Review Summary: "Well, I got something to say I killed your baby today and it doesn't matter much to me as long as it's dead.." Typical old school Misfits flavour and lyrics that are part of a cool little EP by the Misfits entitled "Beware"..
Misfits - Beware
Tracklist:
Side A.:
1. We Are 138
2. Bullet
3. Hollywood Babylon
4. Attitude
Side B.:
1. Horror Business
2. Teenagers from Mars
3. Last Caress
First, some Info by Wikipedia:
Beware was the fifth release from the Lodi, New Jersey punk band The Misfits. Since it was originally intended to be available for the group's 1979 UK tour, it combined two earlier, out of press releases, with the substitution of one new track.
This 12" EP was co-released in the UK in January of 1980 by Armageddon/Spartan Records and Glenn Danzig's Plan 9 Records as number PLP9. A pressing run of 3000 was ordered with 3120 actually being delivered by the pressing plant. A limited number of copies were sold within the US through the Misfits Fiend Club, which included an 8"x10" photo of the album cover as an insert.
The first four songs were the same mixes used on the Bullet EP, but with the tracks in reverse order. The other side was essentially the Horror Business EP. However, the song "Children In Heat" was replaced by the only previously unreleased track, "Last Caress."
The entire EP was recorded at C.I. Recording in New York City, but on two separate occasions, one year apart. Bullet had been recorded in January of 1978. Horror Business was recorded one year later. "Last Caress" was also recorded at the first session, but was remixed, with reverb added to the vocals, in September of 1979 by Glenn Danzig and Bobby Steele. It was the only track ever to be released from that particular mixing session.
The Review:
First of all, I obviously can't have the original record so my folder contains the tracks from their other released records like "Static Age" etc.
We are 138 begins like most of the classic Misfits songs. A very catchy guitar riff and the trademark and countless other times copied howling Elvisesque vocals by Glenn Danzig. The refrain is pretty simple with yelling "We are 138" throughout the song but it's great to sing along with and a classic song under old school Misfits fans. A highlight is the great little guitar bit at the 1 minute mark which seems really psychic and gets you pretty amped up. The ending is also great with Danzig screaming "8!" till the end. The meaning of the song is still highly unknown because of the weird lyrics yet a lot of fans claim it's about a George Lucas science fiction film. Great little anthem.
The song
Bullet shows already what was so great about the band. The different riffs and melodies despite the short length and punk outlay. A pretty rough sound introduces us straight into the song with Glenn screaming "president's bullet-ridden body in the street ride, johnny ride kennedy's shattered head hits concrete ride, johnny ride". The obvious meaning of the song is his focus and portrait of the Kennedy murder and his exploited storytelling of it later. The main riff is very catchy as it moshes relentless on the song and changes at the yelling of "ride, johnny ride". The ending has the already mentioned before pretty psychic sounding guitars with another lyric part, before finishing with the main riff. Overall the song is pretty relentless, wild and very loud at times. Just good old rough punk at its best.
Hollywood Babylon opens with a very good riff that could be right from an old mystery/crime movie. It sounds like someone gets chased as it has a good fast pace and driving sound. This significant sound could pretty much translate himself onto the lyrics which describe Hollywood as a beast that could eat you up. Pretty funny stuff. It's really a good little catchy song but it's not one of my favorite songs by them for some reason, dunno why. Maybe because of the fact that there is nothing much to describe that's going on in the song.
We continue with
Attitude, a very well known song by them also raised up by the fact that Guns N' Roses covered it on their special cover album. The track opens with a guitar tune and drums that go louder at a fast static pace for a few seconds before we go right into the refrain. The vocals by Danzig are awesome here and they seem like he had some great fun recording this. I love the song because of the simple, funny and yet effective lyrics "attitude, you got some ***in attitude i can't believe what you said to me you got some attitude" where he pretty much sings about stupid people yelling out stupid stuff. We get also again another little psychic guitar solo which seemed very great here as it raised up the tension a notch up even more. It's huge fun to just yell out the brilliantly catchy chorus again, which seems also such a great and loveable factor about the Misfits which gave them a lot of fans till today.
Horror Business is a lot like Hollywood Babylon, with a more toned down sound (yet I'm not really allowed to judge that because I don't have the mix of the original pressing). The main riff is nothing really unique but the vocals make up for it a bit. He added a lot of good yelling there and some really cool background vocals are there as well. The song also has that often used and remarkable flair of the 50's which sound really cool and seem kinda like a throwback. As I mentioned before, not one of my favorites by them but it's still a fun little tune.
Teenagers from Mars features a bit of the overuse and overshadowing of the bass sounds with the very loud guitars, you can really hear it especially here. But I really love the riff here, it's one of my favorites from all their work they did. It just seems very catchy and even danceable at times. The song features pretty much the same (succesful) sheme they pretty much use almost every time, yet it has a bit of an upsight because it's one of the more lengthy songs by them so the sheme changes a bit here which is very pleasing. The focus in my view is not on the refrain but on the other verses which seem a lot better to shout along with. Overall it's such a fun song and one of the best songs I heard by them.
We finish with their maybe most well-known song till today,
Last Caress. Best known yet not overrated. It opens with the very creepy yet pretty hilarious vocals of "i got something to say i killed your baby today and it doesn't matter much to me as long as it's dead". The song features everything what was about them: Catchy refrain to sing along with, creepy lyrics, the 50's flavour and the howling vocals by Glenn Danzig. I'm till today pretty exhausted by listening tons of times to this song, so please excuse me for not going in deeper mechanics and meaning here.
