Flipper

A WHALE of a band!
*special introductory paragraph!
*Generic Flipper
*Gone Fishin'
*Live Target Video 1980-81 DVD
*Blow'N Chunks Live
*Live At CBGB's 1983
*Public Flipper Limited Live 1980-1985
*Sex Bomb Baby!
*American Grafishy
*Love
*Fight Live

No matter what your age, social status, sex and race, you and anyone else with a drug problem can join a drug abuse treatment program and get clean.


Flipper was one of the leading punk rock bands over in San Francisco in the early- to mid-80s, giving a big "frig you" to the rest of the punk scene by playing a louder SLOWER mess of the blues that relied wholly on attitude and bass line. See, the guitarist just played a bunch of scraggly noise. So the drummer would play his little rhythm and if they weren't too doped up, one of the two bass players (Will Shatter or Bruce Lose) would try to keep in time enough to play a catchy four-note bass line for you to tap your toe to. Then the OTHER of the two bassists (whichever one wasn't playing bass at the time) would yell some words that would seem nihilistic but would also occasionally make a statement about how important it is to rise above all the garbage that life throws at you and SURVIVE. They also had a great sense of humor (sample lyric: "Who cares anyway/who it is or what I say?/This song rhymes/And we play it in time!). Unfortunately drug habits have dogged the band since day one, resulting in one premature death and one immature reunion. Great ass band though, giving us more catchy bass lines than any band since The Tarney Spencer Group or whatever that band was that did that Run For Your Life album that my dad used to have. I don't know. I never actually listened to it, but if an album was going to have great bass lines, then it was bound to be that one. I mean, just LOOK at it. It LITERALLY screams "catchy bass lines". Over and over again. Eventually we had to lock it in the basement.

Reader Comments

severus03@aol.com (Jason Lynn, Flipper Field Marshal)
"Frig You" ? (?) ---

No-one in Flipper ever used the word FRIG.

It was FUCK. American women especially have trouble with the concept and act.

It's simple: you put a penis in a vagina, and buck, rock, pitch, pulse and thrust anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours.

FUCK: It does a body good.

It's Fuck You.

And for good reason.

thepublicimage79@hotmail.com
Good summary paragraph. But doesn't everyone know by now that usage of words such as "frig" is just a dumb joke? No one understands humor anymore, I swear...not even fans of Flipper, for fuck's sake. read the goddamn page before responding in a "i'm-more-punk-than-you" tantrum...

Funny fact of the day: did you know Chuck Dukowski was originally going to do SWA with Ted Falconi? No fucking joke! I read it in the looooong, but absolutely brilliant Joe Carducci obituary for SST photographer Naomi Petersen - which is pretty much essential reading for anyone into the California '80's punk scene. (Along the way Carducci also mentions and praises the Kira interview.) You can find it online at: http://209.193.84.198/naomi/naomi.html.

Quote: "When the Unicorn legal battle put Black Flag on ice for 83 Chuck reunited his old band, Würm, and began a new band Swa with Ted Falconi of Flipper."

Ted sure as hell isn't on any of SWA's records, so I guess when this happened Flipper had been on hiatus or something. I can tell you for sure that SWA's output woulda been WAY better with Ted's mindfucked scratching then with whatever other guitarists they had. Man, just the thought of Chuck's hacksaw bass and Ted's brain-damaged guitar together is enough to send any true punk fan drooling...just add Chuck Biscuits and Jello Biafra and you've got heaven on a plate. Or any other vocalist and drummer of your choosing.

But Flipper...Flipper is just one of those bands that truly defy description. Unless you include insanely catchy distorted bass, atonal shrapnel-spew guitar, crushing drumming, and two intelligent goofy guys yelling over it. Generic is a classic, of course, and still probably the easiest thing to find by the band as of right now (March 2006). Apparently the catalog is going to be reissued soon, I hear...Generic, Gone Fishin', Public Flipper Limited, Blowin' Chunks, even more unreleased live material (the band's collecting bootlegs) and apparently unreleased studio material as well (there was another Flipper album of studio material from the "Gone Fishin'" sessions that was to be released, with the working title "Flipper's Greatest Misses," but it never did for whatever reason). So here's hoping that the full catalog gets reissued soon. The world still needs Flipper. Check YouTube.com today, search for Flipper, and in among the results for dolphin videos and failed amateur martial arts clips, you will find a movie of Flipper doing "Nothing" live in 1985 and the motherlode...a live performance on San Francisco public access television doing unbelievable versions of "Way of the World" and "Sex Bomb." This was a band that always deserved more than what they got, so listen now.

jabess@netnitco.net
Dude,

Its "who cares anyway, who listens to what I say, this song rhyms and we play anytime, I'M NOT LIVIN' LIFE TO BE - A REAL CHEAP FUCKER LIKE YOU, COP OUT!"

-B LOOSE

Bruce Richard Calderwood (aka Bruce Loose)
To correct everyone, jesus cristo!

