Area "Arbeit Macht Frei" 1973*****

Two weeks ago I visited Italy for the first time, specifically the beautiful Verona and even more wonderful Venice. Next to the magnificent architecture, I greatly enjoyed the cuisine and I'm not talking about any gourmet restaurants either. I had the best pizza of my life at Verona's unassuming pizzeria Salvatore (tip: If you're ever there, don't order from the English menu - the Italian one has at least twice the variety). As for the best (fresh) pasta, it was actually served in a box (like the Chinese ones) on a street corner in Venice. My Italian musical escapades included Don Giovanni in the Arena di Verona and Ute Lemper's Last Tango in Berlin performance in the fabulous Teatro la Fenice in Venice. Maybe I'll get the chance to describe them in a relevant post. Now, in the weeks prior to my visit, my homeland Greece was always in the news due to its economic suffocation and arduous negotiations with the EU and ECB to loosen the financial noose around its neck. The negotiations ended with the Greek government succumbing to Germany's demands for even more cruel austerity rules for the country's poor in return for another bank rescue and the dubious honour of staying in the monetary union. I know I've mentioned these events before, but I repeat myself in order to thank the Italian people for their spontaneous manifestations of support again and again, upon hearing of our nationality - Premier Tsipras and his fight against German-imposed austerity rules in the EU are apparently very popular in Italy. Coincidentally, while waiting in Verona for the train to Venice, I was killing time in a bookstore hosting a public presentation of a pro-SyRizA book and a conversation of the author with a sizable and deeply absorbed audience. Not speaking the language I didn't understand a word, but I nevertheless stayed in the store, spent some time in its small music department and came away with a few interesting Italian rock CD's, of which I'll now present one.

I have gradually developed a lot of respect for the Italian progressive rock scene of the 70's. It took me a long time to familiarise myself with it as it's marginalised, probably because of the language. Once I did, I discovered a treasure trove of beautiful and original music, often incorporating jazz or symphonic elements. Next to the more "famous" PFM and Le Orme, Area were one of the greatest and more wildly innovative groups of that generation. I've had a compilation of their music for years (issued with the Greek "Jazz and Τζαζ" magazine) which I've always found a challenging but rewarding listen, so in that Verona bookstore I jumped at the chance of adding their debut album in my collection. Area's music can be described as progressive rock or jazz-rock fusion. One dominant element is the saxophone, which is probably why the bands that they mostly remind me of are Soft Machine and Van Der Graaf Generator. But what sets them apart is their singer. Greek-born Demetrio Stratos possesses one of rock's most extraordinary voices, which he bends and stretches at will, using it as an instrument. The only parallel I can think of is Lorca-era Tim Buckley. The lyrics are in Italian and often politically charged: the early 70's in Italy were a time of political instability and extremes, with the terrorist activity of Brigate Rosse on the left and of (lesser known but even deadlier) neo-fascist organisations on the right. Area's position was very clearly on the left: posing on the record's back cover with a hammer and sickle (not the flag, but the actual tools) should give some idea of their allegiance, the fact that one of them is wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, another. The stunning opener "Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (Nero)" directly addresses the Palestinian struggle: The title references Black September (either the organisation or the 1970 incidents in Jordan). It opens with an emotive female voice in Arabic pleading for peace, to which singer chillingly answers "It's not my fault if your reality forces me to fight your conspiracy of silence...It's not my fault if your reality forces me to make war with humanity". A very risqué lyric, that could be interpreted as justifying terrorism. I see it as a cry for justice as a requisite for peace. The music lives up to the lyrics, very intense with a recurrent theme inspired by Greek folk music and a chaotic free jazz middle section, out of which order re-emerges slowly with the players working harmoniously together once again. The next song title is once again a shocker: "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes you free) was a nazi slogan that hang above the entrance of Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Area make the connection between their inmates and modern working class. The music is jazzy and experimental, starting off with a drum solo and letting the sax dominate afterwards. Halfway through, the vocals appear and song settles into a funky groove. "Consapavolezza" is a prog/jazz track with many tempo changes, acrobatic vocals and and a beautiful pastoral mid-section. "Le labbra del tempo" is another complex track with many changes. Electronic keyboard and bells distinguish it a bit from the other tracks, but my favorite part is the heavier sound employed in the last minute. "240 Chilometri Da Smirne" is a great jazz instrumental. I take the title to be an oblique reference to the plight of the Greek and Armenian refugees who survived the 1922 massacre at Smyrna/Izmir. My grandmother fled the burning city as a child, with nothing but the clothes on her back (several of her family were not so lucky). Maybe Stratos had a similar family history and 240km was the distance his family had to cross to get to safety. Closing track "L'abbattimento dello Zeppelin" is wildly experimental but some people (not me) cite it as the favorite. The song's roots lie in an incident during which Area were compelled by a club owner to play Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". They responded with their own variation of the song, upon which they were shown the (exit) door. There is some nice electric guitar and organ, but any other similarities to "Whole Lotta Love" are probably limited to its chaotic middle section. If you like prog rock and jazz fusion you'd do well to discover Area, one of the most interesting groups of the 70's and Stratos, a unique vocalist.

