Southern Lord and TK Records are simultaneously re-releasing the entire Poison Idea back-catalogue on CD and vinyl respectively over the course of 2012, and 'Darby Crash Rides Again: The Early Years' marks the first instalment in what will be an absolute boon for current fans of the band, and will probably acquaint a whole new generation with the hardcore punkers.
'Darby Crash' is a particularly tantalising release for both: twenty-nine tracks is a veritable feast of music by anyone's standards, even if it is all over in no time, not least of all because it includes the previously unreleased 'Boner's Kitchen' demo from 1981, the complete 'Darby Crash Rides Again' demo from 1982, the complete uncut live-on-the-air set from the 1983 KBOO radio benefit, and outtakes from the 'Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes' session.
To describe the recordings as raw would be an understatement on a par with 'space is big', but their rough and ready nature is a large part of the appeal. There's no pretence, no prettying it up as the songs hit, one after the other, like juggernauts running downhill with the brake cables cut. Snarling, sneering, guttural anger compressed into frenzied blasts of noise, the majority of which are in the region of a couple of minutes in duration is what 'Darby Crash' is all about. The aggression is unbridled but channelled into the most explosive sonic explosions on a par with the early contemporaries that inspired them, namely Black Flag, Discharge and The Germs (from whose late singer the album takes its name).
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The cover of 'Motorhead' – here present in two different recordings – is nothing short of blistering, but to single out individual tracks would by and large be a mistake. There simply isn't time as they blur together in a supercharged roar of anger.
If you dig US hardcore and aren't familiar with Poison Idea, you're seriously missing out, and 'Darby Crash' is the ideal starting point.
Poison Idea on MySpace
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