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Rating: Today, I wanted to review one of the most uncompromising punk bands in general, who stood against the more important bands of the time, such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, whom the singer of Crass described as puppets and promoters of the music business, leading them to establish their own record label, Crass Records, to produce their own albums. With their nihilism, Crass laid the foundation for crust punk and the heavyweights of grindcore, Napalm Death, who with the song "Crucifix of Possessions" from their 1983 demo Kak, contributed to the 1984 Crass Records compilation Bullshit Detector Volume 3. Moreover, during their short career, Crass performed at the Virus social center in Milan and in other social centers around Europe, always with the flag of Anarchy displayed, affirming their distance from any injustice and the music business... Crass thus became one of the most important hardcore punk/anarcho-punk bands of the early '80s.
Now I move on to review the album, which consists of two CDs. The first CD is entirely in studio and was recorded between July 1981 and February 1982 at the Southern Studios in London. It is composed of fifteen songs. The second CD is live and was recorded at the 100 Club in London on June 9, 1981, featuring a whopping twenty-five songs, continuing the massacre started on the first CD. Both CDs reach a duration of 95 minutes, which is almost a record for a punk album.
The main characteristics are that almost all the songs begin with snippets of television programs, newscasts, and from there, the critiques of the system in every part begin, or they have nonsensical or blasphemous lyrics, which caused quite a few problems for the band. All the songs are bullets that suddenly gain speed, sometimes reaching the limits of cacophony or almost grindcore...
I think there are very few bands like Crass that attacked everything and everyone with their ideas, not caring about anyone, but always moving forward for their beliefs. How much better the world would be without the music business and other various injustices....
Greetings to everyone... the next review will be better.... I promise you....
"WE ARE CRASS NOT CLASH"
LINEUP:
STEVE IGNORANT - vocals
JOY DE VIVRE - vocals
PEEVE LIBIDO - vocals
PHIL FREE - lead guitar
SRI HARI NANA B.A - sitar
SYBIL RIGHT - bass
ELVIS RIMBAUD - drums
G. SUS - tapes
PS: Today there are kids who consider themselves alternative because they listen to Tokio Hotel, Vasco, Ligabue, Finley, Green Day, and other various garbage... this review of mine is an invitation to open your eyes and look beyond these pseudo-singers/pseudo-bands from MTV... true music is not this....
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Nineteen Eighty Bore (04:09)
who needs lobotomy when they?ve got the ITV?
who needs ECT when there?s good old BBC?
switch on the set, light up the screen
fantasise and dream about what you might have been
who needs controlling when they?ve got the cathode ray?
they?ve got your fucking soul, now they?ll fuse your brains away
mindless fucking morons sit before the set
being fed the mindless rubbish that they deserve to get
can?t switch off big brother, they?ve lost all will to act
lost in drab confusion, was it fiction? was it fact?
another plastic bullet stuns another irish child
but no-one?s really bothered, no the telly keeps them mild
they?ve lost all sense of feeling to the ever hungry glow
drained of any substance by the vicious telly blow
no longer know what?s real or ain?t, slowly going blind
they stare into the goggle-box while the world goes by, behind
the angels are on tv tonight, grey puke fucking shit
the army occupy ireland, but the boot will never fit
was it coronation street? or was it londonderry?
oh it doesn?t fucking matter, paul daniels?ll keep us merry.
yes i?ve heard of bobby sands, wasn?t it emmerdale farm?
yes, that?s right, he was kicked by a cow, i hope it didn?t do him no harm
and wasn?t holocaust terrible, a good thing it wasn?t for real
of course i?ve heard of h-block, it?s the baccy man appeal
deeper and deeper and deeper, layer upon layer
illusion, confusion, is there anyone left who can care?
yes, the abbey national cares for you. nat west and securicor
well brings out the branston bren-guns, let?s spice it up some more
the sweeney are cruising brixton, they?ve created another belfast
and j.r.?s advising thatcher on lighting, make up and cast
a thousand camera lenses point at the people?s pain
as millions of fucking morons watch the action replay again
softly, softly, into your life, you?re held in it?s brilliant glow
softly, softly, feeding itself on the you you?ll never know
you?re life?s reduced to nothing, but an empty media game
big brother ain?t watching you mate, you?re fucking watching him.