It's: "Well who cares anyway
who listens to what I say
this song rhymes and we play it in time"
written by Bruce Lose, and Die Ant Lose 1979


* Generic Flipper - Subterranean 1980. *
Rating = 10

Now see I've just made a typical critics' faux pas and none of you stopped me. So now I have to stop myself and explain my error. Flipper was NOT a slow band. They played punk speed, like the Sex Pistols. They just didn't play hardcore speed like all the other punk bands in California in the early '80s. Plus every once in a while they'd throw in a jeeper creeper where'd you get those peeper like "I Saw You Shine," a 15-year-song about banging your head against a wall.

The sound of Generic Flipper is as follows: loud, heavily reverbed drums that sound like they were played in a dungeon, topped with a dull, dead sounding bass playing really catchy anthems, a guitar just making a bunch of feedback and noise and a couple of goofy louts shouting on top of the noise. Why does it work? (A) As I just FUCKING SAID, the bass lines are really catchy, (R) the lyrics speak to the experience of the everyman in a way not heard of since Pink Floyd's popular Dark Side Of The Poon LP released seven years earlier TO THE DAY! (okay, I made that up) and (A) the trashy noise makes you feel drunk..... even when you're only high!

The songs alternate between joyfully stupid ("Sex Bomb"!) and cryingly giveuppable ("Life Is Cheap"), but always with a "We Give A Shit About You But Not About Music" air about it. If you can handle the noise, you need to buy it now. If you can't, you're a faggot.

Ha! All I meant was that you're a "bundle of sticks meant for burning"!

(that has sex up the ass with other bundles of sticks meant for burning)

Reader Comments

Colin T.
bout time you got around to this band. they've earned it. this album is easily one of the top three or four punk records ever made. it'll stick in your head and you won't want it to go. in "get in the van" henry rollins sums up flipper pretty well: "those guys are heavy. heavier than you. heavier than anything." now how cool is that?

Jcjh20@aol.com
Classic punk rock record. Like already mentioned, they played slower then the average hardcore punk band of the early 80s but that doesnt mean they werent a punk band, or were a slow unit. These songs are definatly punk rock, and one of the best punk rock records at that. Although "I Saw You Shine" is kinda boring, and the high pitched backing vocals on "Life Is Cheap" are kinda annoying at times, this definatly deserves a 10. My favorites are "Sex Bomb", "Way of The World" and "Ever".

jbhippie@hotmail.com (James Hippie)
It never occurred to me that I could be in a band until I heard Generic Flipper in '83 or so. Good for me, terrible for the rest of the world. Shed No Tears and I Saw You Shine are two of the most powerful songs ever. Nothing even comes close.

InMyEyes82@aol.com (Zach English)
It's kind of ironic that I'm writing about this album right after reading that 2001 was the four-year high in police deaths in this country. It makes me think of "Shed No Tears," "shed no tears for the cop bleeding/ he once held the gun/ he once held the key/ now his prisoners will sing and dance and play."

Flipper were a frightening band. Supposedly they were every bit as intimidating in person, just brushing off their shoulders nearly everyone they came into contact with. They came out of an 80's culture, Reagan's America, that was about death, the different ways death can be processed and fed to our country: fast food, alcohol, television, hard drugs, war, pollution, fast cars. Flipper took all of this bullshit and emitted a powerful denial of the death culture. Then they went and killed themselves on heroin.

The overwhelming physical punch of Will and Bruce's basses locking into rhythm with Steve's drums on this record is a marvel to hear. The repetition of the groove reinforces the single-minded intensity of the lyrics, driving them home again and again in the same song until everything snaps and they just stop playing.

Flipper is like picking up a huge rock and looking underneath at the slugs and maggots stuck to the bottom; it's ugly, it's a part of yourself you've never looked at before, but discovering it is exciting, an experience unlike any other. And I don't think Ted Falconi was an inept guitarist...every squeal and whine, every two-chord drone, has its place in the music, coloring in the higher frequencies while the basses chug away beneath it. And the lyrics make me cry. They're about facing depression, addiction, humiliation, and recognizing that life is beautiful anyway. Flipper rules, OK?

jfrankparnell@hotmail.com
I've always found it weird that the greatest punk album of all time came from San Francisco. I could understand LA or Texas but SF? It always kind of boggled the mind. That said, Flipper - the greatest no-wave band that never exsisted.

Brian
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this appears to be the FIRST noise-rock album. You could call PIL's "Metal Box" the first, but as Mark has said in his review of that album, it's really just noisy dance music (noise-dance?). But THIS! This has got to be one of the greatest albums of all time, and that is not to be taken lightly!

In my opinion, the show-stealer songs on this album are "Shed No Tears", "Ever", and "Way of the World". Never before have I heard more straight-forward and believable nihilism lyrics. Not even from Big Black (WOW)! And the music? The music is unbelievably noisy! I think Ted Falconi deserves a lot of the credit for that, but the constantly distorted bass guitar is not to be ignored either.

On the flip-side, "Life" is also straight-forward and believable; but it's uplifting! How they manage to make such 180-degree changes in mood without losing strength is beyond me. Chalk it up to consistent song-writing I guess.

