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Rip It Up, Issue 171, 1 October 1991, Page 31

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Yeah right, so it's six months later and the second one of these things finally gets written, but life's like that, especially round here. Anyway, there's a ton of stuff to do, so here goes. Sailing The Sea o f Cheese (Interscope) is the record where PRIMUS get to do the almost major label thing, and they also get a little more serious. Mr Claypool's lyrics are getting more and more incisive, there's plenty of the full scale musical pyrotechnics we've come to expect from these guys and there's a studio version of 'Tommy The Cat featuring Tom Waits as Tommy to boot. •• Definitely worth a listen. Unfortunately the same can't be said for MUDHONEY's Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (Sub-Pop) which is downright disappointing. Recorded on eight-track, it sounds like the debut album of a - Mudhoney rip-off band. None of the dynamics or power that made them so damn awesome live. The best track is 'Thom'which has been kicking around on single for a long while. Bit of a bummer really, but apparently they're still one hot tamale live. Probably the month's only real hardcore record, Strap It On (Anphetamine Reptile) from NYC's HELMET. Much like fellow New Yorkers PRONG, these guys kick butt so _> hard your whole family will hurt. Incredibly heavy Sabbath style rifferoma with a very harsh and upset sounding vocalist make this a very damaging record, and an absolutely essential one. I'm sure they're all real nice guys, but boy, they seem pissed about a few things and this record is like therapy. Last up are a couple of absolute gems from Dischord, who can pretty much do no wrong. JAWBOX's Grippe is wonderful, they're a very powerful three piece and at times pretty raw both emotively and musically, although there's definite hints of the k melodic D.C. sound lurking. It's unashamedly upfront and intense, simple hard guitars and a lot of passion—the power trio still reigns supreme. KIRK GEE .

BIG DRILL CAR Batch (Cruz/Jayrem) CHEMICAL PEOPLE Angels'N'Devils (Cruz/Jayrem) DESCENDENTS Somery (SST/Jayrem) TONYALL New Girl, Old Story (Cruz/Jayrem) PowerPopPunk. There, I've invented one of those generic terms so beloved of British Rock magazines, and it's a good one for describing this particular clutch of Californian artistes. These guys all mix melody and catchyness with a touch of anger and downright speed. First up are youngsters Big Drill Car, whose 'Take Awa/ is the archetypal PowerPunkPop song, it's all speed and hooklines and energy and makes you want to jump around wildly, pure pop at its loudest and best. The rest of Batch is also pretty lively, but that one track pretty much leaves everything else in shadow. Labelmates Chemical People are pretty much shadowed too. They seem nice enough boys with a serious interest in pornography and they have the

Hernandez Bros do their album covers, but there's not really a lot else happening here. Angels'N'Devils is a six-tracker leaning more towards the rockier side of things without being a standout in any way, except for a dumb rap song that's quite annoying. Things get a little complex now, as we try to vaguely track the Descendents/AII saga. The Descendents are pretty much the Grandfathers of this 'sound', existing from 'Bl til 'B7, they pretty much articulated life for all the suburban punk misfits through heartfelt tomes like 'I Don't Want To Grow Up'. They were thrashing furiously one minute, then they would produce a brilliantly melodic paean of teen angst the next. Somery is a double album collection from throughout the Descendents. career, and it covers things nicely. Maybe I'm as big a geek as the Descendents, but this is noisy, fun and certainly beats listening to the radio, so it'll do me fine. Post 'B7, the Descendents changed their name to All and just kept doing what they do best, only with a different vocalist. Tony All seems to be an album featuring the bassist singing his songs with the band along for the ride and frankly it's quite awful. There's a couple of magic moments like 'Guitar Case', but most of this sounds like the guys who failed the auditions to be in the Monkees or the Knack, really soft and lame with truly horrible vocals. Don't let this put you off All's recordings though, as most everything else I've heard has been fine, and I saw these guys transform a pit of a San Fran club into a maelstrom of arms, legs and bodies flying everywhere through sheer energy, enthusiasm and some damn fine songs, which is after all, exactly what PowerPopPunk is about. KIRK SCREAMING TREES Anthology (SST/Jayrem) The Screaming Trees have pretty much followed the alternative path to success. A bunch of albums and solo things on very hip indie labels, (SST and Sub Pop) then the big deal with a major and a critically acclaimed album, Uncle Anesthesia. With this sort of • success, it's natural the back catalogue ; is raided, and thus SST have culled 21 tracks off their four releases from the 'BS to 'B9 period. This stuff bears little . resemblance to the gloom rock the Screaming Trees seem to specialise in

now, ifs all intensely 70s sounding. Mark Lanegan's voice is a lot rawer

and the band a lot messier, at times they seem like a Southern backwoods

version of Them, at others like the Long Riders punkin' out. This one will be a hit at all those alternative parties before the Mogadon kicks in. KIRK GEE

IGNORANCE The Confident Rat (Metal Blade) Thrash huh? Ifs a wild and crazy genre, you can tell by the way these guys are rolling all over each other and wearing shorts, hightops and colourful shirts even though they're all over 16 and when you actually put the thing on ifs about as wacky as the cover. Don't get me wrong, ifs all very well played and everything, and I'm sure it will sate the diehard fans of this sort of thing, but ifs just sort of nowheresville. The lads just chug along

and the excitement is meant to come from some predictable funk basslines (enough already, I need more funky metal like I need rabies) and a couple of sincere, serious bits like 'Vl'hy' which make me think of fuckin' Yes or

something equally scary. Why do so many metal bands sound way 70's now? I'm sorry, but Anthrax are just Styx or Journey or something of that ilk sped up, and even our own Ultimate are so much like Iron Maiden I expect that puppet thing to appear. Maybe I'm getting old, but I think I'll stick to Slayer thank you, and leave this for the young uns. I never did have the legs for shorts anyway.

KIRK GEE