Panik
This post was gonna be about the 1970s Cleveland rock time capsule Those Were Different Times, put out on triple 10" by Scat Records (GBV, Cobra Verde, etc.) in the late '90s. But then I realized a) it's still in print on CD and b) arguably the three best tracks are already available for download direct from Scat. So check it .... the bands collected on the comp are the Mirrors (V.U. influenced gtr jams), Electric Eels (fucked nihilistic noiserock) and Styrenes.
(Edit: I probably should have flagged the questionable racial content in the lyrics to the Eels' "Spinach Blasters." From what I understand, these guys were the sort of shit-starters who would dance cheek to cheek with each other in bars just to provoke fights and give homophobes bloody noses. So I don't think any malice is meant by it. But sorry if anyone was taken aback.)
Pere Ubu, Datapanik in the Year Zero (Geffen 1996)
Instead, let's bring out Cleveland's big guns, Pere Ubu, and the box set that took them (in my malformed college radio mindset) from over-the-hill so-and-so's who toured with They Might Be Giants (no joke, I saw the show - Ubu was good!) to art-rock godhead. Around the same time, a 4x7" package of the reissued Hearthen Singles (essentially the first half of disc one of Datapanik) came out, including "Final Solution" .... if you see that bright yellow box, don't hesitate.
To tie it all together, disc five of this thing is a Cleveland scene primer of sorts called "Terminal Drive," featuring Eels, Mirrors, Rocket From the Tombs (the group featuring Peter Laughner that mutated into Ubu) and many others. (The quote that ends the post is from the "Terminal Drive" liner notes.)
<< Home