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| Black FlagEverything Went Black1982 SST 
 Review by: Drizzt7_drek See others by this writer Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on March 28th 2002
[This album has unreleased material from 1978 to 1981, I don't know when it came out.] Well, kiddies, out come the wolves. There is no way to review an album like this without starting a major war. Everyone who has ever heard Black Flag has their own opinion as to who was the best singer. I expect that if you read the comments below, there will be some sort of flaming war...or if not, there probably will be one coming. Asking this question, is like putting two comic geeks in a cramped little room, and asking them...uh, well anything about comics. However, flame wars aside, this album features not one, but three pre-Rollins singers shouting their way through several Black Flag classics such as "Depression," "Gimme Gimme Gimme," and "White Minority." If you've heard Flag before, you probably know what to expect. Loud, aggressive punk rock with Fuzz-distorted guitars, pounding bass, and all. Good shit and I recommend you pick it up. If you've only heard "TV Party," then I recommend this album more. Hardcore punk has evolved in the last twenty years, and bands like this are a dying breed. No one (well, maybe Minor Threat) ever played hardcore as harsh and with as much reckless abandon as the Flag did. It's good that punk has evolved beyond this, but sometimes I miss the old shit. It's nice to be able to put on this album whenever I get in that mood. Besides, this album has three different versions of "Depression" (my favorite Black Flag song) and they're all pretty damn good. Also included, is a track of random radio promos of Black Flag shows which is worth one listen. Oh yeah, and my favorite is Chavo (then, Rollins). People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
I like Chavo for some reason. I thought he had more melody than the others. However you can't beat Henry for pure angst. This is a great album. It was released during Black Flag's bout with Unicorn records over Damaged, so the original release didn't have the name of the band or it's logo, just the the band members. Why did I give this a perfect score? I must have not been paying attention. Well, here's my real score. All the flag singers were excellent- this is an extremely talented band- sort of a frenzied talent. But all in all Rollins in my opinion was the best singer- he embodied evrything hardcore stands for and he had a no bullshit, take no prisoners, blunt attitude and that was exactly what Black Flag needed to get them moving. Honestly, despite popular belief, Rollins was the best thing ever to happen to Black Flag and is one of the greatest frontman to ever walk the stage. Plus Greg Ginn's guitar work really took off with Damaged and never let up- he plays like Jimi Hendrix gone insane, I'm not comparing him to Hendrix, but in my opinion Ginn is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. People say that his sound is abraissive, but this band was abrassive and their music was raw, so Ginn's sound was the driving tune behind the band. It's a real shame no one plays this crazy nowadays, Ginn is my fav guitarist of all time. It's good. I think people new to Black Flag should check out The First Four Years instead, since the versions on there are pretty much definitive. And let's face it, Nervous Breakdown is maybe the most perfect punk song ever recorded, so new fans need to hear that first. But this is a review for Everything Went Black, so I'll talk about that. It's good. I like it. Like I said before, I think versions on other albums are better, but this is still a fun CD to listen to. Especially because it has "Don't Care," which sounds a million times better here than when the Circle Jerks did it (why did he have to change those genius lyrics?). If you're already a BF fan, you should sure as hell get it. My fav. black flag track has always been 'depression' also, so the three different versions made my day. This is one of the few records that has the same songs on it yet it doesn't get redundant. |
