Redd Kross: Red Cross EP 12″

Description

This special 40th anniversary edition of the Red Cross EP, which includes the bands six-song eponymous debut and adds five contemporaneous extra tracks, is the most comprehensive document to date of the extraordinary birth of Redd Kross.

Redd Kross incubated alongside such SoCal luminaries as Black Flag, Descendents, and the Minutemen, and this new 11-song collectionwhich includes rare and unreleased demos plus a live track recorded in 1979 at The Church, the infamous Black Flag birthplace in Hermosa Beach, CAputs in proper perspective the McDonald brothers contribution, at the ridiculously precocious ages of 12 and 16, to that areas punk scene.

Our take: Merge Records takes Redd Krosss debut EP (from back when they were called Red Cross) and brings it back into print, beefing up the package with some excellent bonus material. I have a lot of friends who view the Red Cross EP as total godhead punk, and while I love it, its never gotten its teeth in me as deep as it should, probably because Ive never been able to track down an original copy. Revisiting it now, though, its fucking great. I mean, Cover Band? Clorox Girls? Standing in Front of Poseur? These are bona fide punk classics, exactly the catchy, song-oriented west coast punk I adore. While Red Crosss name was an obvious nod to Black Flag, these songs sound less like Flag and more like Dangerhouse / Masque-era LA punk or the more melodic sounds of the Simpletones or the Cheifs. As for this reissue, the a-side presentsthe original EP, while the b-side collects a bunch of demo tracks. While the demos date to a few months before the proper EP, the sound is clearer and beefier and I could see how some people would prefer these versions. Theres also a live track by pre-Red Cross band the Tourists thats well worth hearing. Its crazy that, even though they were so young when they recorded this EP, theres still a pre-Red Cross band to dig in to. As you would expect from Merge, the sound, the design, and the presentation are all on point. If, like me, youve never laid your hands on an original, this is an essential grip.