Rich Kids on LSD “Greatest Hits – Live in Berlin” review
I’d like to welcome everyone to the FIRST album review done on PWV by a special guest reviewer! Not only is he a [sort of] respected punk rocker, but he could possibly be one of my favorite humans: Blag Dahlia of the best looking band band ever, The Dwarves.
Blag took a stab at the newly released live album from Rich Kids on LSD (or often referred to as simply RKL). He’s smarter than you’d think someone that sings about teenage girls, drugs and.. well.. teenage girls, would be; SO READ.
Rich Kids on LSD
Chris Flippin
Chris Rest
Joe Raposo
Boz Rivera
*review by Blag Dahlia
@thedwarvesband
Long known as the standard bearers of ‘Prog-Punk’ Santa Barbara’s RKL carved out a niche in the 1980s as a band that could actually play in a sea of those who could not. Two noteworthy deaths (drummer and multi-instrumentalist Bommer Manzullo and original singer Jason Sears) and over two decades later this live record solidifies their status as one of the great punk bands of all time.
Track List:
1 Lies
2 Drink Positive
3 Hangover
4 Scab On My Brain
5 Ded Teds
6 Seein’ You
7 Blocked Out
8 Rumors
9 Tribute To The Jester
10 Pothead
11 Why?
12 Find A Away
13 Feelings Of Hate
14 Tell Me The Truth
15 Sargasm
16 Senseless Violence
17 Beautiful Feeling
18 Berlin Rock City
19 Life In A Bottle
20 Break The Camels Back
21 Lay Your Weapons Down!
22 Catch Your Breath
Joining Sears and Manzullo are Li’l Joe Raposo (bass), Chris Rest (guitar) and Barry D’Live (guitar, wooper) and there are no weak links in this line up, showing a commitment to blazing fast and tight performances tempered with good humor and a dash of chaos. While bands formed after music stopped being taught in schools tend to drift into a mid tempo bland approach to punk (let’s call it Emo) RKL maintains the speed and power of hardcore with a rock n roll approach to metal riffs, changes and solos that keeps your interest without infuriating you. Also on the plus side, their lyrics are pleasantly stupid, centering mostly on drinking, getting high and existing in a world that is unfair to the lazy and demented. They offer no solutions, which is good, because there aren’t any.
The closest thing to a teen anthem here is the song ‘Pothead,’ but this is punk that mostly eschews the California corporate dude style and instead opts for frantic complex intros that hurtle into vintage hardcore unapologetically and without the bubblegum. This is generic music, like dance beats at their best, whose very anonymity helps to make it great.
I find myself hoping that Martian children dig up this RKL live record in a time capsule 1,000 years hence and play it for their friends in the vintage cassette deck of the family spaceship while shooting up Tang. Somewhere, where no one gets up before noon and everyone’s mom looks like a topless Mrs. Cleaver, Bommer is smiling a big dirty smile.
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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