Search - Fu's :: Do We Really Want to

Possibly my most frustrating listening experience ever

D. K. Malone | earth | 08/15/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Throughout this entire CD, the pitch fluctuates up and down slightly. At first it seemed subtle, but the more I listened the more obvious it became. It's extremely annoying. Finally, when you reach the last 40 seconds of the final song, the problem is corrected and you get an all too brief glimpse at how this album would sound when played properly. I don't know if the original album had the same problem (doubtful) or if it happened when they were mastering this CD re-issue, but in either case they should have destroyed all copies and started over.



As for the album itself: It's the F.U.'s last record before going flat out heavy metal and changing their name to the Straw Dogs. The funny thing is, this album was accused of being heavy metal back when it came out. Listening to it today, it sounds pretty punk rock to me. I think the real issue was that the F.U.s had eased off the gas pedal a bit. The previous album, My America, was much more intense than this.



EDITED 9/17/03: I've confirmed with Taang records that the last pressing of this CD is defective, and they're willing to replace any bad copies returned to them. Kudos to Taang! I'd change my star rating if I could. For what it is, a hardcore album from 1984 which is arugably when the first wave of American hardcore began its decline, this is a 3 star album, maybe 3.5. Not amazing or crucial, but solid."

A great, underappreciated punk rock album

the ghoul | Las Vegas, NV United States | 05/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've had this album on vinyl for a long time. When I originally purchased it, it immediately became one of my favorites, and I remember listening to it almost every day for months. In the process of converting my old vinyl to mp3s, I recently took this one out and listened to it again, and it still sounds as awesome as ever. It has been said that at this point the FU's were "going metal," and I guess that there is some truth to that, since they changed their name and supposedly became a metal band after this album, but this record is definitely not heavy metal. The band's style changed from their previous thrashier sound to melodic hardcore punk on this LP, but the music here is still decidedly punk rock. The vocals sound a lot like Danzig-era Misfits. The lyrical themes run the gamut from politics to revenge to sex, and they're intelligently written, and designed to make you think. The thing that amazes me most about the lyrics now is that they are just as relevant today as they were back then in the mid-80's. These words could have been written yesterday! That can't be said for the vast majority of the classic political punk albums of that time. In a way, they seem to be taking a jab at knee-jerk left-wing politics, but they don't come off as being a right-wing band. In fact, there are anti-nuclear war and anti-religion sentiments expressed on the album. Musically, the album reminds me a little bit of the later releases from that other great Boston band, The Freeze. This is a great punk rock record. Just don't expect it to sound the same as their previous two albums."