The rest of the songs are just as great and I could listen to this album for a million years and always find something new to love about it. If there's one album that deserves an 11 out of 10, this is it: it's uncompromising, original, noisy, and it rocks!

pedrooo@jippii.fi
"Flipper took all of this bullshit and emitted a powerful denial of the death culture. Then they went and killed themselves on heroin."

Actually only 1 died on heroin and they were all individuals. You should also listen that life is cheap song.

radfox@gmail.com
i just got this cd out to listen to it after probably a year of not remembering i owned it. i didn't really like it that much at first, but listening to it with a subwoofer changed my opinion immediately -- if you can't listen to this with a healthy amount of bass don't even bother looking for a copy (i would hesitate to advise looking for a copy anyway, just download, the shit's out of print so far as i know)

this gets maybe an 8, probably a 9 out of me, because while almost every track on here is outrageously addictive and fun to listen to, "life is cheap" is boring as shit. and its like, the second song, getting up from whereever i'm sitting to skip past a song 3 minutes into a cd gets pretty tedious. 8 out of 9 songs isn't bad though.

steve.robey@mindspring.com
Although I think this album could have used a little more juice in the production department, it still represents the fury of Flipper as well as could be expected. Will Shatter on "(I Saw You) Shine" is absolutely mind-blowing. And Bruce on "Ever" is almost as great. "Sex Bomb" is a tad overrated, but it's still a lot of fun. I wish I could relate a story about how Flipper changed my life, but I can't. I'm a middle-class white American in my mid thirties, never been addicted to heroin or coke or pot, I'm married with a kid on the way, and I like Flipper. Even their second album. Even parts of American Grafishy!

tiger_2k@hotmail.com
Gotta love the fact that I'm offering my thoughts on music that nobody knew existed even when the album came out (and it's only gotten less popular since)... But here goes:

FLIPPER FUCKING RULES. All the kids these days, with their touchy-feely emo screemo fleamo bands. Why hasn't anyone just strolled up to them and slapped them in the face and raped their doggies and said, "Look kids, you're young and you're ignorant and yet you should STILL know better than to listen to that sonic phlegm!"

Cram those kids into a grungy, hole-in-the-wall dive and throw some live Flipper at em. That's what they need. Damn kids and their sappy ass-rock.

FLIPPER STILL RULES, OK

robert_bloomer@verizon.net
This is one of my all time favorite albums. It is beautiful and it keeps me company better than any human being could. When I listen to the song "Ever", after every question Bruce asks, I say yes. And I'm glad he has too.

Add your thoughts?

Gone Fishin' - Subterranean 1982.
Rating = 9

This is Flipper's one and only art record. So buy it, cherish it and give it a 9 on your online interactive record review site. It's not a drunken stupor of blarp fuzz noise, but a multi-faceted, darn near SERIOUS collection of full-fledged SONGS (that, in typical Flapper fishion, basically consist of one or two parts repeated over and over and over and over and over again). Maybe not all the bass lines are as catchy this time around, but that is more than made up for by awesome production tricks - pianos, clavinet, congas, backgup vocals, synare (?), even an alto sax on one song! Plus some wild bass effects, whether catchy or not -- if you happen to already own the album, please join me in celebrating the bendy-bendy thang in "In Life My Friends" and the smash bash crash flooping in "One By One." The lyrics are wonderful as always - the best of which may be "Talk's Cheap" which is just two Will Shatters uttering typically dull small talk back and forth to each other from speaker to speaker - hilar!

And am I crazy or does guitarist Ted Falconi actually bother playing a guitar line in a couple of these tunes? You may be right - I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for.

Speaking of art, Billy Joel sucks cocks.

Reader Comments

preynolds@mediaone.net (Paul Reynolds)
Yes, serious art indeed...and, despite the smooth, polished and PRODUCED sound, seriously demented...and near perfect.

Though these tracks are closer to 'songs' as in like a 'normal' band, they still mostly follow the classic and inimitable Flipper pattern of a dark and catchy repeated bass riff, Ted's guitar noise mixed in (generally more to the side than at the front of the mix here) and rapped vocals from either Bruce or Will, and of course Steve's heavy drum pounding cementing it all. These four tracks get 10 stars:

First The Heart - This jazzy tune with sax evokes, of all things, classic King Crimson. But with Will's rapping vocal...'First the Heart...Next the Brain...' (what is truly scary is Will might be serious here)...and Ted's grinding guitar noise thing, it could only be Flipper.

In Life My Friends - the no.1 headphone track of the epoch...I have never dropped acid, but the effect of the Ted's scrambled-egg brain guitar and Will's missed bass lines has to be similar - I am sure I have accumulated brain damage from periodic listening to this one over the years.

Sacrifice - the definition of sonic grime and filth put to vinyl. Are the shooting noises at the end from an old western movie?

You Nought Me - Steve mumbles at the start 'This is not a take, is it?'. Another headphone classic; truly fishy sound, with some weird warbling noises, like it was recorded underwater. At the end, the song just dies perfectly like a fish out of water...

