13 October 2010

FIRST IMPRESSION


The historians claim the first and second waves of punk had gone completely to shit when the clock struck 1990, and that the third wave (or fourth, depending on how you count waves) hadn't yet kicked into high gear by 1991. I had a conversation last night (shouting match really, over blaring ironic soul music and top shelf whiskey) with a pal who has long contended that punk died in 1986, while I keep trying to convince him (we've had this conversation several times over the last 15 or so years) that he only thinks it died because he stopped going to punk and hardcore shows and started listening to MORBID ANGEL. The point is (...as if I can ever really get to the point, but surely you - dear follower - have realized that by now...) - there's a pretty notoriously dry spell from 198something to 199something filled with a heap of bands trying to recreate the glory and spontaneity of early punk and hardcore - and failing miserably. But there's diamonds mixed in with all that crap, you just need to start wading. Maybe FIRST IMPRESSION aren't a diamond...but their mid tempo deliberately plodding UK punk rates at least a cubic zirconia and I think that most of these songs would be straight up killers with a few minor tweaks. I guess that tweaks are out of the question for this 20 year old cassette, so blast these tunes and join me for some creative mental editing to make these songs the classics that they almost were. 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ya should tell yo' pal, to look towards japan durin' that "drought"!!!

the wizard said...

Of course punk never died...and I steer people's attention towards Japan frequently when they say that 88-95 was a void!