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Rating: “Alice in Wonderland” in its first draft, for Carroll, was also “Alice Underground.”
“Alice Underground” in the American punk scene, for me, was Penelope Houston.
Born in Los Angeles on December 17, 1958, she grew up in Seattle. In '77, in San Francisco, she enrolled in the Art Institute and founded the Avengers, of which she was the singer and songwriter. That is, she «entered into the mindset of expecting only extraordinary things, as she found it rather boring and dull that everything went in the usual way». Thus, she fell into the rabbit hole of punk, where mice and rabbits give you orders, where you continually become bigger and smaller: «I'm never quite sure what I'm going to be from one minute to the next».
So, before the proliferation of hardcore bands (the wonderland), there were the Avengers, with their teenage rebel songs.
The Avengers, more or less the first punk band of the Bay Area, are jangling and abrasive guitar, tight structures and rhythmic aggression, the melodic impact of Penelope, slogans shouted with anger. A raw, rough, edgy, sharp, crude, and ruinous sound.
A rushing flow of strength, cohesiveness, and melody. Pure youthful rebellion, call-backs to the rock ’n’ roll of the 60s, pop instincts, speed of execution, hardness, and edginess. With a certain dark humor. But, above all, pure stripped passion. Unadorned. Not just Ramones or Rotten and Vicious.
Energy, melody, vituperation. Gut energy. Direct melody. Naive vituperation, a spontaneous cry celebrating social and cultural revolt.
The tracks collected here are all legendary. The so-called “The Pink Album” was released posthumously in 1983, during the era of Sonic Youth's “Confusion Is Sex,” far from the intense 77-78 period. It includes two EPs produced at the time: the first with the anthemic “We Are the One” and the second (“White Noise”), with Steve Jones of the Pistols in the production seat, who also offers the respective outtakes. Additionally, there are a couple of contributions to compilations. Superb is the Stones-like cover of “Paint It Black”. “Avengers” is a must-have, nothing less! And it's how their album would have sounded in '79 if only they had achieved the longevity. It captures that free and straightforward energy, which others would only later imitate or crystallize into a “style.” Nonetheless, many would beautifully inherit it, from the Black Flag to X.
As for the contemporaries Crime and Nuns, also among the first punk bands of the Bay Area, they don't have the same wonderful childlike anger. They can't be called damned, or blessed, in the same way. They are more compromised with adulthood. It's not a flaw, «but in the end, there's no more room to become bigger». As Alice says to herself.
Let it be clear that the Avengers were incendiary live. Their performances set venues like CBGB's and Max's Kansas City ablaze. This is evidenced by the live track, fittingly titled “Fuck You”.
Music! The roaming riffs of Greg Ingraham overload and hyper-speed Chuck Berry and even Johnny Thunders. The dragging and dirty rhythm section is entrusted to the “slamming” drums of Danny Furious and the wild bass of Jimmy Wisley. The lyrics and singing of Houston are “braggadocio,” that is, female swagger, yes, but also hidden sweetness. She always has, so to speak, a dagger in one hand and a sugar stick in the other.
“We Are The One,” “I Believe In Me”, “The American In Me”, “Open Your Eyes” are thus unmatched!
“We are not Jesus (Christ)/ We are not (pigs) fascists/ We are not (industrial) capitalists/ We are not (even) communists/ We are the ones, we are the only ones.”
“I am not the lamb/ I am not Jesus/ I am not ready to sacrifice my innocence/ I am not ready to discuss politics/ I am not willing to taste your corruption/… / I don't want your money/ Or your recording contract/ You just want to use my youth/ And my innocence/… / You will never use me/ I will not be your martyr.”
“The American in me makes me say that dying in war is an honor/ But it's just the politicians' lie/…/ The American in me doesn't even ask anymore/ Why Kennedy was killed by the FBI.”
