18 December 2009

BEAST


20 tracks, just under one hour of raw disjointed UK punk from 1984. Beast starts off with four live tunes from TOXIC WASTE ("if nobody dances we're gonna play the set twice!") whose drummer struggles to keep up that UK punk beat...sometimes successfully.  DV8 are disjointed and dreary mid tempo punk, with a singer who struggles as much as the TOXIC WASTE drummer, with notably less success. "Mindless Violence" from THE LEGION is a killer UK82 ripper, and DEAD MONKEYS are drunk, though "Pitts Blitz" is a great number.  LOOK BACK IN ANGER are the stars of the tape, female fronted goth punk with an obvious nod to SIOUXSIE on the vocals, and JON DRISCOLL wraps up the first side with a manipulated and tweaked spoken word track.  Side 2 starts with the compilation's namesake BEAST, who sound as if the band never showed up and the singer went at the set alone, but that is followed up by two live CULT MANIAX tunes, the first of which sounds like BAUHAUS.  Beast ends on an upswing, with three more killer tracks from THE LEGION, two from LOOK BACK IN ANGER (they are just as great as the tune on the first side), and the best song on the tape from FRIENDS OF THE LEGLESS; a KBD worthy burner called "He Is A Fat Bastard" that unfortunately cuts off before the song reaches its natural end.  Admittedly live and often rough, this is a killer hour of UK punk to satisfy your Friday yearnings.  You were yearning, weren't you?  Yeah, I thought so.


2 comments:

SLAUGHTER OF INNOCENTS said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Henk said...

Oh yeah! Some more stuff by "The Waste" as they were later known as after finding out there were another 'Toxic Waste' in Belfast, N. Ireland.

To me this sound to be all live through the mixing desk, but i rushed through the songs and might be wrong.

Again - Thanks alot, this made my w e e k.