Best Before 1984 | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | 1986 | |||
Recorded | 1979–1984 | |||
Genre | Anarcho punk | |||
Length | 79:03 117:13 (Crassical Collection version) | |||
Label | Crass | |||
Producer | Crass | |||
Crass chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | link |
Select | [1] |
Best Before 1984 is a compilation of Crass' singles and other tracks, released in 1986, including lyrics and a booklet ("...In Which Crass Voluntarily 'Blow Their Own'") which details the history of the band in their own words. The album was named in reference to the notion that 1984 was the band's "'sell by date", the year that they had often publicly stated that they would split up. Indeed, the band ceased gigging and recording in that year. [2]
For many years, there were plans to release an expanded edition of Best Before 1984, which would include currently unavailable material (such as the "Merry Crassmas" and "Whodunnit?" singles) and rarities, in the same vein as the 'Crassical Collection' re-releases of the band's albums. [3] These plans finally came to fruition in 2019, with the announcement of an expanded two-disc version of the album available for pre-order on the One Little Indian website. [4] Between 1 and 5 April 2019, Crass made the first disc of this reissue available for free download from their social media pages. The reissued album was finally released on 2 October 2020 on the now-renamed One Little Independent Records, including CD-sized replicas of the original poster covers from the singles.
Tracks 1–3 are from an early recording session on 27 February 1978.
Tracks 4 and 5 are from the "Reality Asylum" single, released in 1979.
Track 6 is from the "Bloody Revolutions / Persons Unknown" split single with Poison Girls, released in 1980.
Tracks 7 and 8 are from the "Nagasaki Nightmare" single, released 1980.
Track 9 is from the "Rival Tribal Rebel Revel" flexi-single, released in 1980 (later released on 7" vinyl).
Track 10 is from an anti-war flexi-single released anonymously in 1982.
Tracks 11–13 are from the "How Does It Feel (To Be The Mother of a Thousand Dead)?" single, released in 1982.
Tracks 14 and 15 are from the "Sheep Farming in The Falklands" single, released in 1983.
Tracks 16–18 are from the band's final single, "You're Already Dead", released in 1984.
Track 19 is previously unreleased.
Track 20 was recorded live at the band's final gig at Aberdare in 1984.
The Feeding of the 5000 is the first album by the anarcho-punk band Crass. The album was recorded on 29 October 1978, by John Loder at Southern Studios and was released the same year. It was considered revolutionary in its time due to what was considered an extreme sound, frequently profane lyrical content and the anarchist political ideals in the lyrics. The album also saw the introduction of Crass's policy of ensuring cheap prices for their records. This album is considered one of the first punk albums to expound serious anarchist philosophies.
Crass Records was an independent record label that was set up by the anarchist punk band Crass.
Bullshit Detector was the name of a series of compilation LPs put together by the anarcho-punk band Crass and released on their Crass Records label. Three editions were released between 1980 and 1984, consisting of demo tapes, rough recordings and artwork that had been sent to the band. The sound quality of the Bullshit Detector series was mixed, and was often very basic or poor as Crass would master the tapes directly to record without any additional production or enhancement. For Crass, the expectation of a polished performance was missing the point of the DIY punk ethic:
Yes Sir, I Will was the fifth and penultimate album released in March 1983 by anarcho-punk band Crass. The album is a virulent attack on then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher and her government in the aftermath of the Falklands War and was set nearly wholly over a raging and an almost free-form improvised backing provided by the group's musicians.
Christ – The Album is the fourth album by Crass, released in 1982. It was released as a boxed-set, double-vinyl LP package, including one disc of new studio material and another, entitled Well Forked.. But Not Dead, a live recording of the band's June 1981 gig at the 100 Club in London along with other studio tracks, demos and tape fragments. The box also included a book, A Series of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums, and a large poster painted by Gee Vaucher. The album was well received and the band considered it their best.
You'll Ruin It for Everyone is a live album by Crass recorded at the Lesser City Hall in Perth, Scotland, on July 4, 1981. It was released in 1993 on Pomona Records with the band's permission and re-released with different packaging in 2001. The album's title is taken from a comment made from the stage by Crass singer Steve Ignorant whilst trying to stop a group of skinheads in the audience from fighting.
Anthrax are an English anarcho-punk band formed in Gravesend, Kent, England, in 1980. They recorded their first demo in 1981 and went on to release two 7" EPs on Crass Records and Small Wonder Records. They appeared on compilations released by Crass Records, Mortarhate Records and Fightback Records. They toured outside the UK twice in the Netherlands with Dutch band The Ex.
Youth in Asia were an early 1980s UK anarcho-punk band from London. They were differentiated from many other bands within that scene by their prominent use of the synthesizer. The band's first live performance was in Brussels in December 1981. They played several gigs at squatted venues, including Crass's squat gig at Zig Zag in London, and the Wapping Autonomy Centre with other bands including The Apostles, Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Twelve Cubic Feet, The Mob, Poison Girls, Hagar the Womb, Riot/Clone, DIRT and others.
Eve Libertine is an English singer.
The Poison Girls were an English anarcho-punk band from Brighton. The singer/guitarist, Vi Subversa, was a middle-aged mother of two at the band's inception, and wrote songs that explored sexuality and gender roles, often from an anarchist perspective. The original Poison Girls line-up also included: Lance D'Boyle (drums); Richard Famous (guitar/vocals); Nil ; and Bernhardt Rebours (bass/synthesiser/piano).
Toxic Waste was an anarcho-punk band from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Special Duties are a British punk rock band from Colchester, Essex.
This is an overview of the Crass Records discography. (NB, dates refer to initial UK releases, many of these records have since been re-issued in CD format)
Toyah was an English new wave band fronted by namesake Toyah Willcox between 1977 and 1983. The only other consistent band member throughout this period was Joel Bogen, Willcox's principal co-writer and guitarist.
Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, advocating direct action, animal rights, feminism, anti-fascism, and environmentalism. The band used and advocated a DIY ethic in its albums, sound collages, leaflets, and films.
The cultural impact of the Falklands War spanned several media in both Britain and Argentina. A number of films and television productions emerged from the conflict. The first Argentine film about the war was Los chicos de la guerra in 1984. The BBC drama Tumbledown (1988) tells the story of a British officer paralysed from a bullet wound. The computer game Harrier Attack (1983) and the naval strategy game Strike Fleet (1987) are two examples of Falklands-related games. A number of fictional works were set during the Falklands War, including in Stephen King's novella The Langoliers (1990), in which the character Nick Hopewell is a Falklands veteran. The war provided a wealth of material for non-fiction writers; in the United Kingdom (UK) an important account became Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins' The Battle for the Falklands.
The Membranes are an English post-punk band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1977, the initial line-up being John Robb, Mark Tilton (guitar), Martyn Critchley (vocals) and Martin Kelly (drums). Critchley soon left, with Robb and Tilton taking on vocals, and Kelly moving to keyboards, with "Coofy Sid" (Coulthart) taking over on drums.
"Bird in Flight" is a song by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released as a single in 1980 by Safari Records.
Andrew "Andy" Palmer, also known as N. A. Palmer, is a British musician and artist. He was the rhythm guitarist for anarcho punk band Crass.
The Fits were a punk rock band from Blackpool, Lancashire, England, who were active between 1979 and 1985, having several hits on the UK Indie Chart. They reformed in 2011.