Urinals
Negative Capability...Check It Out!

If we had to start again with the lament of bands that didn't get what they deserved, I think this trio from Los Angeles would deserve a place of honor. Of course, calling themselves "urinals" means declaring themselves losers right from the start, which began in 1978 as a quintet in the UCLA dormitory and soon realized that in the post-punk frenzy of the City of Angels, going nowhere with five members. At most, you can be four like the Flipper from San Francisco, but the Urinals are, if possible, even more spartan. The technical means (both of the musicians and the equipment) are really minimal: for the first EP, it's enough to take an Onkyo Dokorder reel-to-reel tape recorder, connect the guitar and bass to the only amplifier, add a toy drum kit, and all this means guaranteed lo-fi with a twist. But what varied and magnificent things they can combine! "Hologram" is already minimal no wave that will rage in NY years later, with those four repetitive guitar chords and the voice of bassist John Talley-Jones passed through a microphone that seems immersed in a bucket of water. For "Last Days Of Man On Earth, they seem to ask and answer themselves "Q: Are we not men? A: We are Urinals!" and surely "Surfin With The Shah" is the instrumental that Jonathan Richman would have played with Sonic Youth (and not with his Modern Lovers), while the short minute of "Dead Flowers" supports those who see them as a USA version of the Wire of "Pink Flag". Which, by Colin Newman's own admission, before becoming that elegant and intellectual new wave band we know, were technically quite poor.

But what's the use of technique here? The Urinals left us few but fundamental tracks scattered across three EPs, plus a couple of studio unreleased tracks and a handful of recordings during their live forays alongside Black Flag and The Last. A production of 31 short tracks collected in this 1996 Amphetamine Reptile anthology compact disc that will give you surprises galore. You might remember "Black Hole" as one of the ghostly performances of the last desperate J.L. Pierce (an admirer from the first hour of the Urinals) or "Ack Ack Ack Ack" in the version by the Minutemen (just a sixty seconds of hardcore with Johnny's machine gun verse), and also the garage punk of "I'm a bug" can be found in some records of the many ill-fated bands that covered it (Halo of Flies first and foremost). Of course, there's "Sex/Go Away Girl", the last great and powerful single dated 1980 with the B-side that could very well be an outtake of "Surfer Rosa" by the Pixies, and the angular adventure as Urinals is already over to follow a softer red thread. First as 100 Flowers following comrade Mao Tse Tung during the Hundred Flowers season, and then as Trotsky Icepick (with elements of Leaving Trains, Middle Class, and The Last) across six albums under contract with SST.

But you lose yourself rummaging through the numerous live tracks of this collection, you will be amazed to discover an angry cover of "Why Are We Sleeping" from the first album by the Soft Machine. But what does punk have to do with the fathers of progressive? Could it be that the refined disruptor Kevin Ayers was the first true punk in the history of rock?