HR - Keep Out Of Reach - CD on SST Records

An epic -- downright metal-sounding, even -- single, Keep out of Reach slots in neatly aside Bad Brains' I Against I in its slightly more mainstream but still pretty strong punch. The title track itself appears in two versions, the main one mixing hints of reggae into the music, but mostly keeping that atmosphere with H.R.'s fine singing voice. Calmer dub beats slot alongside some soaring guitar, especially toward the suddenly all-the-more-anthemic ending, and the whole is a pleasant listen indeed. The second version is explicitly listed a dub take, though most of the echo and treatment is applied to the vocals; aside from extra swirling guitar here and there, the music is pretty well unchanged. "Power of the Trinity," meanwhile, is a fine praisesong for Haile Selassie, shifting between stop-start thrash, warmer reggae grooves, more cascading guitar swells, and some highly wacky humor, H.R. is always the perfect vocalist at any point.

HR - Keep Out Of Reach - CD on SST Records

Meat Puppets - Huevos - Cassette tape on SST Records

Huevos means "eggs" in Spanish. It also, slangily, refers to balls. It's clear which connotation the Meat Puppets were alluding to when they named this record. It's as if they traded in their stoner VW bus for a muscle car. To push the metaphor further, it's as if they put away the hallucinogens in favor of Jack Daniels. There are far fewer overtly psychedelic touches on HUEVOS than on previous records. Whereas the group's records used to travel a circuitous path, on HUEVOS, the Puppets stick to the main road.You know you're not listening to your grandfather's Meat Puppets from the opening notes of "Paradise," which bears the unmistakable mechanized churning of MTV-era ZZ Top. The sound is altogether thicker, and the vocals are less from the upper chest than the lower diaphragm. But amid the balls-to-the-wall rockers like "Automatic Mojo" are starbursts of color, most notably "Fruit," with its jiggly beat and sighing backup vocals, and the molten, sublime axe work that decorates "Dry Rain."

Meat Puppets - Huevos - Cassette tape on SST Records

D.O.A. - Talk Minus Action Equals Zero - Cassette tape on Restless Records

D.O.A. is not only Canada's most important punk band; they're also one of punk's most enduring bands, period. While many of the punk acts that emerged in the late '70s broke up in the '80s - that is, if they even stayed together until then -- D.O.A. was still going strong well into the '90s. Recorded at Club Soda in D.O.A.'s native Vancouver in 1989, Talk Minus Action Equals Zero is among the albums that demonstrate how exciting and vital the Canadians can be on-stage. The lineup on this CD consists of singer Joey "Shithead" Keithley, guitarist Chris "Humper" Prohom, bassist Brian Roy Goble, and drummer Jon Card. Together they prove quite riveting on such left-leaning, angrily socio-political rants as "Fuck You," "General Strike," "Liar for Hire," and "Race Riot." This performance was recorded 11 years after D.O.A.'s formation, and it's clear that the band softened their blow very little during those years.

D.O.A. - Talk Minus Action Equals Zero - Cassette tape on Restless Records

Shadow Project - In Tuned Out Live 93 - Cassette tape on Triple X Records

The most prolific of Rozz Williams' post-Christian Death side projects, Shadow Project also most closely resembled the work that made Williams a goth icon, though it incorporated bits of his punk, glam, and experimental influences to a slightly greater degree. Centered around Williams and his wife Eva O., Shadow Project grew to share some of the supporting personnel from the alternate version of Christian Death, which Williams revived concurrently beginning in the late '80s. After leaving the original Christian Death in 1985, Williams remained effectively silent for a couple of years, though he did perform occasionally in Premature Ejaculation. In 1987, he married Eva O. of the Superheroines, five years after she'd sung backup on the first Christian Death album. Together they founded Shadow Project, which was named after a peculiar effect of the nuclear detonation at Hiroshima (some people left shadows burned into the pavement, but no bodies). Shadow Project gave its first performance in San Francisco in 1987, but didn't really maintain much of a profile until Williams and O. returned to their native Los Angeles for good in 1990. Once there, they recruited keyboardist Paris, bassist Jill Emery (who'd played with O. in the Superheroines, and also worked with Hole and Mazzy Star), and drummer Tom Morgan (ex-Flesh Eaters). This lineup completed Shadow Project's self-titled debut album, which was released on Triple X in 1991. With Peter Tomlinson replacing Morgan, the group completed a follow-up, Dreams for the Dying, that became their best-known work when it appeared in 1992. The band's lineup subsequently became more fluid, as musicians working with Williams on other projects -- including guitarist William Faith, drummer Stevyn Grey, horn man Ace Farren Ford, and drummer Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo -- floated in and out. By 1993, Eva O. had decided to focus on solo material, and Williams was moving on to other concerns, so Shadow Project played a farewell show at (oddly enough) a Denny's restaurant in Orange County. It was later released as the live album In Tuned Out. Williams and O. divorced in the mid-'90s, as Williams' heroin addiction worsened, but remained friendly. Starting in 1997, they reunited for a mostly acoustic Shadow Project album, which also featured guitarist/producer Michael Ciravolo and keyboardist Nathan Van Hala. Sadly, Williams never lived to see it released; he hanged himself on April 1, 1998, after which the album appeared on Hollow's Hill under the title From the Heart.