***** for  Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (Nero)

**** for Arbeit Macht Frei, Consapevolezza, 240 Chilometri Da Smirne

*** for Le Labbra Del Tempo, L'Abbattimento Dello Zeppelin

Candy Dulfer "Sax-A-Go-Go" 1993**

When I first came to the Netherlands, I had a conversation with a young lady who told me she played the saxophone. I surprised her by telling her that it's a rare instrument for a woman to play. She believed it to be a rather feminine instrument. I guess that's a testament to Candy Dulfer's success in her native land: that she familiarised everyone with the image of a beautiful young woman playing an instrument previously associated with older black guys, and made it look sexy. Not that black jazz musicians can't be sexy to some people, but for most of us Candy is an infinitely preferable sight. Her father Hans Dulfer is a renowned sax player who began teaching Candy the basics of the instrument at the age of 6. Her debut "Saxuality" in 1990 sold very well and was nominated for the Grammy award. Although still only 20 years old, she soon began performing and recording with giants of the music world such as Van Morrison, Pink Floyd and Prince. This follow up plays up her R&B/Hip Hop influences and is obviously aimed at the pop charts rather than the jazz connoisseurs. The slick production values and use of synths and drum machines may have served their purpose at the time but sound dated today. Candy's playing, on the other hand, is technically faultless - maybe a bit too safe and sometimes almost bland. But it is what it is -no Miles Davis cool genius or John Coltrane passion but a pop approach to jazz as background music to groove to at a club or chill out with a glass of wine. The funky dance numbers include "2 Funky" (obviously), "Sax-a-Go-Go" (featuring rapper Easy Mo Bee), "Bob's Jazz" (classy acid-jazz with nice organ/saxophone interplay) and the Funkadelic-like "Jamming" - all composed with the help of her producer, Ulco Bed. Two classic soul covers showed what she can do given classic material: Average White Band's "Pick Up the Pieces" and Eugene McDaniel's "Compared to What" (the only track with full vocals, a bad idea when you're competing against Roberta Flack's original version). "Mister Marvin" and "Man in the Desert" are two mid-tempo originals while "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "Sunday Afternoon" a couple of smooth ballads. Granted, it's all glossily produced, packaged and sugarcoated to sell to a pop and R&B (rather than jazz) audience, yet under all the gloss and glitter there still lies a jazz musician. And not a bad one, either...

**** for Bob's Jazz, Pick Up the Pieces

*** for 2 Funky, Sax-a-Go-Go, Bob's Jazz, I Can't Make You Love Me, Compared to What

** for Mister Marvin, Man in the Desert, Jamming, Compared to What, Sunday Afternoon

Energy Orchard "Stop The Machine" 1991***

Kolimbithra Beach, Tinos

Platter of local cheeses in Tinos ouzeri "st'Alani"

If any of you visit my blog often, you've noticed that I post with admirable regularity - I, for one, admire myself for it, since I know how demanding it is. I have to keep a fast pace of course, as I have a lot of ground to cover. Lately though, I've been away on vacation and lack the time (or discipline) to sit in front of the laptop. Last week I was in Italy and yesterday we arrived to the Greek island of Tinos, one of the less touristic in the Aegean. Except, that is, on August 15th when the island gets overrun by pilgrims from all over the Christian Orthodox world flocking to the island's church to see the miracle-performing icon of Panaghia (i.e. the Holy Virgin). I'll be gone by then and spare myself the sight of the commercialization of faith. Anyway, my days now consist of swimming, lying on the beach and delving into the island's cuisine. It's incredible how, in a country with dozens of islands (I'm purposely limiting myself to the medium-to-big ones) each has its own distinct customs and cuisine. Yesterday, I was served a platter with cheeses impossible to taste outside the island, as they are too rare to standardize, package and market. Most of them were completely new to my taste buds and only one was similar to the famous graviera produced in the nearby island of Naxos. The incredible variety and taste of Greek cheeses can easily compare to e.g. French ones, but remains to this day an international secret despite the millions of tourists visiting the country every summer. All that foreigners know is feta, and even then they don't realize how many different kinds exist or that not all white soft cheese is feta - certainly not the tasteless white blocks made from cow's milk sold as such in the Netherlands. Here's a tip: Next time you're in Greece, walk into a super market and buy some unknown cheeses. Even better, ask for the local specialties at any village in the islands or mainland and you'll acquaint yourself with culinary experiences unavailable to city dwellers - not to mention foreigners. All of these have nothing to do with today's CD which is Energy Orchard.

