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| The MisfitsCollection II1995 Caroline 
  Review by: El Grego See others by this writer Misfits Central - Unofficial, but it'll do. (link) Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on May 21st 2004 Due to the shocking lack of Misfits reviews on this site I figured I'd write one for this collection, which should be used by newcomers to get into one of the greatest bands I've ever heard. This CD was compiled by Glenn Danzig himself, so the cuts that make it here are quality. The record starts with the genius that is 'We Are 138'. I could talk about this song all day, I shit ye not. Whilst people I've forced it on say things like 'it's just three chords over and over and the guitar solo's stupid and the lyrics are stupid and the ending is sloppy', they are wrong. This song is fast, the chords suit the song fine, the bass is audible and whatever the fuck is making the noise in the background entertains me just as much as lines like 'is it time to be an android not a man?'. Put simply, this is the shit. With the lyrics based vaguely around the plot of an early George Lucas film about robots not being allowed to have any emotion, the song bares very little relevance to real life and confuses just about anyone who isn't into the band. This makes it even more amazing. The guitar solo is amazingly funny, and I'd even go as far as calling it good, and the fact that they get away with playing two notes over and over in a time when idiots like Jimmy Page were playing fast and technical guitar solos makes me love this band all the more. This is the opening track on 'Static Age', the first Misfits records and Glenn's vocals let you know whats going down from here onwards. The crazed drawl is present, as are the yells at the end of the track. If I'd been picking the tracks for this collection, 'We Are 138' would have been in it at least twelve times. The next track is 'Attitude'. I have to make a confession here. Yes, I love this band, and even love their more recent efforts depite the god that is Glenn Danzig not being present (hell, I love Samhain and Danzig too), but given that this song is at the start of the album, next to absolute classics like 'Last Caress', it seems a bit lacking. The lyrics are violent, but not weird. There's no talk of killing babies or creeping through the streets at night or anything. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great song and it beats the crap out of the new Nofx album, but I don't think it should have been on this cd. If it was up to me, I would have 'Die Die My Darling' on here instead of 'Attitude'. The absence of this song badly marrs this cd. If it had been on here, this album might as well be a classic in it's own right, but it's not so it isn't. I'll tell you now, either download that song or buy 'Earth AD' just for it. Everything about is brilliant, in the same way that 'We Are 138' is. The next track is 'Cough-Cool', and this is just fucking weird. Glenn tells us of prowling New York coughing up blood from having tuberculosis and just generally other crazy stuff. It's great, but it's much slower than your typical Misfits song. Still, it's good and worthy of being on here. Fourth up is 'Last Caress'. This is on a par with the opening track. I love it. 'I got something to say!' Oh right Glenn, what could that possibly be? 'I killed yo' baby today an' it doesn't matter much to me, as long as it's dead!'. If you haven't worked it out by now, this man is a god. The fact that he appears to have not aged in 20 years further proves this claim. This song covers all the bases 'We Are 138' misses, it's uber catchy, using the same chord pattern as 'Blitzkrieg Bop' by the Ramones and the melody is as sweet as the lyrics are sick. Yes, there's talk of spreading your mother, yes, he feels the need to tell us about his baby killing more than once (the second time being the highlight of the song) and yes this is probably the best song you'll ever hear if you don't ever listen to 'We Are 138'. Following this classic are 'Return Of The Fly' and 'Children In Heat'. The former is a trademark Misfits song, name checking horror movie legends and accusing us of being guinea pigs with human hands and feet. This is weirdness at it's best. The music stumbles along like an old man about to hack your leg off at the start of the song and by the time the 'Oo-oo-oo-oo!' backing vocals have kicked in, the song is over, you're in love and you're buying the band's back catalogue off of the internet. 'Children In Heat' assaults you following the relative calm of 'Return Of The Fly' with rough guitar and Glenn's most abbrasive voice. The lyrics talk about 'cellophane sex' and let's face it, children in heat. This song has 99% convinced me to change my name to Chicago. I have absolutely idea what's up with 'Ratt Fink', but I do advise getting a buddy and walking through your town yelling it out at the top of your lungs. This is also top quality stuff. After this are three typical Misfits songs, 'Horror Hotel', 'Halloween' and 'Halloween II'. The first of these is fast paced and has a great lead in to a killer chorus with 'say something, say something, you wanna start something with me?!'