'. " "tribute" records are usually shit. This is a Big exception. The tour that Rollins and Morris did on this record was shit-hot, and worth the price of admission if only to see Rollins belt out "My War" one last time. Good shit, alot of great artist. Love the new "Rise Above" version. This shizzy is so punx my gosh is this so hardcore this is incredible. every song is great and i don't even mind the slipknot guy. the cause makes this worth buying alone. add the fact that it is a black flag tribute and you have one kick ass album. i hope this raises awarness and plenty of money for the wm3. This album is great and these songs still sound good even today. From what I hear, Greg Ginn isn't doing much these days but playing mind games with people and workng on solo stuff where he plays everything and attempts to even sing. What a freaking great album. I listened to it three times consecutively the day I bought it. In fact, that same day I picked up seven other albums, and not a single one of them got near my CD player. This is quite simply a furious, bomb-proof, highly rocking album. Hopefully Blink182 will hear it, take the cue, and fuck off, having realized what punk rock really is. I agree, most of the shit bands out there haven't changed in 10 years. But the Flag grew creatively and musically to an astonishing extent. The only thing remianing intact was the core of Black Flag's meaning- intensity, anger, and chaotically awesome guitar solos! All Flag albums kicked ass, the only thing even remotely wrong with any of them was the very muddy prodcution on "My war", which wasn't the band's fault at all! I think anyone who says Black Flag died when Rollins joined the band is just ignoring the facts. The facts are that this was Greg Ginn's band. Rollins was never the head of this band. The band was going in a diffrent direction and that was Greg's decision. But Rollins was happy to go along with it because he knew that he was playing with the baddest band in the world. Other things to consider, if the band had stuck with the same formula until they broke up how exciting would that be? Punk rock has to evolve otherwise it eventually turns into utter shit. Look at all these "punk" bands that have been making the same music for years and the new ones that are doing something thats been done 1000 times. Listen to Nervous Breakdown and then listen to the last LP In My Head. It's called progression. Look it up in the dictionary man. Most of you know are cool and know what im talking about but theres always a few Rollins haters in the crowd. It's fine if you dont like Rollins but a lot of people seem to write him off after Black Flag because he wasnt punk anymore or wasnt this or right. Another thing I must say is that this Rise Above album is wonderful Kudos to Rollins. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think Black Flag is the greatest band that ever walked the earth. And you Rollins haters need to get your head checked and go listen to Damaged. 21 years after its release its still the MOST INTENSE record i've ever heard. Most of this new "hardcore" music is so weak. It makes me laugh. I'm sure you all know what I mean too. i saw a flag DVD in my local indie store a while back but i didn't have enough money. came back the next day and it was gone. man, i was pissed. ill have to order this thing. Hey Wate_elite....buy the new Black Flag LIVE! DVD online, it is of excellent quality and is of an excellent show of Black Flag in England in 1984, it really captures the intensity of the Flag at their finest. I think it's $22 and is well worth, I watched it so much that my DVD began to skip and I had to get it fixed. That's the only really good quality Flag recording readily availible. I mean, there is a VHS Target Video of them in '81 that is of great quality (no DVD though) but it is very hard to find now, and there is also the Black Flag live in San Fransisco '84 which was the "Big" release for them back in the '80's, it is of average to poor quality depending on the tapes condition however and is hard to find. I was luckjy enough to find one in the used music videos bin at my local Cd City, it looks like its the original copy from 1984. So your best bet would be the online only (or though it seems) DVD. god, i love this band. i haven't listened to Black Flag in months but this record inspired me to pull out the old albums. good shit. Rollins is really the only guy who gained anything after Black Flag, whcih is cool for him (he definitely deserved it), his solo stuff is awesome, but it would have been great if the other guys did too. Greg went with his band Gone in '86, they broke up in '87 and Rollins took them as his original backing band. Greg