Time Signature Let's drink some beer...

Genre: punk / hardcore / hard rock / alternative metal

"Drop the Needle: The Boston Punk Anthology" is a collection of tracks from Smegma & the Nunz, Celebrity Death Certificate, Scratch, Mallet Head and the 1985 line-up of Gang Green. Thus it documents the history and diversification of the Boston punk scene.

The tracks by Smegma & the Nunz, which also dominate the release, are by far the punkiest and represent the punk end of the hardcore continuum. This imeans that, although there is plenty of chaos and aggression, there is not much metallic about the Smegma and the Nunz tracks. But, if you're into punk, then you definitely don't want to miss out on tracks like 'Bourgeois Lad', 'Joke's on You' and 'Napalm Sticks to Kids'.

Gang Green are represented by one track - namely, the original version of 'Let's Drink some Beer' from 1985, which is actually superior to the 1987-version from "You Got It". Compared to the 1987-version, this one is actually more metallic, but in comparison with their later output, we are still in the more punky end of hardcore. Needless to say, if you drink beer, this should be your anthem.

The two Celebrity Death Certificate tracks are more in the vein of hard rock with a slight punky twist. This also applies to the two Mallet Head tracks, although these also seem to feature elements from what would later be referred to as alternative metal and grunge.

The three tracks by Scratch are alternative metal songs in the vein of Alice in Chains and Soundcarden. They are quite heavy and a sense of darkness emanates from them. With the exception of the hardcore punk attack that is 'El Mostro', the Scratch tracks really capture the essence of the more grunge-oriented territory of alternative metal. Scratch only released one EP, which is strange, given that their style pretty much epitomized early 90s alternative metal.

Fans of the Boston punk scene should definitely check out this anthology. Given that Smegma & the Nunz are the dominant artist on this release, the main target grup of the release are admittedly punk fans, but there are some goodies for metalheads too.

BrianJ Drop The Needle: Boston Punk Anthology is available at bostonpunkrock.com ....also Itunes, Amazon etc....

DROP THE NEEDLE is a very cool compilation CD of some of the best Boston Punk bands from the old school days. There are a total of thirteen tracks and five bands. The bands featured include SMEGMA AND THE NUNZ, GANG GREEN, MALLET HEAD, SCRATCH & CELEBRITY DEATH CERTIFICATE. I was very excited to check this CD out for two reasons. One being that it's something different than what I usually get and two, I grew up listening to a lot of Punk Rock back in the 80's when I was skateboarding. I was a Metal head as well, but everyone I skateboarded with listened to Punk so I was exposed to a lot of it and came to really love it as much as I love Metal! A lot of these bands here are in some way connected with the great GANG GREEN. They were a killer Hardcore / Punk band from the 80's and kind of merged into a Crossover band later on. I was big fan of them back in the day as well. There is one GANG GREEN song,which is the original version of "Let's Drink Some Beer" from 1985. This track was also written by friend of the band Dicky Barrett of THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES. There are five tracks from SMEGMA AND THE NUNZ which features future member of GANG GREEN & THE FREEZE. MALLET HEAD has two tracks and consists of three members of GANG GREEN. CELEBRITY DEATH CERTIFICATE is on two tracks and features Erich Thaler of STOMPBOX. The last three tracks are from the band SCRATCH who have a more early Seattle Grunge sound than a Punk sound. They reminded me of early NIRVANA & SOUNDGARDEN from their first couple albums. This is a really cool Punk / Hardcore compilation that showcases where a lot of todays so called Punk bands got their influences. I was a big GANG GREEN fan back in the 80's so I was very happy to find this in my hands! Pick up a copy of this compilation and see what real Punk Rock sounds like!

from: http://www.beowolfproductions.com/DropTheNeedle-BostonPunkAnthology.html