When Men Where Men...And Sheep Were Scared - Bemisbrain Records 1985

Compilation of mostly Long Beach Ca punk bands. I have never heard this record before, so I am going to take a different approach to this one and just jot down my thoughts about this record as I give it a first listen.

Side 1 kicks off with Rhino 39 Delivering 2 cool songs. I have never paid any attention to the Vandals, are all their songs as annoying as the two on this compilation ? Red Beret drop 2 descent punky new wave type tracks. The Crewd are also strange but not in a good way for me,I'm not liking the vocals , and their song "Lady of the Night" feels like it is never going to end.... Okay so from side 1 I may listen to Rhino 39 again.

Side 2 gets things started with the debut of Falling Idols and I now have no interest in hearing any of their other recorded material at this point, although their song "Cut It Out" is okay. Next up are the 3 bands that actually made me want this record... Secret Hate, Nip Drivers and Target of Demand, and thankfully all 3 of them deliver the goods . Secret Hate drops "Bomb Chic" which is a strange and wonderful song, and they follow it up with "Death In The Desert" which is also excellent. Nip Drivers give us a cover of Duran Duran's "Rio" followed by "E.Y.O.B" which is a cool and yet again strange song. Finally Target of Demand are up and they seriously blow everyone else away in my opinion with 2 tight fast aggressive angry hardcore punk songs.

So overall this is a collection of strange songs that may not be for everyone, and it won't surprise me if some of you like all the songs I hated and hate all the songs I liked or if upon repeated listens I find myself liking more of this record than I did on first listen...Dave G.