Favourite SST Release of... 1985

It was a budget-priced sampler but I bought it second hand anyway iirc

Ginn is like the of Sam Phillips of punk. This electronics geek who curated this brilliant explosion in music, immensely radical in a way, but ends up a dottering good ol' boy.

voted My First Bells as the only one I wore the fuck out back in the day

gotta give SST props for realizing the one truly punk move left in 1985 is to become hippies.

painted willie votes give you an auto 51 correct?

It's true that October Faction sucked, but the album cover was super awesome!

Angst were kind of like a more earnest Violent Femmes iirc.

3 Way Tie has always been a heartbreaking disappointment to me.

Loose Nut and In My Head the beginning of the sweet-riffs-but-dead-soul Black Flag era.

My First Bells is the fucking elephant in the room, good christ it's EVERYTHING BEFORE DBL NCKLS ON 1 CASSETTE ppl! So unfair that I don't think I can conscientiously even vote for it.

Bloody battle between New Day Rising and Up On The Sun for me, and once again I don't think I can resolve it.

my first bells was a comp of all the new alliance stuff (less Georgeless?).

uh, new alliance was acquired by SST (early 1986 iirc) after D.Boon died as Watt thought that would be the best way to keep the releases in print.

the point is that most of us (not all, but most... esp britishers) bought new alliance releases (esp minutemen, descendents) when they were rereleased on SST and probably had no idea that they ever were origianlly released on new alliance until much later into music nerddom.

Did not know that! So... Nickels was the first one to be released on SST...?

Nope, My First Bells was everything they put out on both SST and New Alliance from 1980 to 1983, plus some tracks on comps put out by other labels (Maybe a Posh Boy one? I dunno).

I think the Minutemen and Descendents stuff on New Alliance was the only stuff to get re-released on SST. Maybe Husker Du too (was Land Speed Record on New Alliance? Jello put it out on AT's UK imprint I read once).

New Day Rising is an easy, if boring, pick for me here - never felt Flip Your Wig quite as much and if anything else here was a contender for me, it'd probably be Up on the Sun which I got into much much later.

The next couple years of SST are gonna be harder for me I think, and it's not out of any major love for Zoogz Rift. 1987 is going to be almost impossible to feel good about.

I'm busy going through therapy to deal with the inevitable disappointment when Zoogz gets robbed in the upcoming polls...

#31 and #39 were the soundtracks to my best summer ever. "Swimming Ground" was prophetic. We actually found our very own swimming ground that summer.

Amongst the first releases on New Alliance were Hüsker Dü's first album Land Speed Record and the Minutemen's second-ever release, the seven-inch EP Joy. Eventually the label grew to nurture the early career of the Descendents, issue various-artist compilation albums (such as Mighty Feeble), and release other recordings by The Minutemen (The Politics Of Time) and Hüsker Dü (the In A Free Land EP). The label showcased a number of post-punk bands from the South Bay area of southern California, notably Slovenly, Phantom Opera, and Invisiblechains.

After D. Boon's car-accident death in 1985 and the increasingly busier schedule of Watt's post-Minutemen band fIREHOSE, Watt and Tamburovich sold New Alliance to SST in 1987. Greg Ginn, SST's owner and Black Flag's guitarist, proceeded to transfer all of The Minutemen and Descendents back catalog and Hüsker Dü's Land Speed Record to SST and turned New Alliance into a subsidiary label of SST that concentrated on more adventurous and non-mainstream records, including jazz, instrumental, poetry, and spoken-word releases.

xxp

IIRC Politics Of Time was the only rilly important thing left off My First Bells.

Ah, the Mersh era, in which production actually does become the enemy of the music--post-Damaged Black Flag really only got it right with Slip It In, imho, though there are great songs on both Loose Nut and esp. In My Head. But too much vocal echo! And what's with the drum sound on 3-Way Tie? It's over at this thread where Tom Troccoli 'splained some of that drama:

Taking Sides: Keith Morris vs. Ron "Chavo Pederast" Reyes vs. Dez Cadena vs. Henry Rollins -- BLACK FLAG VOCALIST SMACKDOWN!

