Flipper – Blow'n Chunks (Live)

"artless clanging rubbish indie" - reviewed in nme -5/11/1994 4/10

On the one hand i'm glad they preserved the original cassettes hilarious "turn the tape over" end message, but it also would've been great if they had put all the songs back into their proper order and made a complete show. Beggars can't be choosers or something...

In some DIY "Hardcore Punk" rock genre, bands like Flipper, X, Germs, Sonic Youth (eventually) found their style in playing guitars with so much disregard to regular pop rock compositions...almost sounding like they don't know what they are playing.
In that they find this retarded music thing that really works for their band, and it finds new melody and chord and tune.

Here we go again! A wonderful treat for the twenty-seven-or-so Flipper fans out there: a (complete?) live CBGB's show performed and recorded on Thanksgiving Day, November '83. Standouts include definitive takes on "The Lights, The Sound, The Rhythm, The Noise" and the messy, amusing headbanger "In Life My Friend." Also, the previously unrecorded dirge "In Your Arms" makes this record a must-own for fans, containing the most chilling set of conflicted lyrics ever penned by the band: "To use [drugs] is no vice / Look at my life / And I could never try to judge you / But I hate to play the fool.... When one pleasure excludes, dilutes, and pollutes all the others / I don't find that any fun / No, not any longer." And then there's Shatter's vocal work on "If I Can't Be Drunk." For those of you who've fallen hard for this band like I have, hindsight here is a sad bitch.

Originally released as a 9-track cassette, four more songs are included here for this release. They fit the album just fine, although some will complain about continuity for history's sake; both of the cassette's sides ended on a rather humorous note that this vinyl edition utterly disregards in its rearrangement. So, over halfway into Side A, the band breaks in with, "Turn the tape over!" Then, midway of Side B, you'll hear the band tell you, "Okay, the tape's done!" before cutting into the intro of "Life." It's a bit jarring, but then it doesn't feel terribly out of place for the Flipper aesthetic either. Besides, "Ice Cold Beer" (with Flipper's threat of playing the same song "until, like, 7 or 8 in the morning" if they don't get some) is a better finisher anyway.

The vinyl quality is... alright. My copy arrived with some particularly nasty scratches on Side A, and it was clearly an unbroken, original factory seal with the "FLIPPER STILL RULES" hype sticker. Also, consider for a moment that ROIR is shoving 60 minutes of music onto this one vinyl disc. Ever seen a run-off matrix only an eighth of an inch wide? You will here. It nearly touches the center label and makes a horribly grating scratch sound with every rotation--sure gets me off my ass in a hurry to raise the tone-arm, heh. Mind you, some people online have noted the surprising audio clarity here for a CBGB's recording, and I can attest that the mix here is nearly as good as their debut album. So, for those of us who missed out on Flipper in their heyday, this live recording brings you intimately closer to that tasty wall-of-shit sound that was theirs and theirs alone. You can even make out more of Falconi's guitar work!

And, just like the "Sex Bomb Baby!" comp, there's wonderful liner notes (including a message from drummer Steve DePace!) and attractive album artwork. I personally adore the pic ROIR used for the vinyl labels.

Recommended!