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Rating: The Circle Jerks belong to that circle of punk bands whose careers are overshadowed by their debut album. Cursed by a debut so iconic and perfect, these bands will never again not only reach its heights, but not even come close. Think of the Adolescents, Bad Brains, our own Raw Power. All bands that had respectable careers, but always fell short compared to the masterpiece they birthed at the first attempt. The Jerks, after the seminal "Group Sex," released albums for another fifteen years, increasingly less enjoyable, increasingly forgettable, increasingly merciless compared to those incredible fifteen minutes that alone are worth entire discographies. "Golden Shower Of Hits," dated 1983, is the last noteworthy album, as well as the last of the original lineup.
This third work by Morris and company continues the path taken in the previous "Wild In The Streets": songs that are still thrilling but less fast, more paced, of longer duration compared to the incandescent fragments of the debut. The only old-school hardcore shard is the opening In Your Eyes, after which it transitions to a gritty and captivating punk rock in the faster tracks and catchy and somewhat slick in the more paced tracks, demonstrating the band's growing interest in power pop sounds, increasingly dominant in later albums. However, there aren't many memorable tracks: we have When The Shit Hits The Fan and Coup d'Etat, which ended up on the "Repo Man" soundtrack the following year and remained in concert setlists; Parade Of The Horribles, Product Of My Environment, and Red Blanket Room, essential and melodic as in the best Californian tradition, confirm that the Circle Jerks perform best with streetwise and rebellious punk. When they falter, however, it's in the longer tracks: Bad Words sounds like a poor imitation of a discarded track from the Stooges' "Fun House," Under The Gun could have been saved if it were half as long, and Rats Of Reality verges on boredom. Surprisingly, the final title track, a medley of covers of romantic songs, forms a sort of pop punk operetta oscillating between amusing and embarrassing.
In essence, it's an album certainly not indispensable, but nevertheless enjoyable to listen to: recommended for completists of Californian punk.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 In Your Eyes (00:41)
When it first happened
It was nice It was sweet
Now it's getting older
And were finding that it's not so sweet
Smiles growing cold
Perfumes getting stale
I can see it in your eyes
All the lies
And alibis
I can see it in your eyes
All the lies
And alibis
Happiness together honey
There's just no way
Our love has seen much better days
It's over now
Yes it's gone
No one's at fault
No one's wrong
I can see it in your eyes
All the lies
And alibis
I can see it in your eyes
All the lies
And alibis
04 When the Shit Hits the Fan (02:34)
In a sluggish Economy
Inflation, Recession
Hits the land of the free
Standing in unemployment lines
blame the government
for hard times
we just get by
however we can
we all gotta duck when the shit hits the fan
10 kids in a cadillac
stand in line for welfare checks
let's all leach off the state
gee! the money is really great!
soup lines
free loaves of bread
5lb blocks of cheese
bags of groceries
social security
has run out on you and me
we do whatever we can
gotta duck when the shit hits the fan
07 High Price on Our Heads (02:51)
won't fit,can't conform
i'll allways be the same
hateful eyes glate to say
I refuse to be tame
no way to get ahead
in a losers' race
where no one wins
they draft no master plan
just punishing pain
from the damned
no options
to accept
we've got opinions
we wanna express
no way to get ahead
in a losers' race
where no one wins
they draft no master plan
just punishing pain
from the damned
outlaws,renegades
with nothing left to save
there's no tomorrow
there's no today
no reward stands in our way
gotta high price on our heads
08 Coup d'Etat (01:59)
coup d'éat [x4]
the government gets overthrown
a sudden force,a major blow
over out,the new comes in
coup d'éat
give me a bomb
a molotov
it's a coup d'état!
the generalisimo sets up shop
step out of line
your neck's on the block
armies marching through the streets
dressed so sharp,dressed so neat
coup d'état [twice]
a push from the left and a shove from the right
it's all plaaned up,we'll do it tonight
first the president then his wife
we'll take them for ranson
or take their lives
attack their embassy
they are our enemies
el presidente smokes cigars
whoever he does not like
he shoots or put behind bars
coup d'état [twice]
kill all
09 Product of My Environment (01:47)
overheard drunks
sitting in bars
talking 'bout sex
talking 'bout cars
talking 'bout football
women at lunch
they just keep talking
but don't say much
i'm a product of my environment
my vocabularies like licking the gutter
words that cut so sharp
cuts like a hot knife through butter
not my fault
but then again
schools and teachers were never my friends
nothing's wrong with a little education
but i don't need a new vocation
i'm a product of my environment
things that occur
events take place
that will wipe
the smile right off your face
freeways,trafic,smog,
movies,theatres,
lines of people,
markets and banks
who the hell i'm i supposed to thank??
i'm a product of my environment
11 Junk Mail (01:21)
where did they get my name?
It's allways just the same
junk mail junk mail
i think i'll change address
i'm not a resident,i'm not an occupant
junk mail junk mail <i>[twice]
guess what i got today?
envelopes i'll throw away
pamphlets,nrochures on clothes
samples,tampons,nylon hose
junk mail junk mail
send it back from where it was send,
they must take me for an idiot
thay can have it i don't want it
they can keep it,i don't need a
junk mail junk mail
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