“They've drugged you with the sedative of music and television/ You're part of the blank generation/ Open your eyes. Open your eyes/ Can't you see what's happening./ Open your eyes. Open your eyes/ You watch TV to figure out what's right and wrong/ Open your eyes to what you've kneeled before/ Open your eyes and you can reject it/ I want you to get angry, I want to make you think/ But you swallow all that crap…”.
Dear Penelope, if I had been at the Winterland Arena on January 14, 1978, at the last date of the Sex Pistols' American tour, I wouldn't have dared to gob at you. I wouldn't have spared the Pistols, in the most typical meaning of the gesture.
Penelope Houston, after her band's split in 1979, made a few appearances with the Screamers, collaborated with Howard Devoto, and then -surprisingly- embraced folk artistically. She did really well from “Birdboys” in 1987 to “Eighteen Stories Down” in 2003, between contemporary folk and adult alternative pop/rock.
With “Alice Underground,” we conclude thus: «Pretend to be two people! Yes, there's barely enough of me left to make one respectable person!». Respectable in Alice's language means grand. That is to say, Penelope is grand.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 We Are the One (02:40)
we are the leaders of tomorrow
we are the one to have the fun
we want control we want the power
not gonna stop until it comes
we are not Jesus Christ
we are not fascist pigs
we are not capitalist industrialists
we are not communists
we are the one
we will build a better tomorrow
the youth of today will be the tool
american children built for survival
fate is our destiny and we shall rule
we are not Jesus Christ
we are not fascist pigs
we are not capitalist industrialists
we are not communists
we are the one
I am the one who shows you the future
I am the one who buries the past
a new species rise up from the ruins
I am the one that was made to last
we are not Jesus Christ
we are not fascist pigs
we are not capitalist industrialists
we are not communists
we are the one
02 Car Crash (04:20)
I was sitting at home all alone,
hear a voice on the telephone
telling me that you're dead
you wrecked your car,
you lost your head!
I dreamt you had a crash,
now you're dead on the road
with your head smashed
heard the news it can't be true
aw what happened to you
whoah-o-whoah-uh-o, no,na whoah-o-whoah-uh-o,no,na whoah-o-whoah-uh-o,no,na whoah-o-whoah-uh-o
why did you leave me
why did you go knew
this would happen and I told you so but,
you didn't listen to what I said
look at you baby
you lost your head
I dreamt you had a crash,
now you're dead on
03 I Believe in Me (02:55)
I BELIEVE IN ME
I believe in me
I make my dreams real
I believe in me
I believe in me verses: ad lib
10 The American in Me (02:08)
It's the American in me that makes me watch the blood
running out of the bullethole in his head.
It's the American in me that makes me watch TV
see on the news, listen what the man said.
He said
"Ask not what you can do for your country
what's your country been doing to you
Ask not what you can do for your country
what's your country been doing to your mind?"
It's the American in me says it an honor to die
in a war that's just a politicians lie
It's the American in me that makes me watch TV
see how they burn the SLA
They say
"Ask not what you can do for your country
what's your country been doing to you
Ask not what you can do for your country
what's your country been doing to your mind?"
In the USA!
In the USA!
In the USA!
It's the American in me that makes me watch the blood
running out of the bullethole in his head.
It's the American in me that never wonders why
Kennedy was murdered by the FBI (said)
14 Cheap Tragedies (03:04)
The doors flew open and the people crowded in
They said, we can't wait for your show to start
And their bodies flew the only way they knew
They're coming straight for the center of my heart
I see your face and i've memorized it
I see your life, i recognize all your petty jealousies
Your hidden tragedies, your bitter memories
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
Now you look down and there's blood on your hands
And your frustration went out of control
Well, it's your nightmare and it's your life
Go on home now, go to bed, go to sleep and dream
You see your face don't you even recognize it?
You see your life you�ve memorized all those petty jealousies
Those hidden tragedies, those bitter memories
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
They'll be the death of you yet
You see your face don't you even recognize it?
You see your life you've memorized all those petty jealousies
Those hidden tragedies, those bitter memories
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
They'll be the death of you yet, oh
They'll be the death of you yet
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