13 Bumhooler (03:19)
chorus: if they drop a bomb on us, we fucking deserve it
we know we got it coming, we fucking deserve it
they got a comfy set up, they?ll try and preserve it
we had the early warning, we can sit and observe it.
sliding down guidelines, cradle to the grave
all the willing saviours see that we behave
everybody knows they?re there, see them all around
lots of little people who?ll put you in the ground
well, take a burning issue and stuff it up your arse
they?ve fucked you with a furrowed brow, shitting broken class
marching down the ?dilly to demonstrate again
while the men who plan the holocaust are pissed out of their brains
brain of pasty people, who?ll bomb it all to fuck
you can be a victim or they?ll let you try your luck
pass it on to others, ship it down the line
leave your world in ruins, you know we?ve got the time
chorus
cop-outs for motives...freudian analyst,
come on mr. horror, what do you make of this?
wont? find many people without their rationale
any handy concept to hang upon the wall
soldier got his enemy
police have got the state
family have got home sweet home
SS got red tape
MP?s got his duty
priest has got his sin
everybody finds a hole
to drop somebody in
seeking out wisdom in the ironies of life
weighing up subtleties, fiddling with the ties
no-one else decides for you, whether to or not
you make an easy target if you?re running on the spot
chorus
someone?s been training, flexing their muscles
getting in practice, irrelevant tussles
given a march, or a quiet sunday demo
they wait till the state puts the finger on you
peeping through a frown, your humanity in rags
playing the loser till the sense of purpose sags
they can deal with heroes, watch the bleeders run
it?s only your head keeps the target from the gun
no-one else decides for you, whether to or not
you make an easy target if you?re running on the spot...
15 Major General Despair (04:34)
We're looking for a better world, but what do we see?
Just hatred, poverty, aggression, misery.
So much money spent on war
When three quarters of the world is so helplessly poor.
Major General Despair sits at his desk,
Planning a new mode of attack,
He's quite unconcerned about chance or risk,
The Major General's a hard nut to crack.
Oh yes, he designs a cruise missile,
Tactically sound, operationally O.K.,
While the starving crawl onto the deathpile,
They can't avoid their fate another day.
Attack on the mind, but he calls it defence,
But I ask you again who's it for?
Do the starving millions who don't stand a chance
Hope to benefit by his stupid war?
Babies crippled with hunger before they could walk,
Mothers with dry breasts cry dry tears,
And meanwhile Major General Despair gives a talk
On increasing the war budget over the years.
How can they do it, these men of steel,
How can they plot destruction, pain?
Is it the only way thatthey can feel,
By killing again and again?
Is it some part of themselves that has died
That permits them to plan as they do?
Or is it us that is dead, do we simply hide
From the responsibility to stop what they do?
There's so many of us, yet we let them have their way,
At this moment they're plotting and planning.
We've got to rise up to take their power away,
To save the world that they're ruining.
They're destroying the world with their maggot-filled heads,
Death, pain and mutilation,
They've got the responsibility of millions of dead.
Yet they're still bent on destruction.
The generals and politicians who advocate war should be made to wade in the truth of it,
They should spend sleepless nights shivering with fear and by day time should crawl in the deathpit.
They'll find the truth of what they've done there,
Festering corpses they and their kind made,
Eyeless skulls that endlessly stare
Having seen the truth of military trade.
The earth was our home, the wind and the air,
The blue sky, the grass and the trees,
But these masters of war, what do they care?
Only sentiments, these.
It's our world but through violence they took it away,
Took dignity, happiness, pride.
They took all the colours and changed them to grey
With the bodies of millions that died.
They destroy real meaning through their stupid games,
Make life a trial of fear.
They destroy what values we have with their aims,
Make us feel it's wrong if we care.
Well, we do care, it's our home, they've been at it too long,
If it's a fight they want, it's beginning.
Throughout history, we've been expected to sing their tired song
But now it's our turn to lead the singing...
Fight war, not wars,
Make peace, not war.
Fight war, not wars,
We know you've heard it before.
Fight war, not wars,
Make peace, not war.
Fight war, not wars,
Make peace, not war.
Fight war, not wars,
Make love, not war.
Fight war, not wars,
Make love, not war.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
We don't want your fucking war.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
We don't want your fucking war.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
We don't want your fucking war.
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