Since it's probably the best rock record that's going to come out this year: Death (detroit proto punk not metal band) - "...For The Whole World To See" Thread

Just got this, I guess Drag City already sold out their second pressing but some might still be in stores....The Brothers Hackney see the Stooges, abandon soul for super tight and moving pre-punk punk...seriously it's not often these "great lost" records live up to the hype but this thing has just been inspiring me right now. So much live in this record.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/15/arts/15rubi_600.jpg

Forgotten except by the most fervent punk rock record collectors — the band’s self-released 1976 single recently traded hands for the equivalent of $800 — Death would likely have remained lost in obscurity if not for the discovery last year of a 1974 demo tape in Bobby Sr.’s attic. Released last month by Drag City Records as “... For the Whole World to See,” Death’s newly unearthed recordings reveal a remarkable missing link between the high-energy hard rock of Detroit bands like the Stooges and MC5 from the late 1960s and early ’70s and the high-velocity assault of punk from its breakthrough years of 1976 and ’77. Death’s songs “Politicians in My Eyes,” “Keep On Knocking” and “Freakin Out” are scorching blasts of feral ur-punk, making the brothers unwitting artistic kin to their punk-pioneer contemporaries the Ramones, in New York; Rocket From the Tombs, in Cleveland; and the Saints, in Brisbane, Australia. They also preceded Bad Brains, the most celebrated African-American punk band, by almost five years.

You should definitely read the very fascinating backstory to the Death saga...great article in the NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/music/15rubi.html&OQ=_rQ3D2Q26pagewantedQ3D1Q26em&OP=74954067Q2FL-Q5C!LBIQ26r0IInVLVQ3EQ3EcLQ3EiLQ23CLf0nrLYdrjQ26LQ23C0d!jeZnYQ24

apologies if this thread exists...obv searching "death" on ILX is a tough one.

but moreover seriously if you like rock music at all you NEED this.

dusted mag review + MP3 of "politicians in my eyes"

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4789

http://ventvox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/51013isky7l_ss500_1.jpg

heard about this on fresh air, lawl! sounded really good

I already want this badly!

Def. good stuff. The only thing I will say is that I'm not totally sold on the connection here to punk. To me it sounds like very good 70s rock. Sometimes it seems like people use "punk" as an adjective to indicate "This is actually good rock music!" Like if it weren't somehow connected to punk, pre or proto or post, it would suck. The band may well have had some kind of punk connection, but I don't hear it so much in the music. "Keep on Knockin'" sounds kind of like the closing theme to WKRP in Cincinnati, which is a big compliment.

man I dunno parts like the "I'm freeeekinn out - FREEKIN OUT" starts and stops sound like 80s hardcore moves to me...

but yeah I hear some Thin Lizzy in there too IMO

but I mean all proto-punk stuff sounds like 70s rock because it was 70s rock...a lot of punk-punk sounds like 70s rock...

but I mean the dudes were inspired to do it by the Stooges, which is sort of what punk IS to me, in a lot of ways...dudes that did something because of the stooges.

buuuuuuuuuut........this record is great and we should talk about it not get bogged down in a "what is punk" debate : )

Yeah, that may just be a stray idea not nec. germane to this discussion.

I liked the two tracks from the 7" when I listened a while back but it was accompanied by a bunch of people saying "wow this is like Bad Brains!" which came off as suspect for fairly obv reasons

yeah bad brains i don't hear at all. sometimes his voice does remind me of hendrix a little but he's a way better singer.

the drummer is so tight! it's nice to cuz usually (for the lack of a better term) proto-punk stuff is inherently a little on the sloppy side but these dudes are nailed down, really awesome

the fast singing on "politicians in my eyes" reminds me a little of early HR, but the "OMG BAD BRAINS TOTALLY PROBABLY LISTEND TO DEATH" thing is silly. i really like this record, just wish it was longer.

still can't believe they turned into the 4th movement (jesus rock!).

Also I guess the Lambsbread they turned into are the same ones that one runs into when one googles for the noize dudes?

have to get this -- thought i was getting a promo, but alas.