did some solo stuff and continued to run SST and Cruz records. Today he stilll does solo work (very low profile), he did a few more Gone albums in the 90's and he plays in the band Confront James.Nothing truely exciting since black flag. What ever happend to Greg Ginn anyway? I think it's fair to say both all eras of Black flag brought excellent music. Early Black flag was punk rock, switching to excellent hardcore, then morphing into an awesome metal-hardcore-jazz-punk hybrid. Either way this band was violent, intense and brutal. anyway, why are we argueing. Everybody's got their own opinion. ther is no "right" opinion. I personally like Rollins best, but i like the other guys too. flag couldn't go wrong in my opnion. Yeah, I saw 'em in '80, '82, '84, and '86 all in LA and Rollins took the cake for me WAYYY more than Chavo did, Chavo just wasn't that intense. Rollins was like a caged animal. He wasn't so much a "punk" as he was a fire breathing depressed caged beast. Sure, he didn't "connect" with the kids, but no one really connected with anyone. I guess it was all in what you liked. If you were into connecting with your peers then you probably wouldn't enjoy Rollins, if you were into doing things yourself and alone, then you'd like Rollins. So I liked Rollins, for me '84 and '86 were the best cause the bands muscianship was skyrocketing to exciting new levels. Greg was become more and more experimental and violent with his music and Henry was becoming a tighter singer. If you ever heard the "In My Head" stuff played live youd know what i mean. To the guy way below have you've ever seen Black Flag live? CEDRIC! "The only thing is that you forgot to mention that Mike Patton of Faith No More / Mr. Bungle / Tomahawk / Lovage / Peeping Tom / Phantomas fame does a version of six pack" picked this up today and it kicks ass. ONETRUEBILL: I can't wait until this "emo" shit dies and some really cool, "take no prisoners" kind of raw rock surfaces and ignores the mainstream. Why can't more bands be as great as the Flag were? yeah... it's great. the version of my war is even better than the original, i swear. and if you forget that it's Corey Taylor singing, room 13 isn't bad Anyone who is visting this site and reading this review ought to get up off their lazy ass and buy this cd. ESPECIALLY if you are one of these new Drive-Thru kids who think The Starting Line is a punk band. Your money will actually go to a worthy cause instead of some money-grubbing kid who thinks he's a punk rocker. Black Flag is terrible. Great songs like Three Nights, Forever Time, Nothing Left Inside, I'm The One, In My Head, My Ghetto, Best One Yet, Sinking, Paralyzed, Drinking & driving, This Is Good, The Bars, Rat's Eyes, Swinging Man, and Wound Up were all written by Henry. Some of those tunes are the Flag's most creative and violent songs. henry rollins never wrote any music, so how did it die when he joined, all he did was scream. Greg Ginn was it total control of all music, lyrics, and any decisions black flag made. henry rollins really just sang It's pretty funny when an album of covers blows away almost every original release this year! Then again, it's covers of the best band of all time with some of the greatest singers around right now. Plus your helping a good cause AND discovering some great vocalists with this album. After listening to this i went and checked out Amen's new album and Mars Volta's as well...and they are both stunningly awesome. Even Corey Taylor's cover of "Room 13" is excellent. Then again, I never had a problem with this guy to begin with so... I can't wait to get my greedy little hands on this. great album and review, saves me the trouble. I thought that everything sounded great on this album, it was also nice to be able to hear the early BF songs with more production than they were able to afford when they were originally done. Black Flag began to ROCK the day Rollins joined.Look at this wannabe poser below me, HA! You wouldn't know music if it slapped u in the face. This album rocks. Black flag died the day rollins joined. Next please! This album is better than most of the crap you own. No 'Loose Nut' though. Great review, this album rocks. The only thing is that you forgot to mention that Mike Patton of Faith No More / Mr. Bungle / Tomahawk / Lovage / Peeping Tom / Phantomas fame does a version of six pack. I think its probally one of the weaker songs on the album, but its just funny to hear him sarcasticly scream along. "Henry lends his vocals to the fun update of "TV Party", the song is particularly hilarious due to the fact that all of the shows yelled are new ones like "Temptation Island", "Judge Judy" and, even more humorous, "Night Visions"!" |
