THE FLESH EATERS: CLUTCH CARGO'S, DETROIT, MI. 7.17.82. SOUNDBOARD RECORDING.

The original crop of juvenile poets calling themselves “punks” in New York were drawn to the style for it’s straightforwardness and it’s malleable confines. Unsophisticated rock music served as the perfect milieu for their verbal torrents. This is unquestionably true for a variety of first wave west coast punk bands but is especially true for the Flesheaters from Los Angeles. Less celebrated to almost a tragic degree when compared to his New York punk contemporaries, Chris Desjardins was ambitious enough to lyrically encompass such topics as murder, vampirism, and having sex with the dead over some of the most demented music backdrops of the era. “A Minute To Pray, a Second to Die” still ranks as one of my favorite records from this period. I suppose that’s not hard to accomplish when you include tracks such as “Digging My Grave”, “See You in the Boneyard”, and “Diving Horseman”. It also doesn’t hurt when you have John Doe and DJ Bonebreak in your backing band either.

This performance is complemented greatly by the fact that this recording is nearly faultless when considering most unreleased live recordings from this era. Much of this may have to do with the gig happening at Clutch Cargo’s as many decent to excellent soundboard tapes have circulated from this venue. This performance recorded for their tour to promote the recently released “Forever Came Today”. The band unselfconsciously tears through 11 tracks with a snarling viciousness. Desjardin’s voice is so sharp that is cuts through the chaos behind it. If you enjoy this recording half as much as I have, you’re certainly in for a treat.

For some reason the song titles to tracks 6 and 10 are escaping me. If you can identify these tracks please post in the comments or drop me a quick email at the address posted on this archive.

Track listing:

1. Home Of The Brave

2. Pretty Sweat

3. Hand Of Glory

4. A Minute To Pray A Second To Die

5. Pony Dress

6. ???

7. Eyes Without A Face

8. Every Time I Call Your Name

9. River Of Fever

10. ???

11. The Wedding

DOWNLOAD:

http://www.mediafire.com/?3mik2g9pjb2s1xt

THE PLASMATICS: BOOKIE'S CLUB 870, DETROIT, MI. 9.20.80. AUDIENCE RECORDING.

To an outsider, the Plasmatics could in all probability be best elucidated as Kiss but with tits. For a brief period, their outlandish behavior earned them some minor mainstream media coverage. To someone more familiar with the group, they represented a magnificent cacophony. Perhaps the greatest thing about the original incarnation of the Plasmatics was the fact that they were masters of artless and uncontrived gimmickry. The band’s image was conceived by ex-porn entrepreneur Rod Swenson and visualized by a squad of total rock n’ roll reprobates. The band is perhaps best defined by their mouthpiece, Wendy O. Williams, who gruffly talks, bellows, barks, and heavy-breathes through some of the finest proto-hardcore our great land has ever heard. Swenson composed all the lyrics of the Plasmatics. This gutter prose involved psychotronic aesthetics consisting of copulation, aggression, and various other superfluous grotesqueries.

Their debut album, “New Hope for the Wretched” is a band captured at their no frills best. There is nothing delicate about this record, which is strangely produced by Jimmy Miller. He is best known for producing the archetypal late 60’s output for the Rolling Stones. Despite the unconcealed spectacle (they were sawing guitars in half and destroying automobiles on stage), there were some bona fide tunes on their first full-length. The tracks hammer on with proto-hardcore locomotion and have stood the test of time.

This audience tape was recorded at the legendary Bookie's Club 970 in Detroit. This was Detroit's first ever punk venue. Homegrown talent such as the Romantics, Sonic Rendezvous Band, Destroy All Monsters, and Wayne Kramer were constantly performing at Bookie's. Virtually every punk touring act from America and the UK would play at Bookie's, thus it made sense that the Plasmatics would rip through this set included here in the fall of '80. The recording quality is pretty good for an audience tape. Download this show and see for yourself!

Track list:

1. Tight Black Pants (incomplete, cuts in)

2. Hitman

3. Monkey Suit

4. Squirm

5. Won't You

6. Test Tube Babies

7. Fast Food Service

8. Sex Junkie

9. Concrete Shoes

10. Living Dead

11. Want You Baby

12. Plasma Jam

13. Want You Baby (Reprise)

14. Sometimes I

15. Headbanger

16. Nothing (slight cut in middle)

17. Corruption

18. Butcher Baby

DOWNLOAD:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zjwmfkm0wqy