D.I.Y.: We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene (1976-79) (1993)

If D.I.Y.: We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene (1976-79) is one of the weakest installments in the D.I.Y. series, it's only because the Los Angeles scene wasn't nearly as rich and diverse as those in New York and London. New wave pop didn't have a stronghold in the L.A. punk community, which tended to favor raw, hard, amateurish punk. Essentially, Los Angeles was one of the first towns to embrace hardcore, and almost all of We're Desperate plays as proto-hardcore punk. Of all the bands on the collection, X displays the greatest ... Read More

If D.I.Y.: We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene (1976-79) is one of the weakest installments in the D.I.Y. series, it's only because the Los Angeles scene wasn't nearly as rich and diverse as those in New York and London. New wave pop didn't have a stronghold in the L.A. punk community, which tended to favor raw, hard, amateurish punk. Essentially, Los Angeles was one of the first towns to embrace hardcore, and almost all of We're Desperate plays as proto-hardcore punk. Of all the bands on the collection, X displays the greatest songcraft and style with their edgy guitars and tag-team vocals. No other group has their finesse, but then again, they don't attempt to write songs, they just want to make noise; on that level the collection works, even if it may get tedious to listeners who have just a passing interest in this style of punk. Still, We're Desperate is a good overview of the L.A. scene, featuring its handful of major players -- the Germs ("Forming," "Lexicon Devil"), the Dickies ("You Drive Me Ape [You Big Gorilla]"), the Weirdos ("We Got the Neutron Bomb," "A Life of Crime"), the Dils ("I Hate the Rich") -- plus many lesser-known acts like the Zeros, the Furys, Eyes, Bags, the Last, Alley Cats, the Plugz, and the Dogs, as well as a demo from the Motels. There's not enough variety or substance to make it as essential as the New York and U.K. collections, but that means We're Desperate is an accurate representation of Los Angeles punk. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi Read Less

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1993, Rhino UPC: 081227117627 CD See All

1993, Rhino UPC: 081227117641 Cassette See All