I give GF 9 stars as well, only because I don't care for 'Talk's Cheap', and 'The Lights, The Sound, The Rhythm, The Noise', 'Survivors of the Plague', and 'One By One' are only good to excellent and not true Flipper classics.

throke@yahoo.com
If you know where I can pick up a copy or some mp3's give me a holla'. I haven't heard this garbage in 20 years-since Someone stole my copy(kirk wallace) I won't mention any names.

montereypurple@yahoo.com
Howdy,

I call GONE FISHIN' the Flipper jazz record. They put a lot into it and some of the songs translated rather well to three piece plus vocals. "Sacrifice" on SEX BOMB BABY is a perfect example. A true masterpiece. But you gotta listen. I can't decide whether GENERIC or FISHIN' is the desert island disc, but one or the other is. Depends on the sun spots.

Unfortunately I never saw the classic quartet. I saw the AMERICAN GRAFISHY tour in Ft. Collins, Colo. Had a great time. Didn't get addicted to heroin. Took some pictures. Played pool with Ted. Passed a bottle of Kahlua with Bruce. Bought T-shirts from Steve. Still got them and wear them. Talked with John Purpose about Will. Watched Bruce allow some fan to play the bass on "Sex Bomb" because John was elsewhere. Last song of the night. It was a life changing experience.

And I like Billy Joel too. He's thinking man's music, like Flipper. He's not as cool as Flipper, but he has purpose. Greater purpose than Bruce Springsteen, Ugly Kid Joe, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Linkin Park, Sheryl Crow, Crystal Method, REM and similar tripe.

And I'm old enough to remember that FLIPPER RULES. They don't STILL RULE. They always did. A priori. A given.

As they profoundly pointed out on GONE FISHIN', "You're so bored, when you're boring."

Yours, Barnyard Fun

Add your thoughts?

Live Target Video 1980-81 DVD - Music Video Distributors 2008
Rating = 8

Flipper was a unique phenomenon. What must their practice sessions have been like? Drummer plays a beat, guitarist makes some noise, bassist #1 tries different note combinations until one of them works, bassist #2 sits in the corner writing poetry - voila, a new song? It's seriously rare that you find such a beloved and well-respected rock band that holds so little regard for the "rules" of rock songwriting. I guess this pioneer-minded attitude is a bit more prominent these days (Lightning Bolt, etc), but in 1980!? Sure, there was industrial, but industrial was more "avant-garde" than "rock." Flipper was clearly a rock band - and a GREAT one - but where were the choruses? Where were the audible guitar lines? Where were any changes at all? And most confoundingly of all, how did they manage to fuck up such simple songs over and over again? How drunk were they up there?

Now the answer can be seen.

This DVD was brilliantly designed to showcase the band's astonishing bipolar nature. Sure, all bands write songs both happy and sad (even cheery Paul McCartney wrote "For No One"), but few reach such extremes as the laugh-out-loud "Sex Bomb" and slit-your-wrist "Life Is Cheap" -- particularly on the same album. Fewer still can take similar (or in some cases identical) material and completely alter its mood from playful to apocalyptic at will. That is precisely what Flipper does on this DVD.

The first show takes place in July 1980 at a new wave club in Berkeley. The atmosphere is bright and pink, the band is smiling and playful, and their crowd is full of bouncing, laughing new wavers and punkers. They make tons of mistakes, their timing is off, the vocals are off-key, it's just a bunch of racket - and it's a GREAT, LIFE-AFFIRMING SET! This is rock music as sloppy camaraderie, with Bruce laughingly reminding Will how the songs go, the crowd joining in on such silly gags as the one-armed "Wheel" dance, and even songs as ostensibly dark as "One By One" coming across as anarchic bass-and-eardrum-blasting good times.

In contrast, the second show takes place 10 months later at Kezar Stadium - an opening slot for the legendary nihilist noisemakers Throbbing Gristle. The atmosphere is darkly-lit and alienating, the band looks severely depressed, and their crowd is full of eyeglass-wearing, stone-serious apocalypse culturalists. They make tons of mistakes, their timing is off, the vocals are off-key, it's just a bunch of racket - and it's an OMINOUS, SUFFOCATING PIECE OF SISYPHEAN PERFORMANCE ART. This is rock music as bleak, oppressive failure, with Will violently blasting his bass strings until the instrument shorts out, Ted growing so frustrated at his inability to play in tune with the replacement bass that he literally smashes his instrument to pieces on the stage, and the Berkeley-delighters "Low Rider" and "One By One" here presented as grim, aggressive terror threats.

Then it ends with a ridiculous 1983 TV performance of "Sex Bomb."