Flip Your Wig has "Games" and other greatness, but feels antiseptic. Which leaves New Day Rising (my vote), Project: Mersh (whose cover art, "King of the Hill," and "Take Our Test" I probably love more than all of New Day Rising, but an EP with filler is a bad sign), and Up on the Sun (whose "Maiden's Milk" I played at our wedding dinner). I never liked "Makes No Sense at All," but "Love Is All Around" is the immortal b-side. And I should say, I do love a lot of 3-Way Tie, "The Big Stick," "Courage," "What Is It?"

What else on this list is great? I was still buying records with allowance money at this point.

x-post: To clear up any confusion, I think these polls list the original SST catalog/release numbers, so Minutemen's first EP (Paranoid Time, SST 002, which is included) was the second SST release, and their second EP (Joy, originally released on New Alliance) won't be included until the '87 poll, where it appeared on "Post-Mersh, Vol. 3." The Punch Line was the first SST LP. I was under the impression Minutemen set up New Alliance to release Husker Du's Land Speed Record--which SST also eventually reissued (along with all the Minutemen stuff)--but I'm looking at my New Alliance-issued original copy and its catalog number is NAR-007, so there were six other records. And now Wikipedia has cleared up my mistake:

http://www.discogs.com/label/New+Alliance+Records

Re: Tar Babies, it won't beat Sister but I might vote for Fried Milk in '87, one of the great "lost" SST albums.

I fkin LOVE Fried Milk!

'I heard you're mad you're mad about the dogs/they stole your mama/in the middle of the night!'

Did that never come out on CD?

Not that I ever saw, actually.

Actually, I don't have the vinyl anymore and now am filled with regret.

Tar Babies were really, really fun live.

Agree about Fried Milk, the one right after it was pretty good too, but a lot more straight forward at being funky iirc. Only saw Tar Babies live once, on an SST double-header with Das Damen.

Where does Cruz fit into the whole SST family tree?

On the basis of the Colonel's description, it's kinda tempting to vote for that "7 Inch Wonders" collection. Which is a pretty weird thing to do, voting for something you've never owned or even heard in its entirety, but that's one of the quirky side effects of including compilations in a poll. And even though voting for a comp feels kinda like cheating, My First Bells is probably my favourite cassette of all time, so I can't overlook that.

I'll have to wait for the '86 poll to risk the wrath of J0hn D. by voting for The Second Factionalization, hahaha. (j/k)

86 is prob gonna be Mirage for me.

ANy takers for Minuteflag?

xxxpost

Cruz was basically the pop punk/grunge label, was it not? Stuff that didn't really fit with SST's avant rock jazz chin-stroky whatever direction at the time. Also, Ginn's solo albums came out on Cruz -- I've never heard any of those, are they much cop?

I've still never HEARD minuteflag! I like that George plays 'bean can' on that one...

...that's probably the best thing you can say about it IMO.

Never heard any solo Ginn, obviously SST was too small to contain his full genius?

an EP with filler is a bad sign

see also: guided by voices

pop fan that i am, it took me forever to "get" double nickels whereas project: mersh and 3-way tieimmediately clobbered me over the head with their catchiness, their smarts, their strange ambition, their greatness. both perfect records in my book. i count double nickels as pretty much perfect, too, but that took a lot longer for me and it's a different year anyway.

new day rising has so many jaw-dropping songs on it, but it's never been my favorite husker du album the way the two 1985 minutemen releases are my favorite minutemen records. which probably makes me minutemenly incorrect. but whatever.

still deciding which one of em gets my vote. leaning toward mersh since i have a strong feeling that's all it's gonna get.

(also, i realize mersh ends with 5 minutes of "filler" but i kinda love it.)

(also also, i love how watt corrects/updates the line "i dreamed i was e. bloom but i woke up joe bouchard" in the printed lyrics.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUJ8dcLxFVg

otm - Mersh and 3-Way were far from disappointing but More Minutemen! esp. after D's death

two thoughts on that video.

d. boon rolls himself down that hill for quite some time. impressive!

the silhouette-like shot at the end makes it fairly clear that george hurley was actually sideshow bob.

def new day rising

d. boon rolls himself down that hill for quite some time. impressive!

