VA - Rubaiyat [Elektra's 40th Anniversary

First up, belated Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year to all of you!!!

As usual, I'm late again. But I'm really, really busy. Anyway, enough about that.

I got this comp on a cassette first. The two cassettes were each sold separately. So, I bought the one with Metallica covering Stone Cold Crazy. I was into the whole thrash thing at the moment and it's the sanest thing to do. Satisfied with (I think) cassette 2, I bought the other one a week after. It's not the greatest compilation but it has some flashes of brilliance here and there. You be the judge...

Here's the tracklist

CD 1

1. The Cure: "Hello, I Love You" (the Doors, 1968)

2. Tracy Chapman: "The House of the Rising Sun" (Glenn Yarbrough, 1957)

3. Billy Bragg: "7 and 7 Is" (Love, 1966)

4. Jevetta Steele: "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (New Seekers, 1971)

5. Gipsy Kings: "Hotel California" (Eagles 1976)

6. The Black Velvet Band: "Werewolves of London" (Warren Zevon, 1978)

7. The Sugarcubes: "Motorcycle Mama" (Sailcat, 1972)

8. Shinehead: "One Meatball" (Josh White, 1956)

9. The Havalinas: "Bottle of Wine" (Tom Paxton, 1965)

10. Pixies: "Born in Chicago" (Paul Butterfield Blues Band, 1965)

11. Faster Pussycat: "You're So Vain" (Carly Simon, 1972)

12. Kronos Quartet: "Marquee Moon" (Television, 1977)

13. Phoebe Snow: "Get Ourselves Together" (Delaney & Bonnie, 1968)

14. Happy Mondays: "Tokoloshe Man" (John Kongos, 1972)

15. Ernie Isley: "Let's Go" (The Cars, 1979)

16. Lynch Mob: "Going Down" (Don Nix and the Alabama State Troopers, 1972)

17. Arto Lindsay & The Ambitious Lovers: "A Little Bit of Rain" (Fred Neil, 1965)

18. Anita Baker: "You Belong to Me" (Carly Simon, 1978)

19. Howard Jones: "Road to Cairo" (David Ackles, 1968)

[edit] CD 2

1. The Big F: "Kick Out the Jams" (MC5, 1969)

2. The Georgia Satellites: "Almost Saturday Night/Rockin' All Over the World" (Status Quo, 1975)

3. Sara Hickman: "Hello, I Am Your Heart" (Dennis Linde, 1973)

4. Teddy Pendergrass: "Make It with You" (Bread, 1970)

5. Linda Ronstadt: "The Blacksmith" (a cappella) (Kathy & Carol, 1965)

6. Bill Frisell, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz: "Going Going Gone" (Bob Dylan, 1974)

7. Jackson Browne: "First Girl I Loved" (The Incredible String Band, 1967)

8. 10,000 Maniacs: "These Days" (Jackson Browne, 1973)

9. Metallica: "Stone Cold Crazy" (Queen, 1974)

10. Danny Gatton: "Apricot Brandy" (Rhinoceros, 1968)

11. Shaking Family: "Union Man" (The Cate Brothers, 1975)

12. They Might Be Giants: "One More Parade" (Phil Ochs, 1964)

13. Howard Hewett: "I Can't Tell You Why" (Eagles, 1979)

14. Leaders of the New School: "Mt. Airy Groove" (Pieces Of A Dream, 1982)

15. Shirley Murdock: "You Brought The Sunshine" (The Clark Sisters, 1983)

16. John Eddie: "Inbetween Days" (The Cure, 1985)

17. The Beautiful South: "Love Wars" (Womack & Womack, 1983)

18. Michael Feinstein: "Both Sides Now" (Judy Collins, 1967)

19. John Zorn: "T.V. Eye" (The Stooges, 1970)

20. The Cure: "Hello, I Love You" (slight return)

Download Part 1

Download Part 2

Download Part 3

Rattus - Levytykset 1981-1984 Recorded Works

RATTUS was formed in the spring of 1978 by Jake and Vellu who started to play mostly English punk bands´ songs just for fun (Sex Pistols, Damned, Clash, etc.). A few weeks later they asked Jake´s brother Tomppa to join the band and so he did.

The name RATTUS was taken from the first Lp of THE STRANGLERS, "Rattus Norvegicus". RATTUS is latin meaning a rat, a very big rat. In the early days RATTUS did shows only in their hometown and near of it.

In 1980 RATTUS released their 1st record, a 2-song 7" on their own ´Hilipili records´ label. Only 200 copies were made and sold mostly to friends.

The 2nd record was recorded the same year and released in the beginning of 1981,again on Hilipili records. 200 were made in the 1st pressing and 100 more were made,including 50 of those,which were sent to England as a recordstore/mailorder called Bullet records really liked the band (also other early Finninsh punk bands!!!) and wanted to help out selling in England.

After that Poko Records label (also a record store called Epe´s) signed the band and the next four records (1x 12" + 1x 7" + 2x 12") were released on Poko,they were all combined on one Cd (recorded works 1981 - 1984) which was released in 1993.

