If anything, then this is the most brutal sounding early U.S. Hardcore 7″EP. What NEGATIVE APPROACH had in Jon Brannon’s amazing razor blade voice, THE FIX had in the music. Yeah, I like that: Saying THE FIX sound like NEGATIVE APPROACH with bass and a good drummer.
The four songs totally destroy, yet work as one entity. Especially the massive “Signals in Distress” track is outstanding with the slow buildup and the threatening aura. “Cos the Elite”, just like URAN WASTE’s “Police Brutality” or NEGATIVE APPROACH’s “Nothing”, used to be on every compilation tape I ever made, I swear.
I’m not going into the band’s history here. It’s all been documented back and forth on the net and especially on the great discography album, released in 2006 on Touch & Go (link below). The band’s first 7″ with the two great but a bit tamer songs “Vengeanace” and “In this Town” is the most expensive Hardcore record at the moment, fetching prices beyong the 2000 $ mark and if I ever have the dough, I swear I will buy it. It’s a bitter pill, but what do you wanna do. Punk and Hardcore records are more and more becoming a part of the art market, whether you like it or not.
Pictured above, you’ll see the rare variation of the lyric sheet. First versions were spray painted, the 2nd bunch was a regular xerox, totally different. Rumor has it, the spray painting job was done to cover up some unwanted artwork. Indeed, you can make out the word “The”, probably from “The Fix”. Anybody knows what’s beneath the paint?
I’ve had several copies of this EP over the decades and only one had both inserts inside. Unfortunately, the last time I played this EP with a bit of wine into my systems, I managed to misplace the other insert. It will surface again, one day, when I played through all of my 7″s.
After downloading, you will be forced to order the official discography here.
And don’t forget to pre-order your copy of the complete Touch & Go Magazine – book (576 pages!) here.
Cos the Elite.mp3
Truth right now.mp3
Signal (or as the label has it: “Signals in Distress”).mp3
Off to War.mp3
28 Comments
totally agree, breath taking and much more brutal than the first one. so glad i got this through an easy trade in the late 80s!
also, i’m totally with you on the NA comparison. i’d go even further and say “with bass, a good drummer and a great guitarist”.
as much as i love NA i was always wondering how their album would have sounded like if john brannon had recorded it with the band he played live with as NA on their final tour afterwards. those live recordings are so überaggressive it’s almost unbearable. i never found out who accompanied him then. anyone here?
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YES!!!
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That CD discography on Touch & Go is incredible. Been playing that a lot recently. I also have that “Cold Days” compilation on Lost & Found from 1990 or so, but I’m guessing that’s one of their infamous bootlegs, though there IS a write-up from o’l Tesco Vee on the back…
Such power & on a par, if not better than Negative Approach.
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not of this earth! I will order the disco lp if you recommend it. is the sound as good as here?
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The Lost & Sound LP is a bootleg, I heard. I like it though.
The reissue is flawless – it’s a must have. I must say, and please forgive me, that my rips have a tiny bit more bass & depth but that might comes from the distortion you have especially on old worn vinyl.
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Damn, I can’t wait for the Touch & Go book!
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classic, one of the best early ushc 7″s!
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Been in the posting queue over in my neighborhood forever but never dared to post it after T&G sent Dreamhost a request about taking the first Die Kreuzen files down.
Love it but not as good as their debut in my humble opinion.
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Admin Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 14:37
Oopsy, they did? Well, I’ll take the files down if T & G intervenes, no question about that.
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Admin Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 20:22
PS: Which insert does your copy have? Can you send a scan?
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Bolibompa Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 11:27
PS. I have the ordinary printed version. DS.
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ah t&g the antiblog label. good stuff man. i’m getting the cd because if it sounds like this it’s gotta be good.
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oh and track three isn’t working for me.
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Signal’s not downloading for some reason, Erich.
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Broken link fixed!
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Yepp they did
. They own the rights so if a company or band don’t want their files on some blog I’ve got no problems with that. It’s not our property.
Good thing about this post is that I FINALLY decided to buy the reissue LP. So there T&G actually earned some money from the posting
.
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Just crushing from beginning to end. I mean, pretty much as good as anyone else you can think of when it comes to the basic constructs of U.S. hardcore and way heavier than most. They were also touring pretty goddamn early also. There used to be a fan page called jansroom.com that had some writings of the singers where he talked about touring the west coast in ’81.
