Amrep fellas.

Souleater-Nationwide-9th trim ward I just LOVE.

Their last Lp is fine too although a bit too polished.

Nationwide specially is so not crap. Won't befriend you if you don't agree.

'Little Debbie' is a killer track. That song ROCKS in a post-hardcore Stones way that many have tried to reach but few have achieved.

Trim, 9th Ward High Roller is an ass-kicker too. Honestly thought the 2 full lengths kinda sucked. From memory: debut was poorly recorded and Shimmer was lacking energy-wise.

May revisit soonish before I vote, but I'm really wafflin' here.

I like em.

M.H wrote: Tue Sep 05, 2023 5:34 am memory: debut was poorly recorded

I guess you mean the first proper Lp, Nationwide.

First time I heard the record I thought the same (not many Wharton Tiers recordings of the era sound "good" actually)

But right now after years of of listening to it I'd say that nasty sound is kinda fitting, wouldn't change it. You can actually hear lots of detail with a decent system.

Souleater, their very fist release (or second, after a 7") is a scorching Ep.

I owned Nationwide for a few years, purchased when it was new. Gave it more than a few chances but didn't dig it. To me, it kinda mixed very standard rock vibes w/the Sub Pop/AmRep sound that was so prevalent at the time. I thought it was a little lunkheaded and not so distinguished, particularly compared to a band like say, Dirt (from Atlanta), which was mining similar territory during the same era w/a good deal more weirdness.

Oddly, I recall liking Souleater well enough. Was it noisier and freakier somehow?

Heard a song here and there from Surgery's major-label era and did not enjoy that one bit. Way slicker and boring.

Tempted to vote crap but not gonna, based on the strength of that debut mini-album (or on the weakness of my memory).

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2023 8:50 am Dirt (from Atlanta),

There are similarities with that band though Surgery IMHO had a more direct "Hard Rock" appeal.

But I always thought Dirt were kinda meh... other Forbes endeavors like Mount Shasta and specially Phantom 309 were phuntastic.

Seriously people, that Phantom 309 record with Mac Mcneilly on drums SLAYS.

Vibracobra wrote:

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2023 8:50 am Dirt (from Atlanta),

There are similarities with that band though Surgery IMHO had a more direct "Hard Rock" appeal.

But I always thought Dirt were kinda meh... other Forbes endeavors like Mount Shasta and specially Phantom 309 were phuntastic.

Seriously people, that Phantom 309 record with Mac Mcneilly on drums SLAYS.

The Dirt albums are a mixed bag, a little monotonous. But they have their moments and I adore the blown-tonsils vocals. The two Dirt 7-inches, on the other hand, totally slay (as did the live experience). If you're unmoved by those well, then Dirt is not for you.

And yeah, it's possibly the straighter, more hard-rock aspect of Surgery that leaves me colder.

I'm too lazy to check the vinyl, but I believe that Mac played bass in P309. Gary Held, the head of their record company, was the drummer. I like the LP and the EP they released just fine.

That's funny, since the drumming kicks so much ass on that record I assumed it was Mr Mcneilly behind the drumkit. You were right, I checked on discogs (my record sleeve doesn't tell who plays what)

I see on also on discogs that Gary Held was some sort of producer for 86, that was a fine band too.

Just checked one Dirt Lp back in the day, I'll look for the 7's.

Not crap. Never one of my favourite bands on the Amrep roster but they always rocked hard (yes, even on Shimmer which may be too slick but still sounds like them, no attempts to go post-grunge or whatever).

For better or worse, their early records (Souleater, Nationwide and the singles and comp-appearances from the same era) is how I'd imagine late 80's Pussy Galore to sound if they were more earnestly cock-rocking and less post-No wave conceptual (still MUCH prefer PG though perhaps for that very reason). With "9th ward..." and the "Little debbie" single, the production and delivery was cleaned up and I guess they started to sound more like a "contender" in a commercial sense but while the songwriting probably got better, some of the charm was gone and on the major label record, they were a rock-band (tm) though still a pretty stylish one with excellent influences (you know, detroit rock, Stones, ZZ Top, Skynyrd, NY Dolls etc.) but hardly something to be excited over...

Then again, I could say the same thing about Royal Trux "Thank you" and I've grown to *love* that album and-dare I say it?-Sweet 16 too. I guess it boils down to Neil Hagertys guitar style; blooze-lead action-rock guitarist in Surgery just wasnt distinctive like that. Still, NC

Checked in with the 2 albums over the past week and I am still underwhelmed in 2023. Whoever made the Pussy Galore comparisons is bang on the money; Spencerisms very much detected in both their noiser and slicker forms...

Still, gotta call it crap.

'Little Debbie' really is a banger, though.



Love the outro on this after the frenzied solo section, it's like they're aware they may have rocked you with such intensity that the only responsible thing to do is have a warm down session before finishing up.