Saturday, August 30, 2014

GG Allin & The Jabbers - Occupation EP



Label: Blood2000 Records; Year: 2000; Format: Vinyl 7"

Who really needs an introduction to GG Allin, this true rock'n'roll legend from New Hampshire who would have turned 58 years of age yesterday. Many people will associate GG with his musical output and especially his antics from the latter stage in his career, the years leading up to his death in June of 1993 in New York City. A growing number of music fanatics will never the less know that in his early days GG produced some great '77 punk inspired punk'n'roll songs. This weird EP, apparently limited to 302 copies, is home to one rare track that was in the vault for nearly twenty years before this EP came out. 'Occupation' was recorded with MC5'ers Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson, and was originally planned to be included on the 'Gimme some head' EP. Needles to say that the song is an absolute scorcher, and testament to the greatness of the MC5. On the B-Side of this you'll find a decent live version of 'You hate me & I hate you' and a filler in the form of 'Pills', also live. Both sides also contain a few seconds of GG talking, but that's not what you need this EP for. 'Occupation' alone is worth tracking down this record, although it is scarce, and probably not cheap. I would presume though that the song can be found on another GG record...?
Malinheads - Probegepogt aus Spandau EP



Label: Pogar; Year: 1983; Format: Vinyl 7"

The Berlin based label Pogar released between 1982 and 1987 fewer than twenty records, but a good number of them are absolute highlights when it comes to international hardcore punk. This 3-song EP by Malinheads from Spandau/Berlin is probably one of the Top 5 german hardcore punk releases as the band delivered these songs in such a manner that easily put them on a level with Scandinavian bands such as Anti-Cimex, Rattus, Headcleaners, and so on. I heard the song 'Wargames' of this EP for the first time around 1986/87 when a friend of mine made me a compilation tape of various bands from around the world. The Malinheads song was one of the highlights on that tape and stuck with me for ever, hence I had to get my hands on this EP one day, which wasn't until at some point in the '90s. What you get here is scandi/discharge influenced hardcore punk at its best, brutal in delivery, and in my opinion unique when it comes to bands from Germany. While it is not easy and cheap to track down an original copy of this, Thought Crime Records reissued this classic in 2012, so no one needs to spend big bucks to get this must-have.