This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2015) |
Yes L.A. | |
---|---|
Compilation album EP by various artists | |
Released | August 1979 |
Recorded | 1978 – 1979 |
Genre | Punk rock |
Length | 13:26 |
Language | English |
Label | Dangerhouse |
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
The Vinyl District | A [1] |
Yes L.A. is a six-song compilation EP featuring first-generation Californian punk rock bands. It was also the final release of the short-lived but influential Dangerhouse Records label. [1]
A one-sided picture disc released at the twilight of the early Los Angeles punk scene, [nb 1] Yes L.A. features some of its most acclaimed bands: [1] the Bags, the Eyes, the Alley Cats, Black Randy and the Metrosquad, [3] X, and the Germs. [2]
The record title makes parody of No New York , [nb 2] [2] the seminal no wave compilation album issued a year earlier, [4] perceived as pretentious by West Coast punkers. [1] The EP even included a satirical disclaimer printed on the disc saying: "Not produced by Brian Eno". [4]
The compilation includes a rawer early version of X's song "Los Angeles", recorded in 1978, which is, in the words of Dangerhouse Records co-founder David Brown, "a scathing, literal depiction of the scene which needs no explanation". [5] The record also features a rare alternate mix of the Germs' "No God", [6] [7] a song originally produced by Geza X [nb 3] for the EP Lexicon Devil , [nb 4] previously released in May 1978.
The Yes L.A. EP has become highly sought after by record collectors. [1]
Yes L.A. was mastered by Jeff Sanders at Crystal Sound Studios in Hollywood, California.
All songs on the compilation were previously unissued, with the only exception of Black Randy and the Metrosquad's tune "Down at the Laundrymat", featured on the band's studio album Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie [nb 5] [10] [11] [12] from July 1979. [8]
Yes L.A. was originally released in August 1979 on Dangerhouse Records, [1] [2] in a limited edition of 2,000 copies [4] [8] pressed on 12-inch clear vinyl discs. [nb 6] [1] [13] [14]
Designed by Pat Garrett, [1] [8] the record artwork was silkscreened by hand on the ungrooved side of each single disc, [1] [4] [8] with one of three different color combinations, namely, green/black, [15] green/blue, [16] and green/red. [17] Some of those copies were misprinted. [nb 7] Examples include discs with text only, [18] with the background image in front of the text, or the image and text on the side with the grooves, rendering such a record unplayable.
Some non-silkscreened black vinyl test pressings are known to exist. [8]
Original copies came without a sleeve, instead packaged in a clear plastic bag with a white cardboard backing. [4]
At some point during the 1990s, the rights to Yes L.A. (and the entire Dangerhouse Records catalog) were acquired by Frontier Records. [6]
In June 2013, after 34 years out of print, Yes L.A. was reissued by Frontier in a one-time limited edition of 1,000 almost exact replicas of the original EP [nb 8] [4] [19] [20] to commemorate the label's 100th release. [1] [6]
Where it is necessary, songwriting credits are listed in the format lyrics/music .
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "We Don't Need the English" | Craig Lee | Bags | 1:13 |
2. | "Disneyland" | Joe Ramirez, John Richey/Ramirez | Eyes | 2:00 |
3. | "Too Much Junk" (Dangerhouse version) | Randy Stodola | The Alley Cats | 2:41 |
4. | "Down at the Laundrymat" | Black Randy/Bob Deadwyler | Black Randy and the Metrosquad | 3:26 |
5. | "Los Angeles" (Dangerhouse version) | John Doe | X | 2:12 |
6. | "No God" (Dangerhouse mix) | Darby Crash | Germs | 1:54 |
Total length: | 13:26 |
Eyes
Black Randy and the Metrosquad
| Production
|
The Germs were an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, originally active from 1976 to 1980. The band's "classic" lineup consisted of singer Darby Crash, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Lorna Doom and drummer Don Bolles. They released only one album, 1979's (GI), produced by Joan Jett, and were featured in Penelope Spheeris' seminal documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization, which chronicled the Los Angeles punk movement. The Germs disbanded following Crash's suicide in 1980. Their music was influential to many later rock acts, and Smear went on to achieve greater fame performing with Nirvana and Foo Fighters.
X is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles. The original members are vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist-bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer D. J. Bonebrake. The band released seven studio albums from 1980 to 1993. After a period of inactivity during the mid-to-late 1990s, X reunited in the early 2000s, and continued to tour, as of 2022.