Especially when you're stuffed full of shite off the barbecue.

um people

My First Bells is the fucking elephant in the room, good christ it's EVERYTHING BEFORE DBL NCKLS ON 1 CASSETTE ppl! So unfair that I don't think I can conscientiously even vote for it.

I CAN AND WILL

1. Flip Your Wig, 2. "Makes No Sense at All," 3. New Day Rising. Then all those other bands.

if that's your prediction, then I'm sure it's gonna be way off :)

Choosing The Process of Weeding Out was somewhat automatic of me--it's my favorite Black Flag record, and my favorite Black Flag record is inherently prized over my favorite Husker Du or Minutemen or Meat Puppets record for reasons wholly personal and insane.

The insane reasons: I'm partial to post-Damaged Black Flag already--the records are all uneven (except for In My Head, which I almost voted for) and are either abominably produced or recorded, but it's riveting to hear them expand beyond hardcore (as it is with most of the SST bands represented here), whether engaging with thick metal structures or letting Greg Ginn indulge his Ornette Coleman obsession for a whole side. Which is something that Family Man had, these weird, half-formed instrumentals that circled with menace! But there was also that pretty awful Henry Rollins spoken-word side.

The Process of Weeding Out has no Henry at all. Thus, perfect! All Kira drawing bass circles, Greg Ginn eradicating the residual with his onslaught of pink noise and awful soloing that I like to construe as "free."

But there was also that pretty awful Henry Rollins spoken-word side.

Let your fingers do the walkin' let your fingers do the walkin' let your fingers do the walkin'

She ate the chocolates and watched TV. He... BLEW HIS BRAINS OUT.

While someone on a bus PUKES ON AN OLD LADY
PUKES ON AN OLD LADY!!!

Oh wait that was Kickboy Face.

Who will get 0 votes this time out?

"Up on the Sun"... voted for it, I mean

... only time I've voted (or will vote) in any of these SST polls

can I just

My First Bells 1980-83
1985

Cassette-only.

CT: 1985 US SST SST 032

Paranoid Time:
Validation
The Maze
Definitions
Sickles and Hammers
Fascist
Joe McCarthy's Ghost
Paranoid Chant

Cracks in the Sidewalk:
9:30 May 2

Chunks:
Clocks

Joy:
Joy
Black Sheep
More Joy

The Punch Line:
Search
Tension
Games
Boiling
Disguises
The Struggle
Monuments
Ruins
Issued
The Punch Line
Song for El Salvador
History Lesson
Fanatics
No Parade
Straight Jacket
Gravity
Warfare
Static

“bean-spill” e.p.:
Split Red
If Reagan Played Disco
Case Closed
Afternoons
Futurism Restated

Life is Beautiful, So Why Not Eat Health Foods?:
Prelude (Bolan)

What Makes a Man Start Fires?:
Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
One Chapter In The Book
Beacon Sighted Through Fog
Fake Contest
Mutiny in Jonestown
Pure Joy
Faith/East Wind
'99
The Anchor
Sell or Be Sold
The Only Minority
Split Red
Colors
Plight
This Road
The Tin Roof
Life As a Rehearsal
Polarity

Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat:
Self-Referenced
Cut
Dream Told By Moto
Dreams are Free, Motherfucker!
The Toe Jam
I Felt Like a Gringo
The Product
Little Man With a Gun in His Hand

this would be a good place to confess I never liked any husker du album before or after zen arcade

this would be a good place to confess I never liked any meat puppets album before or after zen arcade

(ok, ii is good)

OOPS!

this would be a good place to confess I never liked any meat puppets album before or after up on the sun

(ok, ii is good)

want to vote for worldbroken, can't

I would not have imagined ZR played out a lot.

Full disclosure I listened to Island of Living Puke about a hundred times in the late 80s

Full disclosure I wore the grooves clean on Always August "Largeness With (W)holes" in 1987 or so