Best Of Flipside Vol.I {Flipside/MVD} Recorded in LA during the height of USHC, this should hold more appeal to any self-respecting Punk than an entire channel of porn.
For those who came to Punk Rock within the last 10 years, the legend that is Flipside may not register. It operated outta LA as, first and foremost, the best zine in the States. It expanded into a record and video label and, somewhere in the late-90s, collapsed. The zine featured some of the most informed writers that you will ever be fortunate enough to read who were involved not only in the LA Punk scene but way beyond. These shows were recorded live usually on two cameras, no overdubs, no post-recording processing and reflect this simplicity, but exude a reality, a raw excitement and a sensation that some over-produced GASLIGHT ANTHEM 48-track digitally recorded, surround-sound, high definition DVD can but merely wish to attain.
Recorded at LA’s Olympic Auditorium in January 1984, BAD RELIGION kick things off with a show recorded just after reforming and features Greg Graffin as the band’s only original member. The band, as ever, is tight and intelligent even when being pummeled by a seriously slamming stage invasion during both ‘Fuck Armageddon’ and ‘Bad Religion’. Highlights have to include ‘Along The Way’ and the set-closing ‘Slaves’. What amazed me was just how clear Graffin’s diction was during singing - especially while getting slammed throughout by stage divers! As a bonus, there is also a brief interview with Graffin where he comments about growing up and more. It’s interesting stuff 25 years on!
Next up we’re at the Stardust Ballroom in April of the same year for a chaotic CIRCLE JERKS show. Compared with BAD RELIGION, this has rather poor sound - Keith Morris’ vocal is almost non-existence - but the performance is blazing and features Chuck Biscuits on drums whose performance alone is simply jaw-dropping. Morris himself is crazed, mixing it with the crowd and flailing around the stage like there’s no tomorrow. Highlights? A warp-speed ‘Wasted’, ‘Live Fast Die Young’ and ‘Coup D’etat’ that sees the mic get stolen. The camera work is as chaotic as the show and probably makes for the nearest ‘being-there’ vibe of the whole DVD.
Staying at the Stardust but warping to February 1986, we have one of LA’s most endearing bands, THE WEIRDOS. This show sees four of the original members back together and is a much better recording than the CIRCLE JERKS. Highlights have to be a phenomenally snotty and angry ‘We Got The Neutron Bomb’, a ragged but focused rip through ‘Message From The Underworld’ and an animated ‘Pagan’. There’s no in between song banter and, as a result of just the one guitarist, a lot of these versions have a corrosiveness that their recorded contemporaries kinda lack. And the encore of a never-ending ‘Helium Bar’ has to be seen to be believed.
Finally it’s erstwhile LA Punks, THE DICKIES, recorded in November 1985 at Skateway. Gotta say, this is NOT the best of DICKIES shows. Whether Stan and/or Leonard had a little too much to snort, I don’t know, but it was not the standard of performance I have seen several times. That said ‘You Drive Me Ape’ is turbo-charged (speed laced??) while ‘Manny Moe And Jack’ proves the highlight. The band’s wit is never far away; before ‘Cross Eyed Tammy’ Leonard states that the song was written to combat claims of sexism directed to the band due to songs laced with penis references. So, this is about a "girl with really big bazookas!" Looks like a sweaty show too.
An amazing two-hours of classic, vintage LA Punk laden with energy and attitude from a period that will never be revisited. This should be mandatory viewing for anyone claiming an affiliation with Punk Rock and clearly displays what the major-label, apolitical, mainstream Punk pretenders of today can but fantasize of being. (13.05.09)

Hit HERE for material reviewed before 2009 including:
Burning Britain:The History Of UK Punk 1980-1984, Eugene Video Zine