So as some readers may have noticed, I've developed a healthy interest lately in a good share of the mid to late 80's UK fast punk/grind scene. Following in today's post is in my opinion one of the best records to come from this era of music, the debut EP from the south-west's Ripcord, "The Damage Is Done". Now this is a recent 25th anniversary repress by a label that I'd never heard of prior, Boss Tuneage. Black vinyl of some number that I'm unaware of. This was originally pressed in 1986 as a flexi by the bands own label, Raging Records, following a handful of demo tapes. The band went on to do a few more releases after this one, including another tape, a couple of LP's, a live record, and another EP.
Their entire catalogue is absolutely top notch, fast, thrashy hardcore, heavily influenced by a lot of the east coast American scene of the same time. From one angle, this could have come out of Boston in the mid 80's without sounding out of place at all, but at the same time it manages to retain a totally unique, obviously English sound. They even went as far as to record covers of SSD and Siege songs near the mid point of their collective career and surprisingly neither cover is mangled at all. Quite tasteful actually. I do find it hard making a proper decision about which release of theirs is my total favourite, it largely depends on whatever mood I am in, but usually I'm pretty biased with this 7", just for the opening riff in the opening track alone. I've never been one for lyrics revolving around political or animal welfare issues like the content of this song, but it's a total blinder of a track, and easily the best of all of their work. Brian Birchell's amazing vocal style is displayed perfectly here when he wring's out his vocal chords as far as he can.
Regular fold out sleeve with the lyrics and notes on the inside, but also included is this slightly smaller insert with the same layout in Japanese. I've never seen an OG copy of this EP, so I have no idea if this little feature was part of said OG or not. I'm betting it was though. I bet someone who reads this knows?
Their entire catalogue is absolutely top notch, fast, thrashy hardcore, heavily influenced by a lot of the east coast American scene of the same time. From one angle, this could have come out of Boston in the mid 80's without sounding out of place at all, but at the same time it manages to retain a totally unique, obviously English sound. They even went as far as to record covers of SSD and Siege songs near the mid point of their collective career and surprisingly neither cover is mangled at all. Quite tasteful actually. I do find it hard making a proper decision about which release of theirs is my total favourite, it largely depends on whatever mood I am in, but usually I'm pretty biased with this 7", just for the opening riff in the opening track alone. I've never been one for lyrics revolving around political or animal welfare issues like the content of this song, but it's a total blinder of a track, and easily the best of all of their work. Brian Birchell's amazing vocal style is displayed perfectly here when he wring's out his vocal chords as far as he can.
Regular fold out sleeve with the lyrics and notes on the inside, but also included is this slightly smaller insert with the same layout in Japanese. I've never seen an OG copy of this EP, so I have no idea if this little feature was part of said OG or not. I'm betting it was though. I bet someone who reads this knows?
2 comments:
Looks like you have a Japanese press, which is identical to the UK press, but just includes the Japanese insert as well.
http://www.bosstuneage.bigcartel.com/product/ripcord-the-damage-is-done-25th-anniversary-7-ep
Says right at the top there.
Boss Tuneage has been reissuing a lot of 80s UKHC in the last few years, some great, some possibly of only marginal interest to people who weren't there at the time
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