I sort of like that stoned, spacey beginning to "let the world turn"...totes reminds me of shuggie otis

I actually hear more Love (circa "7 and 7 Is") in their sound (esp. in "You're A Prisoner") than the Stooges (or Thin Lizzy.) Definitely hear some MC5 residue though. And I do think it's real good. Weird (and kinda cool, in a way) that the two most rocking songs are saved for the very end. (Also, buyers should be aware that the "album" is really more like an EP -- seven songs, less than 25 minutes. Though in my book that probably just makes it better.)

ok, stooges/mc5 + love + shuggie def. sells it better than the Bad Brains comparisons for me. i like bad brains, but ...

the "OMG BAD BRAINS TOTALLY PROBABLY LISTEND TO DEATH" thing is silly

Especially because Bad Brains were listening to Budgie and Angel and jazz fusion in the '70s, and nobody ever calls that stuff punk, I don't think.

yeah, right? could be wrong, but didn't Bad Brains kind of turn to hardcore as a lark, and then it turned out they were better at it than anyone else?

xp That said, I do think Death feel emotionally and sonically punk rock in ways Budgie and Angel and jazz fusion usually didn't. (But then, Love's "Seven And Seven Is" and lots of MC5 songs feel punk to me, too. So it's not like Death were any more "ahead of their time" than lots of other bands were; they were behind their time -- as in, post-'60s-garage -- just as much. And probably part of what makes them more punk than Budgie or Angel is just that Budgie and Angel were better musicians.)

so, this sounds kinda like Bad Brains...?

yeah, right? could be wrong, but didn't Bad Brains kind of turn to hardcore as a lark, and then it turned out they were better at it than anyone else?

I doubt it, there was no hardcore (apart from Middle Class) at the time! Unless you mean punk I guess, then possibly although I don't think so.

...

I think Death sounds like Sonic's Rendezvous Band. It is a really great record!

xhuxk, i dunno, i GUESS budgie is better musicians but mostly it's probably cuz their ploddy tempos were easier to play....I don't hear a lot of amateurism in Death at all! I was commenting up thread how tight they are compared to a lot of stuff like this.

angel just kind of sucks IMO

If by hardcore you mean 'playing really really fast' that has an element of truth I think xxxp

so, this sounds kinda like Bad Brains...?

no imo.

It does sound bitching.

(tho xpost to myself: maybe budgie just sounds ploddy to me -- and i DO like budgie -- because i heard the metallica versions of crash course and breadfan first)

that's kinda good enough I suppose.

actually, i said they didn't sound like Bad Brains too quickly. Freakin' out sounds a little bit Bad Brainsy vocally. But probably not the most obvious reference.

If by hardcore you mean 'playing really really fast' that has an element of truth I think xxxp
yeah that's basically what i mean

wasn't hardcore just playing punk really fast?

It sounds like I definitely need this.

i would be real surprised if you didn't like it bill

It sounds like it-I read the NYT article when it came out, and I was intrigued-but this thread is sealing the deal.

drag city reissues department is on a ROLL

Red Hash....Bill Fay...those are two i've gotten fairly recently what else?

Nimrod Workman if that counts as a reissue

Yahowa13 Magnificence in the Memory - June 23, 2009

also that JT IV thing from last year is worth hunting down

this is pretty nice. like the guitar stabs on "politicians". never heard of these guys before.

i mostly meant the JTIV, death, royal trux reissues, and the upcoming george-edwards group LP

too bad their catalog isnt bigger. Someone could start a Death v. Death poll. These guys would have to be really good to win that.

i dont understand...this band was from the 70s, but they're releasing their first album now? are they dead?

oh d'oh maybe i should read that times piece

whoa this is good

wow...this is great.