More specific highlights of the disc include:
- Seeing how goshdamned young and skinny Bruce and Will were at the time!
- Hearing the playful unreleased track "Friends"
- Laughing uproarial at the... umm... "bass guitar" Will uses periodically throughout the Berkeley show; nearly the entire body has been sawed off, leaving a rinky-dink stupid-looking little piece of crap for him to swat his pick at
- Learning that Will gets that bass sound in "One By One" by simply thrashing all four open strings as hard as he can
- Feeling for the drunk-as-dirt friend of Will's who joins him onstage in Berkeley for a 7,000-minute, 4-word rendition of "The Wheel" -- particularly when he begins singing the lyrics to The Rolling Stones' "Shattered"!
- Wondering what Bruce was thinking when he dyed his hair half-white/half-black in 1981
- Watching Ted literally double over with laughter upon learning of Will's bass mishap (one of the very few moments of levity during the Kezar performance)
- Growing even further depressed due to the films backing the band at Kezar (Bruce: "That's the intestines of a seal! And that's a knife cutting them!")
- Seeing Genesis P-Orridge look like a tiny little dwarf man as he selflessly straps his own bass onto Bruce so the Kezar set can continue
- Begging for Channel 25 to cool it with the embarrassing early-80s video effects and just let Flipper play goddamned "Sex Bomb."

The 5-billion-hour "The Wheel" grows a bit tedious, and a few of the shorter songs ("Brainwash," "End The Game," "Nothing") are too messy and mistake-ridden to enjoy to their full potential, but those are the only complaints I will allow anyone to make about this fantastic, dynamic representation of Flipper at the height of their youthful power.

What's that? You don't like Will's steadily-increasing bald spot? TOUGH SHIT ASSHO!!!! I DON'T RECALL THAT BEING ONE OF THE COMPLAINTS I SAID I WOULD ALLOW ANYONE TO MAKE ABOUT THIS FANSASTIC, DYNAMIC RESUMATATION OF FLIPPER AT THE HYBIDDA BOOBLE FLOWER!!!

If you have money, and I'm certain you do, use my Amazon link and buy this. And keep an eye out because supposedly Flipper have recorded a new 10-song CD with legendary grunge bassist Kris Novoselic (Stone Temple Pilots, Silverchair, Bush) due out in 2008!

Reader Comments

thepublicimage79@hotmail.com
The Kezar performance is the night that Flipper opened for Throbbing Gristle; this was actually Throbbing Gristle's last performance (at the time, that is), which was released as "Mission of Dead Souls."

I have to get this DVD sometime soon.

pozwr@webtv.net
WOW! Sounds like my kinda show ! As soon as I get some coin, I WILL buy this DVD, clinking on your site first of course.

I saw Flipper at the Mudd Club in 82 or so. Will stopped the show halfway through and proclaimed that they wouldn't play another 'song' until they got more Heinekins. It took about 15 minutes of nothingness until the Mudd Club came through. Fantastic show.

2 thoughts... I brought my heavy-metal friend who was on mescaline and he hid behind a pole by the stage as I was dodging slammers. I gotta be as close t the stage as I can, and I don't slamdance.

#2- The 1st time my future wife and I hooked up, I played the 45 of Sex Bomb I had taped because I was so freaking nervous, and it loosened things up.

Sex Bomb Baby, YEAAAAH!!!

james.greg@bigpond.com
Thanks. Please enjoy the percentage you got from me buying this through Amazon. Will's bass doesn't short out; he smacks the head off it on an amp, or something. That's why he looks like a little kid who played too roughly with a new toy. Also explains why Ted doubles over with laughter. You're right: it is the only moment of levity in that show, but, MY GOD, IT'S FUNNY!

"The Wheel", for me, is like the "7-Eleven" joke on "Great Phone Calls". Funny as a train, but how many times? Even though the joke is in how Goddamned LONG it goes on for, I've watched it five times now. Is there something missing in my life that makes me sit through the fuckin' "Wheel" five times? Nice to see Wheel Shatter having fun, don't you think? I don't wanna sound morbid, but, why do dead people remind us or how great it is to be alive?

Add your thoughts?

Blow'N Chunks Live - Roir 1983.
Rating = 8

Fine. The sound is as clear as necessary, though the songs, as great as they are, start to seem like one big garbled mass after a while. One rare track ("In Your Arms" - great tune!). Not as much stage patter as you'd hope for from a live album, but it's neat to hear "Life Is Cheap" without the annoying sped-up vocals and "In Life My Friend" with real-time bass swoopin'!

By the way, I'm finishing up a book by some slut skank whore groupie who fucked Frank Zappa in the early '70s and I can't help but notice that she has completely stolen her writing style from Frank himself. It's bugging the banjo playin' cowboy man out of me. If my writing style annoys you, stop reading my site and sell it on ebay.