Their name was vaguely familiar to me, as was the singer's name (Bap Kennedy), but what really convinced me, other than the fact I found it for price  €1 on a market stall, was the producer: the name of Glyn Jones commands the respect, as he's worked with Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Who, Dylan, Clapton, The Clash and even The Beatles. Though not really worth mentioning in the same sentence with those giants (notice how I didn't?) Energy Orchard were, on the basis of this evidence, a pretty solid rock band with a nice twist: incorporating elements of their homeland's (Northern Ireland) traditional music. 1992's "Machine" is their second effort, and it carries echoes of Van Morrison, Tom Petty, U2 and the Waterboys. Thankfully these influences are all successfully assimilated, the music never sounding derivative but neither completely original. Opener "(When I'm With You I'm) All Alone" is a potent soul rocker with hard rock guitars a la Crazy Horse which is followed by a nice cover of Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" with a strong 60's folk rock vibe. Another garagey rocker follows in "How the West Was Won", possibly the fastest song of the CD. After that, the band's Irish blood takes over, resulting in a string of lyrical folk rockers: "My Cheating Heart" sports a nice fiddle intro and is more than a little indebted to Van Morrison's celtic soul sound, while "Pain, Heartbreak and Redemption", "Slieveban Drive" and "Blue Eyed Boy" add a bit of The Waterboys' Big Music, augmented with a gospel choir (the first) and fiddle (the second)."Stop the Machine" is a blues rocker with harmonica and "Three Days on the Tear" an upbeat folk song with lots of fiddle in the Waterboys/Pogues style. The rest ("Tell Your Mother", "All Your Jewels" and "Little Paleface") are all ballads, often with harmonica, Hammond organ and other flourishes. In my opinion, the band suffered from a lack of direction, opting for a clean pop production and including generic rockers like the title track rather than fully embracing their folk instincts. Nevertheless I found the album quite enjoyable and I am now persuaded to delve deeper into the work of Bap Kennedy and his band.

**** for (When I'm With You I'm) All Alone, My Cheating Heart

*** for It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, How the West Was Won, Pain, Heartbreak and Redemption, Slieveban Drive, Blue Eyed Boy, Stop the Machine, Three Days on the Tear, All Your Jewels, Little Paleface

** for Tell Your Mother

Durwood Douché "Big, Banned & Blue: The Original Underground Sound Of Forties" 1997***

I got this at the platenbeurs (moveable open record/ cd market) in den Haag, never having heard of Durwood Douche but intrigued with the idea of original, banned, songs from the 40's - which it isn't. It's all new songs on -let's say- adult subjects, but impeccably played and produced, with a faux period charm that is utterly convincing. You see, Durwood Douché was actually the pseudonym of septuagenarian L.A. jazz pianist Dick Shreve, who's played all kinds of jazz clubs since the 40's and even worked with such big band legends as Benny Goodman. Supposedly the (uncredited) singers and musicians are also the cream of LA's jazz club scene. Based on the musicianship displayed, I tend to believe it. Opener "Why Me God" was Douche's first release with this name: It appeared on a 7' single as "Everybody's Fucking But Me" in 1979. Almost 20 years later, Douche's entire oeuvre was released on CD, in the US with the title "Everybody's Fucking But Me" and in Europe as "Big Banned & Blue". The result is utterly hilarious, mostly when the songs are seriously played. For example "Why Me God" is a blues ballad where the singer moans in deep emotional pain, Billie Holiday-like "Everybody's fucking but me/I just can't seem to get laid/And though it's well made, my pussy's useful only when I pee". It's followed by another winner, a music hall duet called "My Most Favorite Things" (a.k.a. I can't keep my mitts off your tits) and "Air For A Dinosaur", a combination of jazz, gregorian hymn and incessant farting sounds. "Mister Bumpy" is a jovial music hall number on exhibitionism etc. The cabaret style (complete with faux- Marlene Dietrich vocals) "Merrilou" deals with face-sitting and cunnilingus, while "I'm In A Pickle" is a fiddler on the roof parody about sex with vegetables - you get the idea. The music veers from big band swing ("Here You Are") to Sinatra ballads ("Front Naughty Nocturne") to Hank Williams C&W ("Crazy To Be Crazy Over You"), while the album ends with Doris Day-like holiday number "The Christmas Gift": "Just a little Christmas blowjob will brighten up his day". I've heard the CD quite a few times and never get tired of it: the comedy may not be to everyone's taste, but the tunes are so good you'll be humming them in the bus - just don't forget yourself and sing the lyrics out loud, people might take it the wrong way...

