positive punk: CRASS

"the feeding of 5.000"
Year: 1978

Label: Crass
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 18
Time: 32 min.

Genre: rock
Style: Punk

CRASS were an English anarcho-punk band, formed in 1977 and based around Dial House, an open house community near Epping, Essex, UK. In contrast to the Sex Pistols "nihilism" or The Clash "socialism", CRASS attitude was more directly influenced by anarchist philosophy and pacifism. In the process they promoted anarchism as a legitimate political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement , popularizing the seminal peace punk movement and touching on such overtly political issues as anti-consumerism, direct action, feminism, pacifism, anti-corporatism, environmentalism, anti-globalization, anti-racism, religious power, and squatting. Taking literally the punk manifesto of “Do It Yourself”, Crass combined the use of sound collage, graphics, song, film, and subversion to launch a sustained and innovative critical broadside against all that they saw as a culture built on foundations of war, violence, sexism, prejudice, capitalism, religious hypocrisy and unthinking consumerism. They were also critical of what they perceived as the flaws of the punk movement itself, as well as wider youth culture in general. CRASS were amongst the progenitors of the anarcho-pacifism that became common in the punk music scene.

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"stations of crass"
Year: 1979
Label: Crass
Format: CD , 2 x LP
Tracks: 20
Time: 40 min.

Genre: rock
Style: Punk

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"Penis envy"
Year: 1980
Label: Crass
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 35 min.

Genre: rock
Style: Punk

"Penis Envy", released in 1980, was the second LP by anarcho-pacifist punk band CRASS. 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 and its follow up Stations of the Crass had to some extent given the group, for it featured more obviously complex musical arrangements, as well as exclusively female vocals provided by Eve Libertine and Joy De Vivre (although Steve Ignorant remained a group member and is credited on the record sleeve as not on this recording). The album addressed feminist issues and once again attacked the institutions of 'the system' such as marriage and sexual repression. One track, not actually listed on the album cover, was a deliberately sacharine (described in fact by the band themselves as pure, unadulterated shit) parody of a "MOR" love song entitled "Our Wedding". This was given away as a flexi disc with a teenage girl's romance magazine called Loving after having been offered it by an organisation calling itself Creative Recording And Sound Services (note the initials). A minor tabloid furore erupted once the hoax was revealed, with the News of the World going so far as to state that the album's title was "too obscene to print" (a leaflet giving the background to this Situationist-style prank was subsequently issued by the band). Now considered a rarity, the original flexi-disc now fetches high prices on the collectors market. The album was banned by retailers HMV. During the mid-1980s, under the direction of James Anderton copies were seized, along with other records by Crass and The Dead Kennedys, by Greater Manchester Police from Eastern Bloc record shop. Frank Schofield was charged with displaying "Obscene Articles For Publication For Gain". The band Flux of Pink Indians, its two record labels and its publishing company were also charged under the Obscene Publications Act. The judge ruled against Crass in the ensuing court case, although this decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal, apart from the lyrics to one song, Bata Motel. The heavy costs incurred by this episode were a contributing factor in CRASS deciding to disband late 1984.

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"Christ, the album"
Year: 1982
Label: Crass
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 15
Time: 32 min.

Genre: rock
Style: Punk

Christ – The Album is CRASS third album, released in 1982. It was released as a boxed set double vinyl LP package, including one disk of new studio material and another, entitled Well Forked.. but not dead, featuring a live recording of their June 1981 gig at the 100 Club in London along with other studio tracks, demos and tape fragments. The album also included a book, A Series Of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums (which featured Penny Rimbaud's essay The Last of the Hippies [1], telling the story of the suspicious death of his friend Wally Hope) and a large size poster painted by Gee Vaucher. The album took almost a year to record, produce and mix, during which time the Falklands War had taken place. This caused Crass to fundamentally question their approach to making records, for as a group whose very reason for existing was to comment upon political issues, they felt they had been overtaken and made to appear redundant by real world events. Subsequent releases, including the singles "How does it Feel to Be the Mother of A Thousand Dead" and "Sheep Farming in the Falklands" and the album Yes Sir, I Will saw the band strip their sound 'back to basics' and were issued as 'tactical responses' to political situations. Re-releases of the album bear the line "With love to Steve Herman who died on the 4th of February 1989" on the back cover. Steve Herman was Crass' guitar player during their first few months. The 'Crassical Collection' version of this release, including new artwork by Gee Vaucher, remastered sound, liner notes by Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbaud, and bonus material, was released May 2011. It does not contain the original album cover or any of the material from the 'Series Of Shock Slogans' booklet.