I hear some judas preist in rock n roll victim, mostly in the guitar. Politicians in my eyes sounds kind of post-punk to me.

wow...this is great.

hell yes. i love this record. sounds plenty punky to me, or proto-punky, whatever. it rocks. really wish there was more to be unearthed somewhere.

yeah it's a bit like that crushed butler EP, you want more (but this is way better than crushed butler)

Politicians in my eyes sounds kind of post-punk to me.

yeah, that's what I thought when somebody leonardo'd the single last year. if I closed my eyes and ignored the chorus I'd say it was a ruts outtake.

since there isn't a thread for it and it got mentioned upthread and the thread is already derailed i just wanna say how much i love gary higgins 'red hash'

yeah that album is magickal

it's a great record, but i think it would have played very differently in the media if it were some young white guys

i wonder if there is bruce springsteen of every country???

Not just one. Norway has two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBDVA3gVmO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF9-wLmmlpk

And Sweden has two as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuOUev9EgI8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w1lCmXblKQ

At least one of those has to be John Mellencamp. Can't have two Springsteens or space-time would collapse.

Maybe that. Or Bob Seger. Or John Cafferty.

Left wing rocker Mikael Wiehe is the Swedish Little Steven, so that one is already occupied.

Canada has Bryan Adams.

American TV Anchor: But, Mr. Minister, it isn't like this film is the first troublesome thing to come out of Canada. Let us not forget Bryan Adams.
Canadian Film Minister: Now, now, the Canadian Government has apologized for Bryan Adams on several occasions!

White Guys On Bacon (EZ Snappin)

oh man, good one

You can have it. I'm not really a nickname kinda dude.

so i listened to most of this. should i say anything or do you all want to be surprised?

spill it seward

I like that the first Norwegian Springsteen Geir linked to looks like Lewis Grizzard

well i think if you dig the other stuff then you will want this. but just so you know its not like this is a finished album that never saw the light of day. there is a fair amount of unfinished-sounding/studio jam material. sounds like they had time to hash out some material for a day or two in a studio. the sound is pretty rough. but there are some definite gem-like moments. its skeletal though. i don't know the chronology of this stuff. guessing it was recorded before the politicians stuff? (and there really isn't anything on this as great as politicians or rock & roll victim or whatever.) still, it's fun to hear these guys play. (and if you are a devotee of great rock "1-2-3-4!" count off intros, death are right up there with the greats.)

sounds sweet, I'm a guy who digs listening to demos and boots so

I also eat bacon while I shape my unibrow

Edward minus bacon:

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kx8732NuRY1qzp1zzo1_500.jpg

bacon out of frame obv

not that this thread has much to do with death or their record anymore, but i'm a bit surprised by the blanket rejection of bad brains comparisons. not like dude's a dead ringer or anything, but bobby hackney sounds a lot like HR to me, song after song. and "freakin out" on the whole, hell yeah.

I was a little bummed when I found out the whole story and realized that wasn't an album cover designed in the 70s. Still a great album cover though.

I repeat: ridiculously overrated band / record.

so wrong. listened to it five times this afternoon. ridiculously great band / record, like every song on it is fucking classic. side 2 especially.

i like this album and tbh i'm kinda having a kneejerk reaction to someone calling it overrated. not because it's above reproach or anything but it's been just setting around for years not being heard by anyone. i don't wanna be the one to rain on their parade

i do wonder what sort of reception this album would've received if it would've had a proper release way back when.

It's probably somewhere between "ridiculously overrated" and "every song on it is a fucking classic" (most records are).

yeah, okay, fair enough. i really like it though, my kinda thing in every respect. wouldn't hold it up as an avatar of the divine, like say funhouse, but it's at least as good as simply saucer's cyborgs revisited: high praise so far as i'm concerned.

heard the new one -- some very cool stuff, and some serious barrel scraping. still, if you like the first one, you want this.

It's pretty marginal -- Outtakes and demos, mainly. And a drum solo masquerading as a song. Not anywhere near as must-own as the first one. But yeah, there are some okay tracks on the album's first half: Including one that sounds an awful lot like "Got To Get You Into My Life" by the Beatles.