Shadow Project - In Tuned Out Live 93 - Cassette tape on Triple X Records

The Flamin Groovies - Groovies Greatest Grooves - Cassette tape on Sire Records

During their early period with Roy Loney as lead singer, the Flamin' Groovies made one great album (Teenage Head), one very good one (Flamingo), and one that was flawed but enjoyable (Supersnazz). When Cyril Jordan took over as the band's unquestioned leader following Loney' s departure, the Groovies shifted gears from supercharged roots rock to neo-British Invasion pop, and while every record they released had more than a few brilliant moments, they seemed incapable of making an album that was solid from front to back. Thankfully, some bright penny at Sire Records got the idea of putting together a Flamin' Groovies compilation CD, and the result, Groovies' Greatest Grooves, makes a superb case for the inconsistent but undeniable brilliance of their post-Loney repertoire. Groovies' Greatest Grooves harvests pretty much every great track from the group's three albums for Sire (Shake Some Action, Flamin' Groovies Now!, and Jumpin' in the Night) and tosses in one superb cut with Loney (the masterful "Teenage Head"), two hard-to-find ravers with short-time vocalist Chris Wilson (including the much-covered "Slow Death"), and a rough but exciting demo of "River Deep, Mountain High" cut for a proposed collaboration with Phil Spector. While Jordan's edition of the Flamin' Groovies may not have rocked as hard as Loney's, that doesn't say that they couldn't rock hard when they wanted to, as "Jumpin' in the Night," "Tallahassee Lassie," and "Please Please Girl" easily prove, and "Shake Some Action," "You Tore Me Down," and "All I Wanted" are as transcendent as pop music gets. A satisfying 75 minutes of pure bliss, Groovies' Greatest Grooves is a one-stop shopping place for anyone wanting the cream of the Flamin' Groovies' faux-Brit era, and a fine introduction to one of the best American bands of the period.

The Flamin Groovies - Groovies Greatest Grooves - Cassette tape on Sire Records

Young Fresh Fellows - Totally Lost - Cassette tape on Frontier Records

Well, at least partially lost. Recorded at a time of much band turmoil (founding guitarist Chuck Carroll had left, though he plays on most of the album, and replacement Kurt Bloch had not quite fully integrated himself into the band yet, plus this was their first official release for Frontier Records after the L.A.-based label had reissued 1987's The Men Who Loved Music), Totally Lost is the sound of a band who isn't quite sure which of several directions they could travel. Most notably, the silliness of previous albums is almost totally absent; even drolly titled tunes like "I'd Say That You Were Upset" and "The Universal Trendsetter" have a more mature tone to them than before. In keeping with this newfound seriousness, the manic, almost-punky edge of earlier albums is missing, and some songs have hints of the more rootsy feel leader Scott McCaughey would soon take both in the late-period Young Fresh Fellows and his later project, the Minus 5. A transitional album, Totally Lost is the Fellows' weakest effort since their scattershot debut, but the increased sophistication both in McCaughey's songs and the band's tighter-than-ever playing makes it worthwhile.

Young Fresh Fellows - Totally Lost - Cassette tape on Frontier Records

Bo Bud Greene - Las Olas - Indie CD on 4 Alarm Records

Indie punk-popsters Bo Bud Greene were formed in Austin, Texas in 1992 as Paint; guitarist/vocalist Anderson Bracht and guitarist Sean Mullens met through a classified ad, and quickly added drummer Tim Dittmar. The group self-released a number of cassettes with several different bassists before legal action forced their name change in 1993. Marcara Fort became the full-time bassist shortly thereafter, and Bo Bud Greene began recording singles and compilation tracks to supplement their cassette-only work. After two singles on the Last Beat label, the group recorded its debut album, Whatever, in 1995 for Backyard Records. Several more compilation appearances preceded the band's full-length follow-up, The Same But Different, which appeared on Super Cottonmouth in 1997.

Bo Bud Greene - Las Olas - Indie CD on 4 Alarm Records