Well now, thank GOD I can finally shut me pie... er, bourbon-hole. As the KFC Colonel says... "Booya." Yes... we gittin' a "best of" les U-men. Whew, this baid maim-a-jaima's got tracks culled from the super-RARE U-Men 'n' Stop Spinning EPs, the two 45s 'n' scattered compilation appearances, a live track from Texas, plus a few LP tracks... and this includes the U's version o' one o' my most fave songs ever, the Wheel's "Bad Little Woman!"
Tho' I ain't from Seattle -- I'm East Coast, dude -- I was certainly a far-flung fan... how could I NOT be!? Seriously, way back when I first heard 'em, tossed in with the usual punked-up suspects, it was like BOOM, BOOM, BOOM... uh, what in the hell is this? PLEASE play it again! C'mon, you know they jumped out atcha, like, there they was beatin', not the "hardcore," but syncopated, chaotic... tho' with a stern commitment to rockin' alotta bottom-end racket. Kinda like the Nicky pricky's Birthday Party... but, with an undeniable "We are AMERICAN teens. Please, do not be alarmed, we mean you no harm.... Oh, except we're plannin' a REVOLUTION. So like, izat cool?" connection.
Um... that "it" was the "thing" us kids felt when we got bent on Flipper, No Trend... the dirgy stuff that generally won't FAST! Oh, and in retrospect (or is that "hindsight"?), it's fun to see that the U-men's "sound," tho' not always their FURY, predated what'd become yer "standard issue" for '80s 'n' '90s mid-Western "indie." You DO know what I mean? Right?
The U-Men and Chuckie-Boy Records will celebrate the release of Solid Action on Sat, April 1, at the Roq la Rue Gallery (2222 Second Ave), 8 pm to 11 pm.