Also one that could almost be Bad Brains, a decade early.

yeah, no way that beatles thing is an accident. and the drum/bass solos are kind of a waste.

xp Or half a decade, three quarters, whatever. (Nothing on the first one made me think Bad Brains, fwiw -- talked about that upthread, I think. And obviously I'm still not saying this means Bad Brains actually heard them back then, or anything.)

Don't the liner notes say something about that one song being their tribute to the Beatles, actually? (Don't have the CD booklet in front of me.)

Playing California in February:

Friday, February 25, 2011 - San Francisco, CA @ Slim's w/ Zolar X
Saturday, February 26, 2011 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex w/ RTX

"Politicians In My Eyes" features on a very very good compilation of proto-punk from Kris Needs.

Hmm. Picked this up on a whim today based on how much I loved last year's, hadn't read this thread revive first. Still, hoping theres some good stuff on here.

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/death-concert/20054728-3738356.html

DRAFTHOUSE FILMS TO RELEASE "A BAND CALLED DEATH"
OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR SXSW 2013 DOCUMENTARY FILM
HEAR AN UNRELEASED DEMO OF "POLITICIANS IN MY EYES"
ROUGH FRANCIS SET TO PLAY SXSW

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/18a1282ff4cd99bdf27d6022f/images/15rubi_600.jpg

Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, announced today the acquisition of North American rights to Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino’s riveting rockumentary A Band Called Death, which is set to screen at this year’s SXSW Film Festival in the “24 Beats Per Second” film category. The film chronicles rebirth and rise to cult stardom of early-’70s African-American “proto-punk” trio Death, following a new generation’s discovery of a virtually unheard demo tape more than 30 years later. A theatrical and VOD release for A Band Called Death is scheduled for this summer.

About A Band Called Death

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, there was Death. Formed in 1971 by three teenage brothers in Detroit, Michigan, the African-American group is widely acknowledged as being one of the first punk bands. After years of struggling with canceled contracts, increasing debts, inner family tragedy, and a controversial name that barred them from future success, Death sold off their instruments and disbanded with their recordings laying dormant in an attic for decades. After years of silence, Death’s moment finally arrived following unexpected demand from rabid internet fans and record collectors which ushered renowned appreciation and a swarm of national media attention that has now secured their place in the annals of rock history. Detroit-born Jack White of The White Stripes said in the New York Times : “the first time the stereo played (Death) I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I was told the history of the band and what year they recorded this music, it just didn’t make sense. Ahead of punk, and ahead of their time.”

http://vimeo.com/61023981

i just listened to this again for the first time in a while and was like damn

saw the doc last night. was good, but the moving photo thing was bugging the fuck outta me.

i hate the way they make documentaries now

yeah that is a pretty irritating effect, about as over-used as the ken burns slow photo pan.

i take it there's no actual footage of the band from the 70s?

there's a bit

was thinking of driving down to boston to see it tomorrow night (presented by its director), but got equally indifferent word from a friend who's a fan both of the band and of fringe music docs. so maybe i'll just watch it on compuder.

Anybody heard anything from Death III yet? (beyond "North Street")

http://pitchfork.com/news/53844-death-to-release-archival-collection-death-iii-share-north-street/

On one hand, watching the documentary a few weeks ago has me excited to hear more, but there was already a sense of scraping the barrel a little with the last one, so my hopes aren't exactly super high.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klCL0krHKqc

Superiority of the third collection to the second collection is inarguable & inexplicable.

Really? That's great to hear, maybe I will pick this up after all!

huh I spun "Free" on the radio yesterday just to check it out a bit, I look forward to playing other songs off this in the coming weeks.

it did not sound like I expected it to, very Hendrix vibe

Death and the Collector: The Blinkered Music Geekery in ‘A Band Called Death’

Can someone help me understand what this piece is trying to say? Something bad about white collector geeks, but what exactly?

it is saying that record collectors are white geeks in glasses (the horror), and that their enthusiasms are contemptible

Heya, so new album from the current lineup out soon annnnnd...I interviewed 'em.

http://www.factmag.com/2015/03/15/detroit-proto-punk-band-death-on-n-e-w-album/