Cheater Slicks – Our Food Is Chaos LP Almost Ready Records

Hopefully just the tip of the Cheater Slicks reissue iceberg (there are also ‘Don’t Like You’ and ‘Forgive Thee’ reissues supposedly in the works), “Our Food Is Chaos” commits to vinyl the Allen Paulino sessions, the earliest recorded work of the band, pre-dating the “On Your Kness”/Merle Allin years. 1989, Boston, with a member of the legendary Real Kids in the fold, the Shannons and young Dana Hatch belted these songs out, some of their toughest stuff ever. “Murder” is one of their definitive tunes that you can still hear in their set lists today. “Flashback” has been a favorite around these parts for many years, and having it here on vinyl for the first time fulfills a craving we’ve had for a long long time. “Golddigger” shows the band tripping young, hard and angry, “Dark Night” is the beginning of the black cloud forming above their heads. Their choice of covers is immaculate, particularly for 1989: Elevators, Larry & The Bluenotes, One Way Streets, Murphy & The Mob…all given a good mugging, pockets turned inside out and worn as if the band owned them. I think we all know how legendary this material is, and how necessary it is to own (even those stick-up-the-ass indie-rock pussies are now trying to fess up to liking Slicks way back when garage bands were just turds in the college radio punchbowl), so the real note for serious fans here is, yes, you need to own this even if you already have ‘Skidmarks’ on CD and/or vinyl. Just for the transfer from the original tapes if nothing else, not even considering the unreleased/first time on vinyl aspect of a couple of the tracks. Bonus 7″ has the Bluenotes/Streets covers, making for a killer pairing. Get a copy or two, as you never know how long this stuff will be available. Reissue of the Year candidate.