Reader Comments

Nofxfreak0088@aol.com
I Iove this abum,most guys i know don't. The lights,the sound,the rhythm,the noise is the best.But I can't hep but feel so sad that I'm the only persn to comment on this beautiful noise.

vernaequinox@yahoo.com (Verna Doherty)
This live tape is way underrated as far as I'm concerned. "In Your Arms" showcases the druggy desperation in Will Shatter's voice as Bruce Lose's bass lines and Ted Falcone's feeding back guitar shake the walls with excessive noise. Although my cassette copy was lost a long time ago ( or worn out, or stolen), I remember being so depressed in the rainy Northwest, after a sleepless night, in some strange peoples' car, and forcing them to play this cassette all the way through. From Portland to Olympia, I think, on the way to see 7 Seconds play. I was 20 years old and Flipper captured the isolation I felt --that heavy bass and the screeling, crunchy guitar. I got a homemade Flipper tattoo later that year, and made my own pair of Flipper pants. I knew only 3 other people who liked them. One of them, my friend Scott, died a few years ago, of an overdose. We did a duet version of "Life" once, him on accoustic guitar and both of us bombed out and singing at some stupid Portland cabaret at the Satyricon. We were loaded but we still felt it, man! We had Flipper in our hearts. I miss Scott. I miss Will Shatter, too. This tape is an important document of that time, the cassette culture that has all but died from electronic overkill.

A76chris@aol.com
This just fucking rocks for the same reasons why most people would hate it. The dirge is pummelling, hits you right in the heart. The songs capture that particular squaler that music these days has just lost or completely forgotten about. If I can't be drunk I don't wanna be alive.... tis isn't for the weak.Flipper were definately big fat heavyweights. Blowin chunks just proves it

Decotrash@aol.com (Johnny Hasbeen)
Hello,My name is Johnny Hasbeen and I was fortunate enough to be at the recording and what a strange night it was! Before the band played I went outside for a smoke and at that moment some jive-assed dude took the cigarette out of my mouth and jumped into his car and backed up into the car behind his! At the next moment he smashed into the now legendary "Truck" and then sped into the night never to return. It was time for the show and this dumb chick I was with asked Bruce if the band was going to do HA-HA-HA and he replied "If you give me 10$".Now how "PUNK" was that I loved it! The show went on an I was unawere that they were recording the very tape that turned out to be the "ROIR" session! I was waiting for the show and Falcoini came out of the back with a bag of water and proceded to drench these two dumb "PUNK" chicks sitting at the end of the stage as we all started to crack up in histerity.You see in those days CB's had small tables on the dance floor and this harcore kid "Eugene'' decided to start stage -diving smashing up everything in his path all the while Will Shatter was squatting on the stage shaking his head as to say"What a bunch of pinheads". The bored look on his face will never leave me the rest of my life! Well,I have to go now but I need to pose a Question that I'm willing to trade a copy of ''The Old Lady" single for a copy of Falconi's concerto in D-fault.So if there is anyone who can help I would definetly appreciate it! You see I'm a Flipper compleatest so please have a heart.My E-Mail is as follows DECOTRASH@AOL.com. Well, I hope what I told you has been interesting and thank God THAT"FLIPPER'' still RULES! Count yourselves lucky that we haven't all ended up like poor old Will,GODSPEED and play it safe because we are a dying breed indeed! THANKS AGAIN! HASBEEN ON THE SLIDE!

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Live At CBGB's 1983 - Overground 2003
Rating = 7

Recorded on May 14, 1983 at New York's famed CBGB Shithole of Urine And Rats, this live recording finds San Francisco's Flipper performing three Generic Flipper songs, two from Gone Fishin' and one from Public Flipper Ltd., as well as two singles and two rarities unavailable anywhere else. The set is hilarious and the band on fire with comedy timing, but -- particularly in the second half of the show -- the bass is completely drowned out by the guitar. If you're unfamiliar with Flipper, the reason this treble-heavy mix is such a problem is because guitarist Guy Whatsisname generally just plays a bunch of noise. The bass line is the only melodic element in their music!

Regardless of its recording deficiencies, this album further cements my jealous belief that Flipper must've been an awfully fun band to see back in their heyday. In this concert alone, they...

- Hit the stage with the inscrutable greeting "Welcome to the Billy Sacrifice Italian Show!" before lurching into a hideously rednecky 'cover' of Kellee Patterson's awful disco hit "If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It." As the set progressed, Bruce Lose repeatedly insisted that his name was in fact "Billy Sacrifice."

- Began the set proper with a promising "Okay now it's time for Flipper! Booooring...."

- Thanked their opening acts with a heartfelt "I liked all the bands that opened for us. 1234! All their songs sounded the same. I was surprised.... Ours do too!"

- Bruce Lose introduced "In Life My Friends" with a vehement "We're being hardcore as hell today! FUCK YOU!" and proceeded to whiz through the lyrics as quickly as humanly possible, regardless of the fact that he kept finishing all the verses well ahead of the band. He did this for THE ENTIRE SONG.

- Performed "If I Can't Be Drunk" as a horrid tuneless mess with such ad libbed sentiments as "If I can't be drunk, I don't wanna be on tour," "If I can't get a job, why'd I have to go to school?," "If I can't shoot up, I don't wanna be alive," "If I can't have bad posture, I don't wanna be alive," and the completely asinine "If I can't get run over by the crosstown bus, I don't wanna be alive."