. 'Halloween' is a classic, covered by the also wondrous AFI back when they were in their prime, full of talk about 'dead cats hanging from poles'. If you wanna hear a direct link from this to modern music, check out the AFI song 'Fall Children', cause if that's not their take on this, I have no idea what is (apart from maybe their cover of this, but shush). 'Halloween II' is odd. Featuring Glenn yelling at us in latin about werewolves hiding in trees over a slowed down version of Halloween, it's a pointer to his work to come, for example the end of the Danzig track 'Godless'. Check it out; you'll see what I mean. 'Hatebreeders' is fun, I was genuinely surprised by the sound of the drums on this track; they sound really solid. The subject matter for 'Brain Eaters' is self-explanatory, whilst the music leans towards a more Oi! sound. The lyrics are fantastic. 'Nike-A-Go-Go' is great stuff, nothing extraordinary, but again, it beats most of the stuff being done today. 'Devil's Whorehouse' is also stellar, if only for the subject matter alone. 'Mephisto Waltz' is as good as most of the other songs, but I was a bit annoyed to find out that this isn't really the Misfits, it's just Glenn and Eerie Von playing a song that Jerry and the gang were too shitty to play. Well, that's what Glenn says, and seeing as it's his compilation and he's far more likely to come fuck me up than Jerry is, I'll agree with him. 'We Bite' is a classic. Overlooked by many, this is a late boost to the album, the shouts of 'WE BITE!' are great and the melody in the verse is catchy. Another success for the Misfits then, catchy and lyrically disturbing/funny. 'Queen Wasp' is fast punk rock about some wasps attacking something. 'Demonomania' is a hard-to-say, hard-to-sing violent burst of insanity. AFI tried to cover this and in my opinion, failed. This is decent, but only in terms of it's self. 'Hellhound' is good, but it sounds a little too together for my liking. The closing track 'Bloodfeast' starts off well. It's probably the weirdest song Glenn wrote for the Misfits. The music is suitably unsettling, with a keyboard or something in the mix. However. There is one huge flaw with this song. The backing vocals. They aren't rousing, inspiring, threatening or even remotely good. I don't know whether they're meant to sound spooky or what, and I like the song other than this, but the backing vocals really do ruin it for me. On the whole, this is a great CD. Many of the early classics are here and it's a decent representation of the Danzig years of this band. If it wasn't for the backing vocals on ‘Bloodfeast’ and the choice of other songs above 'Die Die My Darling' or 'Skulls', I'd give this a straight-up ten. But nay. This gets a nine. These might be Glenn's favourite songs from this era, but I'm telling you, 'Hellhound' isn't better than a song telling your girlfriend that her future's in an oblong box. If you're new to the band, then get this.
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Oh ya i forgot to say below, MISFITS ARE THE FUCKING BEST! You guys are all stupid as hell. Every band listed in all the reviews had nearly nothing to do with eachother. Led Zeppelin is one of the best bands EVER. And Attitude is one of the most Punk songs ever "Attitude, You got some fucking attitude!" who hasnt been told that? And i thought that Danzig got kicked out of the band after being arrested in a bar fight. Whatever. if you reckon that version of cough cool is wierd listen to the first ever recording of it coincidentally misfts first release you're a fucking idiot along with most of the people who commented on your review. This website is shit, my first and last time looking at it. FRIGGIN SWEET! Definetly worth every penny! Die, Die My Darling is on Collection 1 (self-titled), so I don't know why you'd want it included here. I prefer Attitude over Die, Die My Darling. Glen, u were a bitch to go off and quit the band.... But i have to admit, u have good tastes.... If you can get your hands on a copy of 12 Hits From Hell (bootleg or legit) I'd highly recommend it. Its a shame it was never officially released. It's totally pointless to compare the Misfits with the Pistols. They both fall under the punk umbrella, but don't have anything else to do with each other. And the Misfits weren't a 2nd wave band, they were kicking around in '76/'77 like most other bands of the time like the Clash, Ramones, Dead Boys, etc. And I agree that some research is in order before writing reviews otherwise you come off as a novice. (Such as the fact that Die, Die.. and Skulls were on Collection I.) And to the kids who say to pick up Satic Age and that's it....that's just ridiculous! Walk Among Us is the perfect B-movie horror punk package. The artwork and layout is great (which REALLY shows if you have a vinyl copy) and there's not one duff track on the whole album! And really, you can't go wrong with any of the old Misfits albums. Even Evilive has its merits. Pick 'em all up! Oh, and FYI, Hate Breeders, Braineaters, and Nike A Go Go, along