Black Lips 200 Million Thousand

Atlanta's purveyors of disarrayed garage rock are back and better than ever. Despite being banned in countries around the world for their antics and leaving a path of wanton destruction everywhere they go, the Black Lips somehow found some time amongst the pandemonium to record their follow up to Good Bad, Not Evil. Entitled, 200 Million Thousand the album is chronicle of rock and roll chaos that only the Black Lips could create.

Recorded in what sounds like a one car garage with holes in the roof, 200 Million Thousand is a rough, raw, and unpolished record. Produced with would could be the finest 1/4 inch tape made by Memorex, it's truly a marvel of modern science that the record ever saw the light of day. But, here it is, 200 Million Thousand in all it's beaten up garage punk rock glory and if you're not careful it will beat the living heck out of you.

Coming across as something like a 60's beat group waiting for the man with the Velvet Underground, Black Lips make hazy, dirty, untamed rock and roll that will more than likely melt your stereo, blow out your speakers, and cause your ears to run away in terror. If that wasn't enough, several songs on 200 Million Thousand sound like the band was a victim of their own creation. "Let It Grow," for example, sounds like a drunken stupor recorded in Oscar the Grouch's garbage can; it's an absolutely mind-numbingly raw song of destruction and it's quite bad. The whole album is another story.

The band, essentially, picks up where they left off on Good Bad, Not Evil and salvages several really good rough and tumble songs out of the low points of 200 Million Thousand. "Drugs, " and "Short Fuse," are perfect examples of this and illustrate how great of a rock and roll band Black Lips are capable of being when they uncork that punk rock rebellion and garage rock swagger. Thankfully, roughly 2/3 of this record is like that, which in hind sight, saves 200 Million Thousand from being just pure angsty punk rock noise.

At five albums into their career, Black Lips are slowly maturing into a crazy uncontrollable rock and roll band that's not only known for wreaking havoc but also for their songs. 200 Million Thousand is a great record that has a few hiccups here and there, but when you spend $50 recording an album that's bound to happen. If you like rock and roll that sounds like it was beat up in a dark alley then the Black Lips and their album 200 Million Thousand will bring you many, many hours of joy.

Death For The Whole World to See

Brothers David, Bobby, and Dennis Hackney started making music together in 1971, when David, the eldest, was 19 and Dennis, the youngest was 16. Like many young African-American musicians their primary influences were soul and funk. Things changed after seeing Iggy and The Stooges live. The brothers started listening to more rock like Alice Cooper and Led Zeppelin. When The Who's Quadrophenia came out David became convinced that nothing was more important than rock and roll. In 1974, the boys put together a demo tape using the most rocking name they could think of for their band...Death.

Thirty three years later, Drag City has taken those tracks as well as their lone single(which sells for over $1000 a pop) and combined them into an album entitled For the Whole World To See. Long overdue and long unheard of, Death is just now getting the attention they always deserved. With a sound that was prototypical punk rock mixed with 70's style rock and roll, this was a band that was as angsty as much as it was into the idea of just rocking out. You can hear the fierceness in each of the seven songs here which sound something like Iggy meets really early Rush for a cross-border scrap.

For the Whole World To See is a superb record of raw power and raw energy. It's aggressive, churning, and rocks like a quarry. This is an album that wears it's early metal and punk influences on it's sleeve and it sounds like the most honest power trio to have ever come out of Detroit. Having listened to this a bunch, it's really ashame that this band never got the recognition and stardom they truly deserved.

"Keep on Rocking," "Politicians In My Eyes," "Freakin' Out," are awesome tunes that rock as only artists in the 70's could. For the Whole World To See is rough uncompromising stuff that was honed to perfection by Jim Vitti who worked with Parliament/Funkadelic. While it may not have been a funk workout like he was used to, Vitti's engineering brought out the best of Death in each of the songs giving them an organic feel packed with nuclear energy.

For the Whole World To See is a brilliant effort from a band who's place has finally been solidified in the rock and roll lexicon. Essential for collectors, classic rock fans, and punk rock kids Death unknowingly paved the way for artists who never even knew they existed. Listening to history has never been so enjoyable.