House of Neil responds to Randy - continued.

All Rise is 4th. Home of the Brave is awesome early Raygun with the whoah-whoah chorus. Powerful and yet catchy as herpes. Dog at Large is one of those meandering tracks that I can easily do without. It doesn't go anywhere, but it takes its time getting there. Knock Me Down is more classic Raygun, with Jeff getting mushy. I didn't really see this again until the CD Torch Songs by The Bomb. Throw Mr Gridlock out. We know Kezdy writes good basslines, but that doesn't make a good song necessarily. The Strip is pure punk rock with a NR twist. The fast bit could be The Ruts. I Remember is forgettable. Those Who Move is awesome. Hearing Pezzati trying to fit all of those lyrics in is a lot of fun. The Envelope I find pretty forgettable too. Nothing special at all. Backlash Jack has a memorable guitar intro and it only gets better from there. Peacemaker is a strange mix of sound affects and haunting guitar. NR experimenting with 2nd album-era Bauhaus again? New Dreams is a classic. Not up to the level of "White Riot" as they suggest on Last of the Demohicans, but hey, what is? All Rise is a short album with some absolute classics, but it also has a fair number of clunkers. 3 stars.

I find it hard to listen to Throb Throb all of the way through. It has some awesome tracks, but it also has some complete garbage on there. It doesn't (and never did) sound like a cohesive album. It sounds (as it probably was) like a collection of a lot of songs that NR had written over the course of their first few years as a band and decided that they had to put out. It is patchwork--there is no flow to the album at all. Rat Patrol is obviously a superstrong way to kick off the album. A clever and classic anti-war song. It is followed by Surf Combat, which I've never been particularly fond of, and it really stops all momentum that was built up with RP. Gear follows, and this is another momentum killer. I find the stop-and-go song neither clever nor interesting. Metastasis is better-an interesting and lyrically challenging song that rolls along in a sing-along kind of way. Momentum is again killed by a clunker in Leeches, the worst song NR ever recorded. Roller Queen builds slowly but ultimately doesn't go anywhere. On is stupidity of the worst sort. Anyone suggesting backward recordings should be beaten on sight. It doesn't count as a song, so Leeches still has the "worst song recorded" award. I Don't Know is the best song on the album. A beautiful song that builds and builds into a marvelous chorus of epic proportions. Libido is a jazzy experiment gone wrong. Built around a great but repetitive bass line, it gets very old very quickly. Similar sentiments to ATV's "My Love Lies Limp", but less direct. No Sex is a generic thrasher. Nothing special. Only in America features X-Ray-Spex like sax, and some great lyrics. A driving, wonder of a song. Stupid is another generic thrasher, much like No Sex. Managua rounds off the album, and is a strong song, much in the vein of Rat Patrol that began the album. As a whole, Throb Throb has some awesome songs that hint at the greatness to come, but it also has too much disjointed filler. 2 stars.

I hadn't heard Basement Screams in years until I recently bought it in reissue. I was very disappointed. There is nothing special about it at all. Randy's love for it must be based in where he was in his life when he first heard it. I'm sure it was one of the records that got him into punk, and as such it holds a very dear place in his heart. It is however simply not very good. I Lie is a great way to start the EP, but it's all downhill after that. It features everything that was great about NR--driving sound, big hooks, and that great sing-along chorus. The 2nd track, Bombshelter is a pointless mess that blends right into Tojo. Tojo is interesting and fun. Not quite sure what it's about though. Jeff sounds like Adam Ant in the chorus. To start the 2nd side, Swingo is pathetic. What the hell is it? What is that sax? If it's a joke, it should have been kept within the band. You had nothing better than this? Mofo is another fun singalong, but every band has 1 song like that. Again, maybe should have been kept inside the band. Potential Rapist sounds like early Gang of Four or Cure at the outset, and continues in that mode. It's a good song with interesting subject matter. Thought provoking. Basement Screams would have made a great 2 or 3 song single, but as it is, it has 2 terrible songs that really drag it down. As Randy says, it could have taken the place of any record coming from the West Coast, but that's precisely the point. A million bands made first records like this. If you give this 5 stars, then you better seek out every single/EP released between 1977 and 1982, because you will find stuff of this quality everywhere. 2 stars.

Last of the Demohicans is a real mix of things, having the last stuff Raygun ever recorded as well as some live stuff, some silly stuff, and some of their earliest demos. I'll start with the early stuff, even though it's the last stuff on the CD. The early demos, as with most bands, are badly recorded and for devotees only. Got Hurt has synth and is built around a strong bassline. Experimental comes to mind. It is too long. They must have been listening to a lot of Wire at the time. System is about riding the El, so I can relate, but the song is flat, and the drumming is bad. Web is more straightforward and better. Bananacuda is a surf instrumental with synth. Kind of like early B52s. New Dreams we all know and love. This is the 3rd version of it on NR recordings. Great song on All Rise, but not too great here. The live stuff is well recorded and spans from Throb Throb through Understand? No bad songs here. Metastasis is great as ever, and Treason and Entrapment get thoroughly worked over. Those Who Move is phenomenal. Where You Live is a cover of a Government Issue song. The silly stuff is a 7-11 Jingle they did for some contest, but it sounds like it was recorded for British radio. It is remarkably good actually. Who are Naked Raygun? features some of the worst accents ever attempted. Funny though, as different "nationalities" discuss NR. Now to the meat of the CD–the new stuff. The last demo NR ever recorded is the highlight of the CD. Off the Edge is poppy but classic Naked Raygun. A bouncy verse leads into a classic whoah-whoah chorus. Hot Atomics is a more straightforward rocker. Nothing outstanding but good nonetheless. The guitars are very Buzzcocksian. The Way it's Supposed To Be is a classic. A sad story of everyday life, with a great chorus. Trio is simply one of my favorite Naked Raygun songs of all time. It is a muscular stop and go song, but is raised above the level of the normal by the beautiful voice of Elizabeth Ellsmore of Sarge. Her chorus is angelic and is the opposite of the music she is singing to. Giveaway is built around a simple bassline, and reminds me of "Why Can't I Touch It" by the Buzzcocks. It is hypnotic, but then it breaks into a fast chorus. On the strength of these 5 songs, I'm not sure why NR broke up. They had progressed without losing any of their originality or song writing abilities. These are amongst the strongest 5 songs they'd ever recorded back-to-back. On the strength of them, and the good live tracks I give this CD 3 stars.

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