The Blackouts were the best Seattle band you never heard of. To those who bought their records and attended their shows, this is no secret. But for the majority who didn't, this exciting anthology--long overdue--thankfully now exists. Sequenced in reverse-chronological order, it begins with their last recordings, which were produced by Al Jourgensen and originally released on Wax Trax! (three Blackouts later worked with Jourgensen in Ministry after the Blackouts demise). The album ends with their debut 45 The Underpass. Included on History in Reverse (KLP165) are three previously unreleased songs from the Wax Trax! session.In 1979, following the breakup of the notorious Telepaths, several members (guitarist Erich Werner, drummer Bill Rieflin, synth/sax player Roland Barker and bassist Mike Davidson, later replaced by Paul Ion Barker) re-formed as a new musical alliance--the Blackouts. They had an implosive intensity and were the antithesis of the bar bands that dominated Seattle's anemic local music scene. Intentional, dynamic songs were the Blackouts' stock-in-trade. At this they excelled. Over the next six years they released four singles and EPs on four different labels (Modern, Engram, Situation Two, a subsidiary of 4AD, and Wax Trax!) and relocated to Boston, then San Francisco. Few bands from that era can claim as impressive a legacy as History in Reverse. 15 Songs: Happy Hunting Ground · Its Clay Again · Chipped Beef · Idiot · Writhing · Everglades · Exchange of Goods · Industry · Young Man · Dead Mans Curve · Probabilities · Being Be · Five is 5 · The Underpass · Make No Mistake · Idiot (video version)
Also available on LP
Or as individual track downloads:
1. Happy Hunting Ground 2. It's Clay Again 3. Chipped Beef 4. Idiot 5. Writhing 6. Everglades 7. Exchange of Goods 8. Industry 9. Young Man 10. Dead Man's Curve 11. Probabilities 12. Being Be 13. Five is 5 14. Make No Mistake 15. The Underpass 16. Idiot (Video Version)
|