Fugazi - Repeater

Repeater was my second Fugazi purchase, having bought the self-titled mini-album a few months beforehand. As much as I love the first one, I've always considered Repeater my favourite. There are a few moments in particular where the songs are so perfect in a way that I don't see as much on the other records. I think they all have some real highlights, but the highs here are huge and plentiful.

Three of my favourite Fugazi songs are on this record - Repeater (with the count-off in the chorus), Blueprint (with the huge outro) and Shut the Door (which broods like no other song they'd written before). On top of that, there are just little flicks of brilliance throughout - the transition between the speed of Greed into the riff in Two Beats Off, for example, is lovely.

I bought this record second hand in the market that used to be set up in the square at university every so often. I also bought a Pop Will Eat Itself record, making quite the strange pairing. The sleeve is in very good condition for a second hand record, except a few fingerprints on the picture sleeve, and a tiny knifed edge to it. I played the album a lot back in the day, so much so, I asked for a copy of the cd one Christmas as I wanted to have a digital copy too (plus, three extra songs - although I usually stop it on Shut the Door).

Just to dwell on Shut the Door for a moment - I don't remember it catching my ear as quickly as Repeater or Blueprint did, but eventually it bowled me over, almost in reverse - the outro caught my attention first, but I came to love the verses and chorus too - the simplicity of the verses contrasted so well against the thrashy chorus. Ian sings in a way I'd not heard before - really sung like a regular singer, not just a punk singer (if you'll excuse the distinction). The verses are also so brief that you want more of them, much like you'd normally feel about the chorus. They could have easily finished it on the bass line towards the end, but then they bring back the chorus riff with those perfect lines "Shut the door so I can leave / Shut the door". What a great way to end the record.

Format: 12", picture sleeve, insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £6 second hand
Bought: Lancaster University Square
When: 12/02/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Pop Will Eat Itself - Karmadrome / Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me, Kill Me

I bought this record in the same transaction as Fugazi's classic Repeater; I can't imagine many times in either band's history that Fugazi records and PWEI records were bought at the same time. There used to be a guy who'd sell records in the main square at university, a tradition I imagine no longer exists. I bought a handful of things from him over the years I was there - it was often a struggle to find anything good, but I usually found at least one thing kinda worth buying.

As singles go, this double a-side is pretty strong. Karmadrome was one of the first PWEI songs I was really into. It made it onto their Live At Weird's Bar and Grill album, which was a solid introduction to the classic years. The build-up the chorus is wonderful and I love the backing vocals, as well as the explosive outro. Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me, Kill Me was also a huge song, appearing near the start of that same live album. More than any of the other songs pre-Dos Dedos Mis Amigos, that song hinted at the darker heavier direction their final album would go in. However, it retained a lot of what made them so likeable in the middle-era, which makes it quite a highlight in the back catalogue. PWEI-zation is another classic.

All three of those songs made it onto the Best Of albums I have, so the only new song was the subtly-named remix Eat Me, Drink Me, Dub Me, Kill Me (which suffers for the lack of guitars in the chorus - Clint's vocals sound a bit out of place without them rising up with him). One remix and the fact it was a picture disc that looked quite nice was enough to get me to spend £5 on it.

Needless to say, over the years, Repeater has had considerably more airtime, but that shouldn't come as a surprise; it's up there amongst the greatest albums of all time. But, if you wanted some PWEI highlights (and a remix) in a very concise form, you can't go wrong with this little collection.

Format: 12" picture disc, insert
Tracks: 4
Cost: £5 second hand
Bought: Lancaster University Square
When: 12/02/04
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

I was properly introduced to the Beastie Boys by my friend Adele in college. She was a huge fan and so shocked that I didn't really know their music that the next day she brought in three of their cds for me to borrow (Check Your Head, the Root Down EP and one other album, although I can't remember which; I'm pretty sure I only listened to the first two before I figured it was time to return them). At that age I was still deep into whatever bands Kerrang! magazine told me about and only listened to a handful of bands outside of that scene, so it took some effort get me into any other genres. Adele was mostly into punk (which I'm pretty sure is why she gave me Check Your Head), but her enthusiasm for the Beasties made me see them as more than just a hip-hop band and something worth checking out. I said "properly" in the first sentence because I'd of course heard of the Beasties before this event - they'd had top 40 singles all throughout my childhood so I could've easily written them off as "those guys who did Intergalactic", but that would've been foolish.

A few months later I picked up the Sounds of Science Anthology with the intention of getting into the band - 42 songs from all across their career for £11 was a bargain and showed me pretty much every side of the Beasties. A few more months later I started university and every so often there'd be a market in the square on campus featuring a guy with a few boxes of records. He rarely had anything of the sort of music I was into, but one of the first times he was there I found this copy of Paul's Boutique for £10 and I bought it on the way back from a lecture. I didn't have a turntable for the first term, so had to wait until January to listen to it.

I struggled with Paul's Boutique more than I had with Check Your Head probably for the key difference between them - Check Your Head is almost entirely live instruments where Paul's Boutique is almost entirely samples. For someone brought up on rock music, it was harder to grasp, but I got there eventually (unsurprisingly, the song Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun was my favourite). I still prefer Check Your Head, but not because of the way it was recorded; ten years later I like to think I can pretty much appreciate good music of most genres (although I prefer some more than others, of course. Who doesn't?) Anyway, I now enjoy Paul's Boutique; the raps are incredible and High Plains Drifter and the sprawling B-Boy Bouillabaisse are notable highlights.

Another point worth making is that the Beastie Boys are one of the reasons I find myself taking panoramic photos pretty much everywhere I go. The four sides of the gatefold sleeve here make up a panorama of Ludrow Street in New York (thanks Wikipedia) and the sleeve of Check Your Head features a panorama of the Beasties recording studio. I thought they were very cool photos and once I discovered the panorama setting on my old phone I started taking them everywhere. I'm yet to capture anything as cool as these, but I enjoy trying.

I guess for the near future it'll be impossible to write about the Beasties without saying something about MCA's passing, and this is no exception. I was saddened when I heard the news, much more than I have been on hearing about the death for any other person who I've never met. One of the things I loved about the Beasties was that they were three friends who had been making music together for years, but known each other for even longer. There aren't many bands in that sense - a bunch of friends who also make music together - and it just seems like a nice way for things to work. I felt sad because Adrock and Mike D lost a life-long friend.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 15
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Lancaster University Square market
When: 21/10/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no