Once upon a time in 1982, L.A. hardcore trio Youth Brigade released a smoking hot LP called Sound and Fury. For some reason, after the first 800 copies hit the stores, the Stern brothers became so unhappy with it, they decided to re-record the whole damn shooting match. And while they were at it, they dropped half the songs and substituted newer ones they'd written. This too came out -- with a different cover -- as Sound and Fury, just to confuse everyone. The original version disappeared from memory, even though some of us maintained that it was perfectly good and didn't deserve to be dumped. Finally, the Stern brothers repair this, releasing the original sessions 16 years later as
Out of Print. It still captures the collision of youthful, charged hormones, idealism, revolt, conviction, and positivism, as well as Shaun Stern's well-read mind. The total rush and tight-wound spring attack are familiar now, not only from this LP, but from the new scene the band chronicled on its label BYO with its other LP that year, the Someone Got Their Head Kicked In compilation. You can tell the Brigade liked their share of British Oi! bands (and Brit post-punk bands, the young
New Model Army especially), but had too much of the four-year-old Southern California punk tradition in them to restrain the surprisingly poppy melodies and pro-involvement stances. And with this better mastering job (that's probably why they were originally upset),
Out of Print is the much better of the two Sound and Fury LPs and stands as their ultimate release. The four bonus tracks, including their first demo, are a good addition, too. To borrow a fanzine phrase of the time, this shreds -- a touchstone hardcore album brought to the light again. ~ Jack Rabid