Rerelease of a 1989 compilation on Posh Boy Records featuring 1979 recordings by three Southern California LA suburb bands from West Covina in Orange County - The Simpletones, Rik L Rik and The Crowd.

Liner notes were written by Tony Montana of the Adolescents. He tells stories about seeing these bands when he was in high school, and about how The Simpletones influenced his band.

The comp starts with eleven songs from The Simpletones. The recordings are all studio - but not gloosy studio like we are used to today. Disco Ape is a sister song to The Dickies You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla). The songs are almost exactly the same.

Tony Montana writes about how The Simpletones "had potential to be a really big pop-punk band on a Buzzcvocks level" and you could believe him after spending time with these tracks.

Rik L Rik has a baritone voice kind of like Glen Danzig. the music reminds me of the SF band Mad Parade, or 45 Grave, or the upstate NY band New Math (They Walk Among You). Rik L Rik fronted F-Word! and Negative Trend. Tony Montana write about how Rik L Rik had mega star written all over him. He says that "when you consider the other bands who hit gold from this area - Van Halen, Joan Jett and Motley Crue, Rik certainly matches the caliber.

Black And Red has a dangerous swagger in its chunky metal Gregg Ginn styled riffs and Rik L Rik's Glenn Danzig styled baritone. Mercenaries pushes his sound into overdrive, with a chorus that ratchets the intensity up a level.

The Crowd contribute 8 short songs. They play the fastest songs on the comp. Their section starts off with Modern Machine, which in 1:29 shows the band's pop-punk sound well. Suzy is a Surf Rocker seems like a fair response to the East Coast Ramones anthem about Sheena. It is my favorite of theri songs for all of its 1:21 length.

This CD is a solid buy - there are lots of great songs, and all three bands have a different take on the era they are representing.

Faves: 2,5,7,12, 15,17,19,22