Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Dictators Demos & Rare Tracks '73-76



The Dictators are one of the true greats in the world of rock & roll music. I'm not going to tell you anything on this blog about 'em that hasn't been written before, or with nearly as much exalted grandiosity as they deserve. They have been described as the first punk rock band, I would prefer to think of them as the LAST rock and roll band. At least, the kind of rock and roll I want to hear.

Mike Edison wrote about pro wrestling that if you get it, no explaination is necessary, and if you don't, no explaination will do. That is how I feel about punk rock music and, particularly (especially given that it was about pro wrestling in it's original context) about The Dictators. They are one of my favorite bands in the history of the world.

I am presenting to you a long out of print Demos and Rare tracks compilation LP released in 1977. I think a few of these tracks are the same as the newer (and better) collection that Norton released last year, but there is a lot of different material on both. This one has some classic tunes that didn't make it onto the newer one as well as a version of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" but without that long boring 7 minutes of braindead hippy meandering. It's like the guys in Pink Floyd just all forgot what they were doing at once and just sat there staring at a black light poster in the studio and they just kept recording.

But I digress.

This also has a short live tune called "Smash That Faggot's Head" which I can only imagine was written and recorded in response to Manitoba's feud with Wayne County, admittedly this tune is a low point for The Dics. Anyway Like I said a lot of the tracks represented here are on the newer and still available Norton compilation and that one is somewhat better so if you like this shit, go out and get that.

This isn't a good starting point for yet to be converted fans, the sound quality is usually pretty poor and doesn't really represent their fullest potential, it's more for junkies like me who need a sick fix of the Dics. I know nobody is reading this, you just wanna get your hands on the goods. So here it is!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/b6pedp

2 comments:

Gantry said...

Giving it a listen now, thanks for sharing. Never really got into these guys, but at the same time I never really gave them a chance...

Michael Popinski said...

yo check out their first one "go girl crazy" and their third one, "bloodbrothers". both are nuts!

Followers