**** for Why Me God, The Christmas Gift

*** for My Most Favorite Things, Mister Bumpy, These Remind Me Of You, Merrilou, Duet In Blue And Brown, Here You Are, I'm In A Pickle, 'Front Naughty' Nocturne, Crazy To Be Crazy Over You, Without You, 

** for Air For A Dinosaur, The Limerick Blues

Rolling Stones "Bridges to Babylon" 1997***

Last year, when I learnt the Stones were to tour again, I was delighted. As their only appearance in the Netherlands was in a festival near the German border, I even booked a hotel at a nearby town and got ready for the day the tickets would be on sale. Alas, it was not to be. When I logged in around 12, it was already sold out (in less than two hours). Same with their gig in Belgium. I was disappointed of course, but at least I was lucky enough to catch The Stones during the Bridges to Babylon tour in Athens. It was their second appearance in Greece. The first was in April 1967, only a few days before the coup d'etat that saddled us with a fascist military junta for 7 years. Greece is now going through a similar period, only the CIA has been replaced by the EU (a euphemism for Germany & minions), elected government is blackmailed into submission rather than overthrown and tanks have been replaced by banks as weapon of choice. 
Anyway, the Stones' Athens concert in '67 ended in violence when Jagger approached the crowd handing out red flowers, a gesture the police chief on duty found to be too subversive for his liking. The one I witnessed was a much happier affair, with the band playing their hits for an enthusiastic generation-spanning crowd. Truly one of my best memories as a concert-goer. Of course, I had already bought the album and learnt the songs. Despite the absence of any real classics, it's quite good. After the return to form that was "Steel Wheels", 1994's "Voodoo Lounge" was a semi-successful effort to recapture former glories by recycling riffs and melodies from the past. "Bridges to Babylon" on the other hand was a product of Jagger's constant attempt to stay modern, this time by adding elements of electronica. He hired producers Dust Brothers (Beck, Beastie Boys) and Danny Saber (Black Grape) to produce some tracks, while Keith chose others for his own songs and Don Was oversaw the record as a whole trying to bind the different elements together. Thankfully it still sounds like the Rolling Stones, with only "Might as Well Get Juiced" and "Gunface" veering too closely to electronica. Lead single "Anybody Seen My Baby?" does feature a rap sample but is an otherwise typical mid-tempo Stones ballad with a lusty Jagger vocal.

A RS concert in '98 cost 12.000 drs ( €36) 

 And, with a young Angelina Jolie playing the subject of his desire in the video clip, I think we can all share in that sentiment. Just before the album's release, Keith's daughter pointed out the song's chorus similarity to k.d. Lang's "Constant Craving". Despite never having listened to Lang's song, Keith and Mick acknowledged a possible unconscious debt and gave her a part of the royalties, thus making the Canadian songstress a good deal richer. Opener "Flip the Switch" is arguably one of the Stones' fastest songs, followed by a typical Stones rocker in "Low Down" and emotive, insecure ballad "Already Over Me". The aggressive electronically treated rocker "Gunface" comes from the other end of the emotional spectrum while reggae-ish "You Don't Have to Mean It" is the first of 3 songs featuring a lead vocal by Richards. Unlike Mick, he sure keeps getting better as a singer as he gets older. Uptempo funk rocker "Out of Control" was the album's second single and "Saint Of Me" the third. As if we needed convincing, Jagger explains he's not fit for Sainthood over a warm gospel/r&b melody augmented by electronic drum loops. The funky electronica of "Might as Well Get Juiced" is followed by acoustic ballad "Always Suffering" and rocker "Too Tight", while the album closes with a couple of fine, jazzy Richards ballads in "Thief in the Night" and "How Can I Stop". All in all, another well crafted but rather nonessential latter-day Rolling Stones album, notable mostly for its (thankfully cautious) flirtation with electronica...

