In December 1973 Hilly Kristal changed the name of his roots music bar from ‘Hilly’s on the Bowery’ to ‘CBGB’ and altered his musical policy to hire mostly rock bands. There is no doubt that this decision had a massive impact on the music scene in New York, which then filtered out to the rest of the world. Five bands in particular become synonymous with the club, and within a fifteen-month period Television (March 1974), Ramones (August) and Blondie (October), Patti Smith (February 1975) and Talking Heads (June) all made their initial appearances before signing major record deals.
This collection provides tracks from these bands, along with a few others, giving us a running time of more than 5 hours, 101 tracks, spread over four discs with a fantastic booklet, compiled and annotated by Rob Tannenbaum. Not only is there an in-depth essay but there is information on every track, where it came from, and important aspects about the band, which leads me to think this is probably the most complete attempt of capturing the importance of the club to have yet taken place.
As well as the “Big Five” the club was incredibly diverse, bringing in loads of different styles and genres such as No Wave (Sonic Youth, Mars, DNA, Bush Tetras), post-punk (Ritual Tension, Unknown Gender, Khmer Rouge), mutant funk and R&B (James Chance & The Contortions, Mink DeVille), art-rock bands (R.L. Crutchfield’s Dark Day, The Revelons, Erasers, Jeff and Jane Hudson) hardcore punk (Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Vatican Commandos, Beastie Boys), and lots of power pop (Sorrows, The dBs, The Rudies, The Miamis, The Paley Brothers). Most of the bands on this set are new to me, but all the bands I expected to see are here, plus loads more.
I think the track which surprised me most was “Egg Raid On Mojo” by Beastie Boys, as I had no idea they had formed at a Bad Brains gig and were originally an over-the-top hardcore band as proved by this 80-second song originally take from the ‘Polly Wog Stew’ EP, while any compilation which kicks off with The Dictators will always be a delight, and I haven’t heard “Fuck Off” by The Electric Chairs for more than 40 years. This is a wonderful example of how to bring together a definitive collection to truly provide a flavour of a whole scene. If you ever wanted to truly know what CBGB’s was all about and wondered if it was more than “just” Ramones, then this is a great place to start.
Rating: 9/10
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Track list:
DISC ONE
1 The Dictators – (I Live For) Cars And Girls
2 The Harlots of 42nd Street – S&M (I Can’t Live Without You)
3 The Magic Tramps – S&M – Leather Queen
4 Patti Smith – Free Money
5 The Brats – Be A Man
6 City Lights – Travelin’ Man
7 The Hounds – Call Me (Previously unreleased on CD)
8 Erasers – It Was So Funny (That Song That They Sung)
9 Ramones – Beat On The Brat
10 Stuart’s Hammer – Everybody’s Depraved (Live at CBGB)
11 The Planets – Come On Up (Previously unreleased)
12 Milk ‘N’ Cookies – Not Enough Girls (In The World)
13 Just Water – They Live By Night
14 Television – See No Evil
15 Mumps – Crocodile Tears
16 The Heartbreakers – Born To Lose
17 Testors – You Don’t Break My Heart
18 The Dead Boys – Ain’t Nothing To Do
19 The Senders – You Really Piss Me Off
20 The Electric Chairs – Fuck Off
21 Marbles – Forgive And Forget
22 Cherry Vanilla – Hard As A Rock
23 Tuff Darts – Fun City
24 Talking Heads – A Clean Break (Let’s Work) (Live)
DISC TWO
1 Suicide – Ghost Rider
2 Pure Hell – I Feel Bad
3 Helen Wheels – Room To Rage
4 Blondie – Picture This
5 Mars – Helen Forsdale
6 Come On – Don’t Walk On The Kitchen Floor
7 Mink Deville – “A” Train Lady
8 The Heat – Instant Love (Previously unreleased on CD)
9 Genya Ravan – Aye Co’lorado
10 Theoretical Girls – Lovin’ In The Red
11 Richard Hell & The Voidoids – The Kid With The Replaceable Head
12 The Stillettos – Pink Stillettos
13 The Paley Brothers – Baby, Let’s Stick Together
14 Neon Leon – Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Alive (Previously unreleased on CD)
15 Revelons – The Way (You Touch My Hand)
16 New York Ni**ers – Just Like Dresden ’45
17 L.O.K. – Fun House (Previously unreleased on CD)
18 Material – O.A.O.
19 The Laughing Dogs – I Need A Million
20 Shrapnel – Combat Love
21 Peroxide – Heart Disease
22 Student Teachers – Christmas Weather
23 Tom Verlaine – Breakin’ In My Heart
24 Richard Lloyd – Number Nine
25 James Chance & The Contortions Jailhouse Rock (Live at CBGB 1978)
DISC THREE
1 The Cramps – Garbage Man
2 The Dots – I Don’t Wanna Dance (With You) (Previously unreleased on CD)
3 The Miamis – We Deliver
4 Model Citizens – Shift The Blame
5 The dB’s – Black And White
6 The Rattlers – On The Beach
7 Love Of Life Orchestra – The Revolution Is Personal
8 Urban Verbs – Next Question (Previously unreleased)
9 Sylvain Sylvain – Teenage News
10 Stimulators – Loud Fast Rules
11 Tot Rocket And The Twins – Reduced
12 The Bongos – Telephoto Lens
13 Outsets – I’m Searchin’ For You
14 Sorrows – Teenage Heartbreak
15 The Lounge Lizards – Do The Wrong Thing
16 Nervus Rex – There She Goes
17 The Cosmopolitans – Wild Moose Party
18 Polyrock – Your Dragging Feet
19 Lenny Kaye with The Lone Wolves – Child Bride (Previously unreleased on CD)
20 R.L. Crutchfield’s Dark Day – Arp’s Carpet
21 The Colors – Jealousy
22 TV Toy – (Don’t Blame It On The) Weekend
23 DNA – Blonde Red Head
24 The Rudies- Sherri Goodbye
25 The Raybeats – Tight Turn
26 Phosphenes – Asexual (Previously unreleased on CD)
27 Minor Threat – Straight Edge
DISC FOUR
1 Bush Tetras – Things That Go BOOM In The Night
2 Human Switchboard – (Say No To) Saturday’s Girl
3 Disturbed Furniture – Information *
4 The Necessaries – Back To You *
5 Chemicals Made From Dirt – Oriental Television *
6 China Shop – If It’s New
7 James Blood Ulmer – Open House
8 Nihilistics – You’re To Blame
9 Beastie Boys – Egg Raid On Mojo
10 The Individuals – My Three Sons (Revolve Around The Earth)
11 Rhys Chatham – Drastic Classicism (edit)
12 Unknown Gender – Boys-Girls (Radio) *
13 Khmer Rouge – Hinterland
14 Bad Brains – Banned In D.C.
15 Heart Attack – English Cunts
16 Outpatients – Fight
17 Vatican Commandos – Housewives On Valium
18 Sonic Youth – The World Looks Red
19 Jeff & Jane Hudson – Operating Instruction
20 Glorious Strangers – Deception *
21 Nona Hendryx – Transformation
22 Reagan Youth – No Class
23 Rat At Rat R – Assassin
24 Ritual Tension – Social Climber
25 The Ordinaires – Grace
Links:
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/