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Crucial shit. Thanks!
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Ideal h/c if there is such a thing. Exactly how it’s supposed to sound, until DRI took it to the next level and then Infest to it to the level after that and then there were no more levels to take it to. Thanx as always man, glad I got this from you before… Need to get the discography but something like this needs to be properly repressed on vinyl.
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DLO Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 04:19
Was reissued on vinyl and CD. I bought one of each. Support the labels that are still alive!
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THIS IS SOOOOO BRUTAL!!!!!!!!!!
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UNGODLY GREAT!!! Best early midwest hc record ever.
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Definitely top 5 hardcore records of all time, no question. I like the first 7″ too, but if I were lucky or rich enough to own both, no question I’d play Jan’s Rooms 100 times for every time I played the first record. There is no way I can pick a favorite track–as you say they play as one entity. The discography cd is great, and thanks for the heads up about the T&G book.
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this post remembered me to buy the discography LP, so I just ordered it with a Bum Kon LP for good mesure (hello T&G, music blogs are not your enemies.) does anyone knows if the Blight reissue CD is worth my money?
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I love this record! One problem. I loved to get drunk and play records back then…well, I dropped the needle at the beginning of side one and left a gouge in the record. Fortunately, it does not affect the play. Lucked out.
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Dewey Decimal Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 01:34
NM then.
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Jay Thurston Reply:
April 23rd, 2010 at 00:47
What the heck is NM???
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Dewey Decimal Reply:
April 23rd, 2010 at 20:19
near mint
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Jay Thurston Reply:
April 24th, 2010 at 00:55
Oh no…I would say it was in poor condition because of that.
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Dewey Decimal Reply:
April 27th, 2010 at 19:52
eBay sarcasm, Jay. Seller scum would describe this as “One mark that does not affect play. Near Mint.”
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Nikolas Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:11
Yesterday, drunk of course, i put the record KICK AXE – WELCOME TO THE CLUB, and destroyed it the same way you did Jay…….. HAHAHAHA
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With these fine rips here, i’m updating all my Mp3′s music……
THANKS ONCE AGAIN ERICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Awesome EP! This rip makes it even more powerful. I think it’s in the drum sound, for me.
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uberexcellent! the start of “cos the elite” leaves me breathless every time i hear it. what an opener! rest of the tracks keeps the same level of greatness. this one rips the dirty rotten 7″ to shreds without sligtest effort imho. incredibly intense!
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I had 2 copies of this record, one with the spray paint insert and one with the plain photocopy(xerox). I kept the spray paint edition as I always thought there were two pressings of this record and the variation of insert was what distinguished the pressing. I never thought it was a from the same pressing but it probably is-and it’s only the insert that varies-not the pressing. Regardless of that nerdery, this record has a devastating effect on me-it’s American hardcore at it’s best-cos they’re elite.
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Seriously: How did you do this? How? This sounds W A Y better than the Touch & Go and Lost & Found LPs. Thank you so much for this. :mosh:
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Admin Reply:
May 7th, 2010 at 11:12
Seriously: I don’t know what the recipe is. I don’t fiddle with the knobs. It must be my love for the music and my super-human aura.
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Now is your Chance:
http://cgi.ebay.com/FIX-Vengeance-7-ORIGINAL-Touch-Go-KBD-Necros-/120595137849?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item1c1407c539
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In case it is unknown to some:
there is an excellent band history done by James Sinks of the DEMENTLIEU PUNK ARCHIVES where singer Steve Miller talks about almost everything one would love to know (just like a day-by-day diary,especially the seeminly interesting and adventurous U.S. West Coast Tour summer 1981 that resulted in the recordings of “Jan´s Rooms”)
As much as I like some of NA but if I had to compare,they can not hold a candle against THE FIX.
The 1st 7″ is a classic but IMHO they have managed to even “blow away” that one with the follow-up EP (and everything else in HardCore for that matter ,IMHO) and the 2006 Touch And Go discography release was long,long over-due (wonder that it did not happen much earlier)
Actually, “Jan´s Rooms” I.N.T.E.N.S.I.T.Y. (the whole recording session,actually) can not be described in words…
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