**** for Anybody Seen My Baby?, Already Over Me, You Don't Have to Mean It,Out of Control, Saint of Me

*** for Flip the Switch, Gunface, Always Suffering, Too Tight, Thief in the Night, How Can I Stop

** for  Low Down, Might as Well Get Juiced

Wayne Kramer "Citizen Wayne" 1997***

Wayne Kramer is mostly known as former guitarist of the MC5, the 60s' most out-there, revolutionary rock group. The MC5 started off as a loud garage band playing rock'n'roll covers at high school dances, but got radicalised in the polarised political climate of the times, eventually joining John Sinclair's radical left White Panther Party and playing all kinds of benefits and demonstrations. They recorded 3 hugely influential albums, inspired by free jazz and inspiring, in turn, countless punk and hard rock bands. But they soon disintegrated, as they couldn't handle the responsibility of publicly representing the whole radical left movement, getting dragged from one violent protest to another and being endlessly persecuted by the authorities. In 1969, their manager John Sinclair was framed and imprisoned for drug charges (John Lennon campaigned vigorously for his release). A few years later, an addicted and disillusioned Kramer also got imprisoned for passing cocaine to an undercover cop. His road to recovery was long and arduous. By the time he resurfaced in 1995, many of his comrades in the MC5 was already dead and gone: singer Rob Tyner and guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith (Patti Smith's husband) coincidentally both died of heart failure at the age of 45. This is Kramer's third solo record, produced by David Was of Was (Not Was). The music is a mixture of prose, funk, heavy metal and electronic music. His autobiographical lyrics and guitar playing remain stellar, the music unfortunately less so. The CD does begin impressively with funk-metal "Stranger In The House" sounding like a cross between Frank Zappa and Guns N Roses. "Back When Dogs Could Talk" is a typically experimental piece, poetry recited over jazzy licks, metallic riffs and soul backing vocals. "Revolution In Apt. 29" is the second highlight of the record, featuring sympathetically satiric lyrics about his days with the far-left middle-class "revolutionaries": "We're having a revolution/ In apartment 29/ Someone brought bazookas/ Someone's chilling wine/ We'll write a manifesto /Just after chips and pesto/ We've got more problems than solutions/ But no one seems to mind". "Down On The Ground" is a welcome hard-rocking return to the days of MC5 and "No Easy Way Out" an earnest autobiographical mid-tempo rocker about addiction. "You Don't Know My Name" is funk-metal and "Snatched Defeat" a straight-up hard rocker a la Neil Young. Most of the rest is a combination of electronic sounds, metallic riffs and prose. The most interesting moments of these are "Shining Mr. Lincoln's Shoes"'s oriental bouzouki licks and bluesy guitar solos, and the captivating storytelling about the U.S. penal system in "Count Time" and  CIA covert operations in "Dope For Democracy". Interesting album, for sure, as is Kramer as a person. Yet a far cry from his MC5 heyday...

