Naked Raygun Albums (6)
'Basement Screams'
Release Date 9/7/1999
Tracks 14
Label Quarterstick
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
With a total running time of eight minutes, the original six songs on Basement Screams are little more than the average in-your-face, post-punk gristle. Screaming vocals, piercing guitars, rolling drums, and snapping basslines show up in each take. Despite the apparent simplicity, there are hints of what lie ahead in Naked Raygun's future. "I Lie" features a catchy outro that completely subverts the song's original tempo in favor of an advanced and defined melody -- a strategy the band would use on all but its final album. "Tojo," a ditty about the ruthless dictatorship of a Chinese emperor, is brave and light years ahead of what most other American punk bands were singing about. Basement also has a penchant for the witty on "Swingo," with lines like "Go swing/Like the pendulum do/Go swing/Like John Wilkes Booth" throwing open the cellar doors that lead to political and social commentary -- the EP makes it plainly clear that Naked Raygun had something to say. It is doubtful that the stop-start, smooth-rough passages that provide the frame for "Potential Rapist" could be pulled off by anyone else, save for an artist like Gang of Four. The song's first-person account of the psychological chess game between males and females walking in the inner city forever ring true. As Steve Albini states in his tributary essay in the reissue's liner notes, Naked Raygun are "the absurd alongside the magnificent." The Basement reissue comes with eight bonus tracks, seven of which were previously unreleased recordings from Chicago's 222 S. Morgan Street, an address that served as the storied practice and living area for the city's early '80s punk bands. It's hard to discern what Naked Raygun are singing on the bonus material, but the energy is undeniable. Basement is the key that unlocks the irrepressible action, politics, and challenging musical structures that became the band's trademark until guitarist John Haggerty (the man who replaced Basement player Santiago Durango) left in 1989. ~ Bob Gendron, All Music Guide
'Raygun...Naked Raygun'
Release Date 8/10/1999
Tracks 14
Label Quarterstick
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
With the departure of guitarist John Haggerty, Naked Raygun seemed to stumble out of touch, as Raygun...Naked Raygun fails to achieve the full potency of their previous few albums. Part of that is due to the lack of clarity in some songs' production, but Haggerty's absence also deprives the group of some of its edgy instrumental spark, and the lyrics seem less relevant than before, mixing clichéd skateboard anthems with affected cyberpunk posturing. Make no mistake, there are still some good songs to be found here; it's just that the album is nowhere near as consistent as its predecessors. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Occupying the space between the punk movement's departure and the arrival of grunge, Jettison is a definitive link between the two musical genres and, with its speedy slashing and grinding, is the most jarring and diverse of Naked Raygun's albums. Electrocuting guitars, pummeling drum beats, and unmerciful vocals, which combine the Misfits' "whoa-oh-oh" vocal with Naked Raygun's own straight-talking dirge, collaborate to make Jettison part art-rock dissonance, part down-your-throat punk. Pierre Kezdy's bass gurgles blood on one track, and is swampy on the next. Vocalist Jeff Pezzati's fast-talks like an auctioneer at one point, then sandblasts on the following turn. Throughout, John Haggerty's guitar buzzes and hacks, finally reaching its zenith on "Suspect Device," in which you could swear trees are being severed at their roots. Cementing everything together is Eric Spicer's drumming, which could easily pass as a battery of guns all firing at once. Moreover, the working-class ethic of Naked Raygun's sound consistently shines, whether its on the anthemic "Vanilla Blue" or the punk/big-guitar rock feel of "Coldbringer." Lyrically, while 1985's Throb Throb thrives on military politics, Jettison burns on the images and realities of a conservative-led nation, and on the social rules of the city; "Ghetto Mechanic" captures the essence of inner-city freelance labor as well as any song before or since. Quarterstick's reissue of Jettison adds three live bonus tracks to what is already a phenomenal album, a record that is a harbinger of bands like Fugazi and Shellac. Recorded at Chicago's Riviera Theater in November 1987, the live material has meaty guitars that are sprinkled with metallic flakes; one just has to close their eyes to imagine the mosh pit that formed in front of the stage that fall night. ~ Bob Gendron, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Something happened during the two-year time span between Naked Raygun's first album and the follow-up All Rise. Rather than having more of the offbeat, absurd song formality that gave their debut Throb Throb its edge, this album has more of a structured quality. Not to say that Naked Raygun have lost their touch; by progressing into a more (dare it be said) mature sound, they have remained one step ahead of all the Raygun clones emerging from their hometown Chicago. The results are pretty decent; with songs like "Home of the Brave," "Knock Me Down" and "I Remember," their Buzzcocks roots are more apparent, while "New Dreams" kicks it into overdrive with a more positive aspect, and "I Got New Dreams and I'm Going to Make Them Real" displays vocalist Jeff Pezzati. Sometimes change can be for the better. [All Rise was reissued in 1999.] ~ Mike DaRonco, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
From its onset, the tube-crunch surf guitar intro of "Rat Patrol," Throb Throb sizzles like grease in a frying pan until it comes to a halt some 30 minutes later. Like the tank on its cover, Throb is largely informed by an antagonism that rails against the Reaganism that helped spawn intelligent '80s post-punk groups much like Naked Raygun. Titles like "Surf Combat," a song about the effects of napalm at popular beaches, "Gear," a braggadocio commentary about nuclear weapons and the arms race, and "Managua," in which troops march to their impending death, exemplify Throb's political mentality and musical gravity, which are a direct result of the '80s Cold War. Naked Raygun sends the songs up with a sense-raping frazzle and dissonance. While not as furious as Hüsker Dü or as angry as the Misfits, Throb is no less vehement, and ever the more working-class. With comprehensible lyrics everyone can understand and chant, and a plethora of race-against-time guitar melodies, Throb is rare in that it appeals to academics as well as rednecks, straight-shooters as well as in-the-know punks. Borrowing from the big-guitar sound of English heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden and carving catchy melodies usually reserved for Top 40 pop songs into firebrands like "I Don't Know" and "Libido," Naked Raygun assures Throb's place as a classic that is forever ahead of its time, regardless of when it is heard. The Quarterstick reissue of Throb comes with a booklet that contains rare photos of the band, concert set lists, and two short tribute essays. A shortened version of "Libido" is the reissue's only bonus track. ~ Bob Gendron, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Naked Raygun always came across as the band who would best represent a soundtrack for any of the Mad Max films, maybe even Blade Runner. Not that they have a grim dystopian tone to go along along with Jeff Pezzati's end-of-the-world rants -- on the contrary, that doesn't even come close to Naked Raygun's sound. It's just that they have more of a futuristic blight to their sound without crossing into the realm of cheesy science fiction. With Understand?, Naked Raygun have graduated to more of a mature verse-chorus-verse structure and lack the repetition of this traditional manner. And as an added bonus, there are less whoa-whoa's and more of Pezzati's announcer-like vocals that blare out real lyrics. [Understand? was reissued in 1999.] ~ Mike DaRonco, All Music Guide