with Mephisto Waltz, were re-recorded with Eerie Von between 1986 and 1987. Eerie and Glenn also did some overdubs on Devils Whorehouse and Cough/Cool, adding or re-recording guitar, bass, drum and vocal tracks. The only recording of Mephisto Waltz with the full Misfits is on a low-quality rehearsal tape. Nobody besides Glenn really liked the song so it was scrapped at that time. El Grego - the reason that Die, Die and Skulls aren't on Collection II, is because they are on Collection I...maybe do a little research before making suggestions? "You obviously don't kow what hardcore punk is........metal played fast, louder, more violent and less macho." "The Pistols weren't bad, but they were a toy band compared to the 'fits. The Misfits wrote music that, unless your a complete moron, said much more than it did. Much of what Danzig wrote had very strong underlining meaning......and some of it was just about monster movies. Take a listen to Static Age and tell me that isn't a billion times better than anything the Pistols ever made. Then listen to Earth AD and tell me that ANYONE has made an album that fast or thrashing since. The Sex Pistols did not create punk, they merely profitted from it." "These guys aren't punk they're heavy metal"- You obviously don't kow what hardcore punk is........metal played fast, louder, more violent and less macho. Sex Pistols better than the Misfits!?! HAHAHA! You should just be stabbed right now.......I'm so sick of all the little trendy highschool kjids on this site now who think they know shit. The Pistols weren't bad, but they were a toy band compared to the 'fits. The Misfits wrote music that, unless your a complete moron, said much more than it did. Much of what Danzig wrote had very strong underlining meaning......and some of it was just about monster movies. Take a listen to Static Age and tell me that isn't a billion times better than anything the Pistols ever made. Then listen to Earth AD and tell me that ANYONE has made an album that fast or thrashing since. The Sex Pistols did not create punk, they merely profitted from it. "These guys are not punk. They are Heavy Metal. What the fuck is this review doing on PUNKnews.org???" if die die my darling was on here it would be a classic album, but it's not, so it isnt? It's on Collection I. Maybe they should have put Where Eagles Dare on this one too. And She. Howabout Hollywood Babylon? Then this disc would be killer. Dude. the guy that said the misfits were heavy metal is either a complete moron or has only heard the new misfits. if you think last caress, american nightmare, return of the fly etc. are metal to you then you are a girl that has never encountered 'metal'.. i stopped reading around the time you called jimmy page a moron. dude led zep own the misfits. These guys are not punk. They are Heavy Metal. What the fuck is this review doing on PUNKnews.org??? I've always liked Collection 1 better, but just go buy the Coffin Collection. the misfits were good. then danzig left. i can't believe people are dissing the misfits on this site. i mean don't get me wrong it was pretty much all downhill after danzig left but oh well whatever, your loss kids. On a side note, I don't think anything the Misfits did that anyone enjoyed originally was groundbreaking or revolutionary. So some Ramones rip offs with a crooner vocalist are better than the Sex Pistols? All right... holy shit, the sex pistols suck. holy shit, song by song reviews are fucking horrible. misfits are decent, not the gods people make them out to be. go buy"nevermind the bollocks" and fuck something up. Actually, this wouldn't be so bad if he'd used the real backing tracks from the Static Age sessions. also, this review does suck wang. i love the misfits. but this release was the biggest b/s release ever. go buy the coffin box, you cheap fucks. btw, "we are 138" is indeed an awesome song. beauty to ashes did a good cover of it awhile ago. Oh god, the layout for reviews is hell. We Are 138 is my favorite Misfits song EVER! "static age" was the first misfits cd i ever got. and the last. danzig says fuck the misfits and i agree. this is useless. go buy static age, walk among us and earth ad and be done with it. Fuck this stuff, just buy "Static Age", "Walk Among Us", and "Earth A.D.". To me, the Misfits work better in albums than chronological summaries. MUST LISTEN TO SAMHAIN --- Comic Book Guy: "Worst review ever!" I never liked the Misfits. Does anyone really identify with Danzig's songs? Are they really so witty that they should be considered classics? My answers are: no and no. Still, the image was cool.... I'd much rather listen to "Get Low" 100 times straight than any song The Misfits have ever made once. I like Colection I and Collection II about equal, collection II seems like the tracks that are covered by other bands most often. Neither one contains "Hybrid Moments" so, i'd give "static age" a higher score than either of the two collection discs. this is okay, collection I is much better. die die my darling is on that disc. OH GOD.. At least change the reviews back to the way they were.. this new layout is too much.. |