**** for Stranger In The House, Revolution In Apt. 29

*** for Back When Dogs Could Talk, Down On The Ground, Shining Mr. Lincoln's Shoes, No Easy Way Out, Snatched Defeat

** for Dope For Democracy, You Don't Know My Name, Count Time, Doing The Work, A Farewell To Whiskey

Randy "The Human Atom Bomb" 2001****

Today is a day of grave mood in my country, Greece. Six months of incessant diplomacy and negotiation between Greece's left-wing government and other governments and Eurocrats culminated in a weekend of brutal aggression on the part of Germany and EU. Monday morning found prime-minister Tsipras succumbing to blackmail and signing his surrender: 3 more years of crushing austerity for the poor in return for yet another "rescue" package to ensure that the banks keep working and that the IMF, ECB and other creditors get their loans back with interest. For those who believed that change is possible, it feels like a shattering defeat, but the only thing shattered here is illusions. The illusion that people are free to make their own choices, that we live in a democracy and that the EU is actually a union based on cooperation, solidarity and equality (Boy, did I choose the wrong time to go and live in the proverbial belly of the Beast!). We were basically told that our opinion doesn't matter, the governments we choose are voiceless and powerless and that we're forever chained in perpetual debt bondage. In truth, there can only be one answer to that: The fight must and will go on! If elections cannot change anything, so be it - The fight will move from the parliament halls and government buildings back to the streets! And Randy is one of the bands that can help provide the soundtrack, with their music being both joyous and rebellious and lyrics full of conviction and certainty that If we unite we can break them ("If we unite"). As they say "Come on everybody sing with me/This is a song about being free/Days of submission, oh no, won't last long/This is a freedom song"(Freedom Song). Sloganeering, you say? I guess so, but I'd still rather sing that tune than the poor man's blues.

Randy come from Sweden and their brand of melodic punk rock is as populist (and as good) as that of their American counterparts Green Day and Rancid. Like them, they draw inspiration from the Ramones, Clash, Who and Stooges. And like them, they write catchy choruses that can easily be chanted back at them by huge crowds at football stadiums - only in this occasion, they won't. It doesn't matter how commercial their music is, they come from the wrong continent. And, more crucially, their subject matter isn't one the public is very likely to warm up to: Swedes can get Americans to sing about Dancing Queens but Proletarian Hop? Isn't that a bad word? Frankly, it never seizes to amaze me that so many bands of the Marxist persuasion (e.g. Randy, International Noise Conspiracy) come from this moderately socialist country with the smallest class differences in the world. How do you get radicalised growing up under the comfort and security of the welfare state? On the other hand, a good education, free time and access to information via books and the Internet can also be an eye-opening combination. You don't have to see your neighbour searching for food in the garbage cans (like it's happening in Greece lately) to draw the conclusion that there's something wrong with capitalism. Of course, Randy's not all about politics: They also sing about the thrills of rockin' out (the rockabilly/hardcore of "Chicken Shack", Rancid-meet-AC/DC of "Punk Rock City", Dropkick Murphys-like of "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Punk Rock Flu", Eddie Cochran-referencing "The Heebie Jeebies/Dial 911"). They sing the praises of early rock'n'roll idol Little Richard ("The Human Atom Bombs"), male friendship ("Summer of Bros") and modern slackerdom (the double-speed rockabilly of "Shape Up"). The Buzzcocks-like "Addicts of Communication" is a satirical jab on their generation's mobile phone and Internet fixation. "I Don't Need Love" reverses the Beatles' message to adjust it to the 21st Century, while the Hives/Stooges garage punk of "Keep Us Out of Money" accuses stock market-types for the perpetual poverty of the working class. The Green Day-ish "Karl Marx and History" is about turning protest marches into a joyful celebration driven by the certainty of final victory, because "...so says Karl Marx and history". Thankfully they don't forget to exhibit some self-mocking humour with lines like "We got all kinds of freedom fighters gathered here/We got our friends in the corner over there drinking beer". But the real gems here are a trio of songs that sound as if they've come right out of The Clash's London Calling (and I can't think of any higher praise than that). The same mix of punk rock, ska, latin and rockabilly licks and left-wing sloganeering. On "If We Unite", you could even mistake singer Stefan Granberg for Joe Strummer himself as he sings with conviction "If we unite we can break them". "Freedom Song" is another Clash carbon copy (in the best sense possible) and a mighty enjoyable one, complete with bells chiming and singalong Rama lama ding dong's . "Proletarian Hop" has a ridiculously catchy chorus and guitar riff that would be guaranteed to make it the ultimate frat party anthem, if it wasn't for the lyrics. The song draws a straight line from the Spanish Civil War to today, effectively equating the fascists to today's neo-liberals and urging us to continue the fight: "They say it ended that last year/But the fascists are still here/The war ain't over and the battle ain't won/The struggle, baby, has just begun/It's a war between the classes/The privileged few against the masses/Spanish anarchists said: No pasaran!/I say we stick to that until the war is won". Amen to that!

**** for Addicts of Communication, Karl Marx and History, If We Unite, Proletarian Hop, Rockin' Pneumonia and the Punk Rock Flu, Freedom Song, The Human Atom Bombs

*** for Punk Rock City, Keep Us Out of Money, Summer of Bros, I Don't Need Love, Shape Up, The Heebie Jeebies (Dial 911)

** for Chicken Shack, Whose Side Are You On?, Win or Lose, I Believe in the Company