Those patently foolish idealists under the mistaken impression that great music always gets noticed by the record-buying public need to go out and find a copy of The Pink Album by the Avengers. Since its original release in 1983 (four years after the band broke up), The Pink Album has appeared on store shelves courtesy of no less than four record labels on a multitude of formats – singer Penelope Houston even did a mail order business selling CDR copies of the album for a while – but the album has never been officially reissued and has never been given the credit it deserves for helping to define the sound of West coast punk rock. Will it get that credit now that a two-disc, deluxe reissue officially sanctioned by the band is out? Probably not – but those who find it will know they've found the missing link and/or an often-overlooked chapter in the history of punk the moment they take a listen; from beginning to end, there's no doubt that this record has the goods which have fueled a lot of imaginations.
The sense that what listeners are hearing is an overlooked gem is apparent as soon as “We Are The One” (don't judge a song by its title) blasts the album open and causes those who hear it for the first time to do a double-take. On that song, drummer Danny Furious (who was also the one responsible for compiling The Pink Album originally) instantly locks into gear next to bassist James Wilsey and never, ever breaks stride or slows down out of a steady barrage of eighth note high hats and single-strike-per-measure snares. At the same time, guitarist Greg Ingraham comes close to sanding the paint off his guitar with the underside of his forearm because he's playing so hard. The result is a mesmerizing, beautiful noise, and the music really does threaten to make fans for life of those who hear it right away but, while the band has a power even punk rock hadn't seen before, the real X-factor which guarantees there's no going back is singer Penelope Houston's pipes. Equal parts Poly Styrene, Siouxsie Sioux and Exene Cervenka, Houston rapid fires her way through each song and gives the boys playing with her a run for their money as lyrics like “We are not Jesus Christ/ We are not fascist pigs/ We are not capitalist industrialists/ We are not communists/ We are the one” qualify as very possibly the best nihilist calls to arms ever committed to tape; surpassing “Holidays In The Sun,” “God Save The Queen” and “Anarchy In The U.K.” by miles and only coming second to The Ramones because they'd already released “Teenage Lobotomy” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” which were both easier to dance to.
The chorus of “We Are The One” alone will make the lips of those who hear them curl into a sneer involuntarily even twenty-nine years later, but nothing lets up after the song lets out. That visage will remain on the faces of listeners for all the right reasons as the band breaks into “Believe In Me” (the lyrics of which were ad libbed as the tape rolled), “Open Your Eyes” (which is far more incendiary than most of the other punk rock of the day was – as lyrics like “I want to upset you/ Want to make you think/ But you eat all their shit, it makes your breath stink” are both flat-out repugnant and rabble-rousing revolutionary) and a particularly visceral cover of The Rolling Stones' “Paint It Black” prove as they punch their way through. In those tracks (and more), the Avengers appear like the personification of teenage anger and frustration where bands like The Ramones and Sex Pistols just come off as campy by comparison; listeners will quickly realize that this was the music of the street (not a clothing store) by street rules and that fact still translates, decades later. After that realization comes through, listeners will also find that the overall sound of this record (the scruffy tone of the guitars, how and where the vocals are doubled, the reasonably thin but constant and almost mechanical approach to the drums, speedy bass) has more in common with all the punk records released after 1995 than anything The Ramones and The Pistols ever did too; in a way, The Pink Album accurately precedes the renaissance which saw the SoCal scene draw a lot of notice in the Nineties.
All of that historical matter and all the lines that The Pink Album ties together is exciting but, this being the first genuine, band-endorsed reissue of The Pink Album (such is the claim as contended by Avengers singer Penelope Houston), it only makes sense that the Avengers would try to make a larger presentation of the music on this reissue, and that's why there's a second disc included; but the band has really outdone itself with what's on it. After an extensive raid of the vaults (and a hard-won legal battle to regain control of their own music), what the band has assembled on disc two of the reissued Pink Album is a set of pretty much all the music they recorded between 1977 and 1979 – including a few previously unreleased studio tracks, rehearsal demos, songs captured live onstage (including a couple from the Sex Pistols' final show at the Winterland in San Francisco – where the Avengers opened for them) and some other odds and ends often requested by fans – and presented a complete portrait of exactly who the Avengers were during the first three years of their career. While the results aren't always pretty (some of the tape from which the audio originally came was clearly a little mangled with time), they are absolutely essential listening for punk fans. This new version of The Pink Album still comes across as vivid and real in a way that most reissues don't; most reissues seek to present the cleanest, most flawless presentation of the music possible, operating under the logical thinking that such machinations would also present the best impression of the band who made it. That isn't the angle that this reissue of The Pink Album is playing though. Rather, by simply collecting all the music they could, cleaning it up enough to make it presentable by modern standards and getting it back out for people to (maybe, hopefully) discover, the Avengers present who they were honestly and with warts and all on this reissue. It isn't sterile and perfect; this is the real filth and the fury, written and recorded before most of the patron saints of West coast punk and hardcore got started. If you think you like punk rock, you need to own this record. It is essential listening, without question.
Artist:
www.penelope.net/
www.myspace.com/avengers
www.facebook.com/pages/Avengers/
Album:
The Pink Album reissue is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
