***"Best Before 1984 is a compilation of CRASS' singles and other tracks, released in 1986, including lyrics and a booklet ('...In Which Crass Voluntarily 'Blow Their Own'") which details the history of the band in their own words. The album was named in reference to the notion that 1984 was the band's 'sell by date', the year that they had often publicly stated that they would split up. Indeed, the band ceased gigging and recording in that year. For many years, there were plans to release an expanded edition of Best Before 1984, which will include currently unavailable material (such as the 'Merry Crassmas' and 'Whodunnit?' singles) and rarities, in the same vein as the 'Crassical Collection' re-releases of the band's albums. These plans finally came to fruition in 2019, with the announcement of an expanded two-disc version of the album."
2XLP $35.50
02/14/2024
***Released in 1982 with unplanned irony as the Falklands War raged, Christ, The Album, another double-LP half-studio/half-live release, once again aimed to take no prisoners. Includes their June 1981 gig at the 100 Club in London along with other studio tracks, demos, radio broadcasts & cassette recordings. Box set with the original book and poster.
2XLP $43.95
02/14/2024
***"The Feeding of the 5000 is the first album by the anarcho-punk band CRASS. The album was recorded on 29 October 1978, by JOHN LODER at Southern Studios and was released the same year. It was considered revolutionary in its time due to what was considered an extreme sound, frequently profane lyrical content and the anarchist political ideals in the lyrics. This album is considered one of the first punk albums to expound serious anarchist philosophies.
LP $29.95
02/14/2024
***Remastered and reissued vinyl version of what should've been one of the first 10 records you ever bought. Named as a reference to some of Freud's ideas concerning sexuality, this release marked something of a departure from the somewhat macho, hardcore punk image that The Feeding of the 5000 & Stations of the Crass had given the group. Featuring more obviously complex musical arrangements, this release showcases exclusively female vocals provided by EVE LIBERTINE and JOY DE VIVRE. The album addressed feminist issues and once again attacked the institutions of "the system" such as marriage and sexual repression.
LP $29.95
02/14/2024
***"Stations of the Crass is the second album by CRASS, released in 1979. The record, originally released as a double 12", includes live tracks from a gig recorded at the Pied Bull pub in Islington, London, on August 7, 1979. The first three sides contain the studio tracks and play at 45 rpm, while the final side comprises the live material and plays at 33 rpm. The album's title is not only a pun on the Catholic rite of the Stations of the Cross (such jibes against the religious establishment were typical of Crass), but is also a reference to the graffiti campaign that the band had been conducting around London's underground railway system, the cover artwork depicting a wall at Bond Street tube station that had allegedly been 'decorated' by them. Although the album met mixed critical reception at first, it managed to sell at least 20,000 copies within two weeks.”
2XLP $35.50
02/14/2024
***The sixth release in the Crassical Collection reissues. CRASS member PENNY RIMBAUD fills in the gaps—"'Ten Notes On A Summer's Day' nudged itself towards modern European atonality, and us completely out of the rock'n'roll arena. In this sense, it truly was a swansong."
LP $21.50
02/14/2024
***CRASS' fifth album comes in the original fold-out poster sleeve. Originally released in April of 1983, Yes Sir, I Will was a howl full of vicious rage and fury, a scream of sorrow, a bitter requiem of betrayal and disenfranchisement. It was a letter-bomb of accusations directed at the British establishment, with it's title taken from a conversation between the then Prince Charles and gruesomely wounded veteran Simon Weston. Musically the work is as diverse and challenging as Crass had yet delivered—a raging and almost free-form improvised backdrop over which STEVE IGNORANT, EVE LIBERTINE & JOY DE VIVRE trade off vocally throughout—veering from ferocious roars and rants to piano ballad interludes sung by PENNY RIMBAUD.
LP $29.95
02/14/2024