- Allowed an audience member to walk onstage and convert a sad Pavement-esque (seriously!) instrumental into a vocal recording entitled "Hopelessly In Love"

- Bruce Lose interrupted the "Love Canal" intro to demand, "Slower. Slooooow. Sloooooooow. Sloooooooooow. Fuck fast; slooooooow," before courteously offering the compromise, "Okay, you play it fast - I'll sing it slow!"

- Sang the lyrics, "Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, sex bomb baby!"

Review summation:
GOOD: Charisma yes! :7D
BAD: Audible bass guitar no. :7(

On a more personal note, do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?

Well, you're not. So open those blinds wider!

Best,
Mark Prindle
CEO
www.YouNakedThroughMyTelescope.com

Add your thoughts?

Public Flipper Limited Live 1980-1985 - Subterranean 1986.
Rating = 9

Now THIS is a much more intriguing, hilarious and appropriate live album. Consisting mostly of non-album material, the double album of which I speak features tons of hilarious stage patter, halfassed songs that start somewhere and go nowhere, everyone getting off rhythm, recordings so hilariously skewed that all you can hear is Ted smashing the hell out of his guitar, drug references aplenty, obscenity, noise, yelling -- in shorts, CHAOS and ANARCHY, dude. Nowhere else in the Flipper catalog will you find them so hilariously loose and stupid. And it's heavenly! It's actually as if they pulled the most embarrassing live recordings they could and put them on here just to see how their fans would react. But this is what Flipper WERE. As great as Gone Fishin' was, it wasn't a true representation of the band's "who gives a fuck? Let's drink and make some rhythmic noise!" aesthetic. This album IS. And it goes on FOREVER (which is why critics hate it so much!). Sure, sometimes a song will drag on a bit too long ("If I Can't Be Drunk"), or the bass player will completely forget what he's supposed to be playing 30 seconds into the song ("Southern California"), but that's the joy of the band! You don't turn to Flipper for intricate song stylings and blues-influenced axe solos. You turn to them to present the soundtrack to your own pathetic obliteration.

And look who wrote the insert! None other than Mr. Gregg Turkington! Hanging out with his pal Will Shatter and the Flippers at the impressionable young age of 16, it's no wonder he turned out so ridiculous, the cad.

Oooh, I'm sorry. Can I say "cad" on the Internet?

Reader Comments

preynolds@mediaone.net (Paul Reynolds)
Yup, 9 stars - you hit the nail on the head in your review here. I recall an interview with Paul Westerberg where he described these guys as 'rough customers' and 'scary'...its easy to see why! A few highlights:

'Hard, Cold World'...despite Bruce's comment at the finish - 'sorry, we really suck tonight, we're all hungover and dead from drink'...it sounds to me like once the band shakes off their hangover mid-song they really start to kick serious Flipper-butt.

'We Don't Understand'...Ted injures a few eardrums with some shrieking feedback to start off, then the song starts slowly, sloppily, noisy...great violent, profound and meaningless political lyrics from Will...'we're going to make you look like the Beirut helpless...'.

'The Wheel'...three letters....WOW...I could imagine the band extending this one for hours; the few fortunate Flipper fans listening or remaining in the audience slipping deeper into Flipper heaven (or hell? purgatory?) with each passing beer.

9 stars

andrew@ascstudios.co.uk
Many moons ago I awoke with my band unconscious on the floor-many empty bottles of whisky-this LP had been on repeat for an untold amount of time-The perfect Hangover-Best Live LP ever

armlesspete@hotmail.com (Robin Kempson)
yeah.....a fucking live album....how it should be. a big fuck you to all the nirvana and melvins fans who wanted something more produced.

sleeve@efn.org
Actually, Will sings "we're gonna make you look like the Beirut Hilton", a reference to the suicide bombing that drove the US out of Lebanon and was a model for the 9-11 attacks. A pretty heavy reference for the times. At least, I think that's what he sings. I can't believe nobody's mentioned the amazing "Flipper Tour Game" that came with the vinyl here.

"We Don't Understand" just KILLS. My favorite song of theirs except for maybe "Sacrifice".

vernaequinox@yahoo.com (Verna Doherty)
My two favorite cards in the 'game' that goes along with this album, "WILL GETS FREE DRUGS, move ahead..." and "FREE DRUGS TURN OUT TO BE SCARY DIET PILLS,move back..." Played the game by MYSELF once, but no one would ever play it with me... Anyway, you are so right, this IS the quintessential live Flipper album, capturing the zeitgeist. Ted's feedback on the intro to "We Don't Understand" just floors me. I don't think I have ever heard a better intro to a song, or better feedback, ever.

Bands are so AFRAID to lose control anymore. They want that clean, polished stainless steel, 'rockin' sound. Flipper was fearless. This album is the best live album I've ever heard, so brutally honest. Music with the safety off, that's what this is.

eatmycompleteass@yahoo.com
by pointing out gregg turkington's involvement with this release it has taken my favorite live album ever and promoted it to the rank of favorite live album ever everer nerver. (not to be confused with the band live, whose album throwing copper is deemed by allmusic.com as the best live album... which happens to be the gastronomical equivalent to munching scat.)

i have since pointed out this choice flipper tidbit to several of my friends and have yet to receive a smidgen of enthusiasm.

naw, i'm just kidding... i don't have any friends!

andrew.moncrieff@virgin.net
This is, in my opinion of course, the best "punk rock" album ever recorded. I'm informed the band termed themselves "pet rock" which is funny.