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"Yes sir, I will"
Year: 1984
Label: Crass
Format: CD , LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 36 min.

Genre: rock
Style: Punk

Yes Sir, I Will, released by CRASS in 1984 was the band's last 'official' album. The original vinyl release contained no banding between songs, thus presenting the contents as one long piece split over both sides (the CD release was tracked by individual song). The album was essentially a bitter and virulent attack on then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her government in the aftermath of the Falklands War, set nearly wholly over a raging and an almost free-form improvised backing provided by the groups' instrumentalists. Many of the 'lyrics' of this piece, which can be read at [1], are extracted from Rimbaud's extended poem Rocky Eyed. Sleeve notes for the album include parts of Rimbaud's article The Pig's Head Controversy [2] that originally appeared in the Crass produced magazine International Anthem. The title of the record is ironic, taken from a news cutting reporting a conversation said to have taken place between Charles, Prince of Wales and a badly burned soldier (Simon Weston) who had returned from the Falklands; "Get well soon," the Prince said. And the heroic soldier replied "Yes sir, I will". Penny Rimbaud, commenting on this, has said "That was the hook. That was such an audacious thing to do at the time. Especially given that one had to feel compassion for Simon Weston". A film made by Crass member Gee Vaucher to accompany Yes Sir, I Will was shown at the UK National Film Theatre's Stuff the Jubilee festival of punk films in 2002, and the track has been recently remixed by Penny Rimbaud to incorporate additional jazz instrumentation provided by Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone) and Julien Seigal (double bass) to augment the original performance. The 'Crassical Collection' version of this release, including new artwork by Gee Vaucher, remastered sound and liner notes by Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbaud, was released on May 17th, 2011. The reissue also contains a second disc (entitled 'Why Don't You Fuck Off?'), which features Penny Rimbaud's 2002 remix of the album, featuring jazz instrumentalists Ingrid Laubrock and Julien Seigal.

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"Tribute to CRASS"
Year: 1993
Label: Ruptured Ambitions
Format: 2 x LP
Bands: 23
Tracks: 23
Time: 60 min.
Genre: rock , electronic
Style: Folk , Rock , Industrial , Punk , Pop , Art Rock , Techno , Doom Metal , Experimental

I have the luck to find this double LP early 90s in a small old shop in London city and more I listen to it... more I like it. This is not the typical tribute which bands try to make to songs as a clones but completly the opposite. Here we can to listen to bands from doom metal to techno to folk to reggae or punk, of course. All of them (43 bands) made classic CRASS songs but in its own style. The result is more than satisfactory and very original. On vinyl format there was an old fashion fanzine with lyrics and info about the bands (bio, contact, pics, etc.) but I had never see the CD format.

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JEFFREY LEWIS
"Tribute to Crass"
Year: 2007
Country: US
Label: Rough Trade
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 12
Time: 36 min.
Genre: acoustic
Style: Folk Punk

Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, New York, graduating in 1997 with a degree in Literature. His Senior Literary Thesis was on the comic book Watchmen. Lewis also lectured on the topic of Watchmen at the Institute For Cultural Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 2000, and the text of his lecture ("The Dual Nature of Apocalypse in Watchmen") was published in the book The Graphic Novel, edited by Jan Baetens, in 2001.

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