In november 1981 RATTUS supported The Exploited on their three date tour in Finland. RATTUS was also supposed to support the Dead Kennedys in december but somehow didn´t make it. (Jello Biafra heard about it years later and wasn´t very happy that RATTUS wasn´t the support band).

At the beginning of 1983, the search for singer began, since Jake wanted to concentrate on playing guitar. At first rehearsals were done with band´s old friend Astro. You can check some tracks here. At last, the band chose Annikki, who was the second choice after Astro. Annikki had been with band as roadie since the beginning so the choice was quite natural.

The 1st time RATTUS played outside of Finland was in Arhus, Denmark (1983).

In the spring of 1984 RATTUS did a four week European tour playing shows in Sweden, Germany, Holland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Denmark and England.

In january of 1984 rattus recorded songs for "Ihmiset on sairaita" Ep and Poko records was supposed to release it but then the boss of Poko thought that punk wasn´t selling enough anymore and said that RATTUS should try to find another label to release it. That label wasn´t found until spring of 1985 when a new label called Ann & Archies records released it as their 1st release. Those tracks were included on Brazilian version of "Uskonto on vaara", which now has 15 tracks (well, I´d like count ´Medley´ as three tracks here...) and is a full killer Lp !!! One of these songs is on Maximum Rock´n´Roll ´Welcome to 1984´ compilation Lp.

At the time members of RATTUS started to listen more and more metal (Metallica, Slayer and VENOM) and songs also started to sound more metal. Annikki wasn´t good enough anymore in the new style and Jake took on the vocals in march of 1986. Anyway, two new, more metallic tracks, with Annikki doing the vocals, were released on "Have a rotten chrismas Vol II" compilation.

So, Jake started to sing again and band was also again a three-piece.

In july RATTUS recorded a new Lp but the label Dekadenz, who also paid the studios, wasn´t too happy with new, more metallic material. Album "Stolen Life" was left to be released later in France and Brazil.

A new member Kari joined band as a 2nd guitarist in december of 1986. First shows with new lineup took place in Sweden and denmark in february 1987. Most of the crowd were expecting for old HC-punk sound and were disappointed to what they heard.

In november 1987, RATTUS recorded a 2-song 7" which became their last official recording.

Rattus broke up in february 1988. Last show was in Jyväskylä 15th january 1988. [Story taken from Rattus-Fanzine and liner-notes of "RATTUS-Täältä tullaan kuolema" Cd.]

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Black Flag - Everything Went Black

"There is no way to review an album like this without starting a major war." [from punknews.org]

That being said, I'm not gonna.

A little bit of background to those of you who are new to Black Flag (?). I don't know if that person actually existed. Well, just in case... This is a collection of pre-Rollins Black Flag. It consisted of works from the his three predecessors - Keith Morris, Ron Reyes [Chavo], and Dez Cadena. Enjoy!!!

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Suicidal Tendencies - the Art of Rebellion

"On the group's earliest albums, vocalist Mike Muir specialized in intense, angst-ridden rants, harrowing but one-dimensional. He has since developed into a rock-solid vocalist, his voice a powerful and fluid instrument. Muir still delivers emotionally ferocious spoken-word segments on "Nobody Hears" and "I Wasn't Meant to Hear This," but the trademark is woven into good songs rather than being an end onto itself. A clenched fist in a velvet glove -- or is it an open hand in chain mail? -- whichever, The Art of Rebellion packs a punch that should win over new devotees while maintaining the group's hardcore following."[AMG]

In my opinion, this is their "alternative" album. I bought two cassettes of this one because I kind of overplayed the first one, and I almost overplayed the next cassette until I finally bought the CD. Their sound is fresh but never strayed very far from their roots. It only shows the maturity of the band, especially Mike Muir. My favorite here is I'll Hate You Better. I just love the lyrics - "my hate is better to give than to recieve" just to name a one. Plus, I'm a fan of Josh Freese of the Vandals and he played drums on this album!

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Suicidal Tendencies - Join the Army

According to some pundits, this is a bad album but I beg to disagree. I love this album! They maybe suffering from some identity crisis - to crossover to thrash metal or to stay in hardcore? But overall this is not bad as it seems. I think, I read somewhere that this is the only hardcore album to crack the Billboard's Top 200 Charts. Not that it actually mattered to hardcore fans but it's still a mean feat nonetheless. I don't know if my memory served me right, so you can correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

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Suicidal Tendencies - Self-Titled

"Fast, furious, and funny, Suicidal Tendencies' self-titled debut owed much more to hardcore punk than to the later hardcore/heavy metal hybrid they would become known for, but it's still quite possibly their best album. Mike Muir proves himself an articulate lyricist and commentator, delving into subjects like alienation, depression, and nonconformist politics with intelligence and humor. The band behind him is aggressive and speedy, but never sinks into an overly fast sonic blur. Contains the classic rant "Institutionalized."[AMG]

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