Still Disturbing The Peace
Liberation Hall, 2020
9/10
Listen to Still Disturbing The Peace
Liberation Hall is doing us all a favor by reissuing releases from the famed 415 Records, who were of utmost importance in documenting San Francisco’s underground rock scene in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
They’re starting off the rereleases by bringing us an expanded version of the 1978 compilation album Disturbing The Peace (now titled Still Disturbing The Peace), where many of the bands that defined the 415 label are in attendance, including The Nuns, Renegades, The Symptoms, VKTMS and many more.
The Nuns start the listen with a live version of “Suicide Child”, where a soft, mysterious opening bursts into a thundering display of charged rock, and “Insect Lounge”, by Mutants, follows with both pop and punk ideas in the melodic landscape.
A varied listen with plenty of surprises, “Everyone’s A Bigot” flows with plenty of rhythm in its ska-punk delivery from The Offs, while New Math’s “They Walk Among Us” is firmly planted in the ‘80s with its New Wave nods. “Stand By Your Man”, the highlight of the first half, then showcases Baby Buddha’s synth prowess and firm beats in the dark spirited dance-rock.
The back half of the listen doesn’t disappoint either, and includes the raw, old school punk of “Teenage Underground” by Red Rockers, and “Truckin’”, where Pop-o-pies deliver some lively garage rock that’s gritty and instantly memorable. Close to the end, Units brings us one of the record’s best tunes with the buzzing and eccentric “Warm Moving Bodies”, that’s kind of sci-fi, definitely unusual, and would certainly make David Byrne smile.
In revisiting these very old tunes, it’s amazing how ahead of their time these San Francisco artists were. When punk and New Wave were at their infancy, many of these bands were already doing it just as good, if not better, than the names that made it onto the radio and in glossy magazines.
An excellent starting point on this project, look out for reissues from SVT, Uptones and Readymades coming up next.
Travels well with: Jiffy Marx- She’s My Witch 7”; Buzzcocks- The Way