A double album is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording is longer than the capacity of the medium. Recording artists often think of double albums as being a single piece artistically; however, there are exceptions such as John Lennon's Some Time in New York City and OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below . Since the advent of the compact disc, albums are sometimes released with a bonus disc featuring additional material as a supplement to the main album, with live tracks, studio out-takes, cut songs, or older unreleased material. One innovation was the inclusion of a DVD of related material with a compact disc, such as video related to the album or DVD-Audio versions of the same recordings. Some such discs were also released on a two-sided format called DualDisc.
Poison Idea was an American punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1980.
GI, stylized as (GI), is the only studio album by American punk rock band the Germs. Often considered the first full-length hardcore punk album, it was released in the United States in October 1979 on Slash Records with catalog number SR 103. The album was later released in Italy in 1982 by Expanded Music with the catalog EX 11. The album's title is an acronym for "Germs Incognito", an alternate name the band used to obtain bookings when their early reputation kept them out of Los Angeles-area clubs. After (GI)'s release, the band would only undertake one more recording session, for the soundtrack album to Al Pacino's 1980 film Cruising. On December 7, 1980, a year after the release of (GI), vocalist Darby Crash died by suicide.
Lexicon Devil is a three-song EP and the second release by American punk rock band the Germs. It was also the debut output of Slash Records, and of Geza X both as a producer and as a recording engineer. The record was named after its leadoff song.
Dangerhouse Records was a punk music record label based in Los Angeles, California.
This Is Boston, Not L.A. is a hardcore punk compilation released in 1982. It is considered the definitive album from the Boston hardcore scene, as several of its most prominent bands appear on the record, namely, Jerry's Kids, the Proletariat, the Groinoids, the F.U.'s, Gang Green, Decadence, and the Freeze. For them, with the exception of the later, This Is Boston, Not L.A. was also their debut release. Al Barile's band, SSD, were asked to contribute, but they refused to participate.
"Around and Around" is a 1958 rock song written and first recorded by Chuck Berry. It originally appeared under the name "Around & Around" as the B-side to the single "Johnny B. Goode".
The Zero Boys are an American hardcore punk quartet from Indianapolis, Indiana fronted by Paul Mahern that debuted in 1980. Other members include bassist Scott Kellogg, drummer Mark Cutsinger and guitarist Dave Lawson. The band was known as one of the few popular hardcore bands from the Midwest, as the scene was mostly dominated by bands from the coasts.
Black Randy and the Metrosquad was an American punk rock band from the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Los Angeles punk scene. They gained notoriety not only for their surreal and smutty sense of humor, but also for their amalgamation of proto-punk, 1970s porn, pop, and avant-garde music.
Oliver Joseph Nanini was an American rock drummer, most famous for being the percussionist and a founding member of new wave group Wall of Voodoo during their heyday in the 1980s. He was known for playing with pots, pans, and other objects. This arrangement can be seen in the motion picture Urgh! A Music War in which Wall Of Voodoo performed a live version of the song "Back In Flesh" from the Dark Continent album, and also later in the video for the hit single "Mexican Radio". Along with Stan Ridgway and Bill Noland, he left the band after their performance at the US Festival in 1983. Nanini went on to become one of the co-founders of the neo-traditional band The Lonesome Strangers and played on their first record, Lonesome Pine.
Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie is the sole studio album by Black Randy and the Metrosquad, released in 1979 by record label Dangerhouse.
Celebrity Skin was a post-punk, glam influenced, hard rock band from Los Angeles, California. They were active from the mid-1980s till the early 1990s.
The Alley Cats are a Los Angeles, California-based punk rock trio formed in 1977. The original line-up, featuring Randy Stodola, Dianne Chai and John McCarthy (drums), was a fixture of the early L.A. punk rock scene. Signed to Dangerhouse Records alongside other seminal California-based punk bands including the Bags, Black Randy and the Metro Squad, and X, they released their first single "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore" backed with "Give Me a Little Pain" on March 30, 1978. They are among the six bands featured on the 1979 compilation album Yes L.A. and appear in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War.
Red Cross, a six-song punk rock EP record, is the first stand-alone release by American rock band Red Cross.
Danger Zone is the debut EP by the American hardcore punk band China White.
Tooth and Nail is a seminal compilation album featuring six early Californian punk rock bands: the Controllers, the Flesh Eaters, U.X.A., Negative Trend, Middle Class, and the Germs.
Flesh Eaters, also known as Disintegration Nation after the title of its opening track, is the four-song debut EP by American rock band the Flesh Eaters.
Punk 45: Chaos in the City of Angels and Devils is a 2016 compilation album released by Soul Jazz Records. The album compiles early music from the Los Angeles punk rock music scene from various intendent music labels, such as Dangerhouse, Upsetter and Bomp! Records.