The band is not only, as someone else said, "the best hangover album" but actually the best DRINKING album ever. Believe me - I'm drunk right now! From non-album classics like "New rules, no rules" and "Hard, Cold World" to revisionist, ultimate versions of both "Life" and "Sex Bomb", this album is definitive flipper. Honestly, I hate albums, but live the Flipper sound is essentially the same. Unlike conventional live albums, it's not like crowd noise drowns out your favourite parts. It's basically the same sounding as "generic". I love every inch of this album. I bought it on vinyl and I was born 1987 - hardly the VINYL generation, but now (2009) that it's been released finally on CD you need this album if you like Flipper or punk rock. If you like Flipper, their live albums are AS, if not MORE, essential than their studio albums. Most of this album isn't available on their studio albums and you won't fucking care because the versions on here are perfect. Listen to the "Sex bomb" here...I prefer the "Generic" version to their single version, but this one buries them all. Live, Flipper adds lengthy intros which mean A LOT to fans of their music - here, Sex bomb's wall-of-sound is built up to the zenith before plummeting into the smacking/pummelling riff that makes up the song. Compare the PERFECT version of "If I can't be drunk" here to the one on the CD version of "Blow'n Chunks" and you'll be blown away. It's a perfect song! This album is frankly, astounding. "Life" is performed in a particularly anthemic way with a slowed down into that sounds like it belonds in a particularly cool 1980s teen movie. "The Games Got A Price" is a brilliant song and if all you've ever heard is the "Sex Bomb Baby" compilation version, you're in for a shock. I love every moment here. Even "The Wheel".

Speaking of "The Wheel", let me address something here:

Mark says in his review "it's as if the band released their worst recoridngs just to see how their fans would react". It's a good thing he says "as if", or he'd have to join the ranks of other fans who don't seem to like Flipper at all. Fuck allllll that, because Flippers sound was great and despite what the band may say NOW, they knew what they were doing. While "the joke" of "the Wheel" might be that it just goes on and on forever, the song is fucking great and it'd take me around 40 minutes to get sick of it if they released an album of just one continuous track. This is a very human sounding band, and drunk and live they're at their best. They're not for everyone, so my assessment of "the best punk rock album" may be too much, but if you LIKE flipper, you'll love this album. It's perfect. I suggest strong spirits and this album, particularly the vinyl version. The vinyl hum combined with the comedic board game makes the album one you'll never, ever regret buying. Now it's on CD, none of you have an excuse. If you feel alienated, or different, this is for you. Drink and play it.

Also it helps the band is as drunk as you while playing all of this.

Incidentally I'm drunk and just enjoyted the album 10 minutes ago.

Add your thoughts?

Sex Bomb Baby! - Infinite Zero 1995.
Rating = 9

Look Steve - the album actually came out on (American?) in 1987, but this reissue on Henry Rollins' label includes three additional unreleased tracks so hunt this one down instead! This is a compilation of singles, rare live tracks and infeoaotd..r Fantastic tunes presented in a variety of situations! From your high-speed tape manipulation to your 30-second hardcore song repeated over and over and over for nearly seven minutes, from your impromptu on-stage presentation of an ages-old nursery rhyme to your song in which the chorus involves Bruce Lose laughing sarcastically like a jackasshole -- aw man, COME ON! Don't make me describe this shit! Okay, how about this. If their first album was noisy, catchy Flip, the second one was arty, musical Per and Public Flipper was drunk, loose Little Brucey and the Dolphintones -- then this compilation is the perfect panoramic photograph of the overall Flipper personality. Maybe this should get the 10?

Ah screw it, my delete button is tired.

Reader Comments

Colin T.
oh man, this is wiggedy wild. "sacrifice" is maybe their best song, but that's a ridiculous overstatement that only a fool would make. "the old lady who swallowed the fly" is awesome, too; it makes you wonder if flipper wrote the damn thing and then didn't get credit for it, because it sounds like a flipper tune! and then the song just ends all abruptly. as well it should.

rickert@wou.edu (Thomas Rickert)
I think that most people think that Flipper are annoying. But then, as Flipper themselves said, "Flipper suffered for their art. Now it's your turn."

I just love that! So, apparently, did Kurt Cobain. I also love their funky ass Flipper fish logo with the x-ed out eyes. In fact, it's so cool that I once tried to get a Flipper t-shirt--with the damn dead fishy--from one 'o those rock t-shirt places, and they didn't fookin' have one. Lameasses.

What the world needs now is Flipper, sweet Flipper. Buy it today! (And, after just harping on you shamelessly about your doing the Budgie reviews, I should add that you should have done the Stooges reviews, too.)

radfox@gmail.com
buy this for "get away." or just download the song, or get a friend to tape it for you, or get the original single out of some guy named carls garage sale, or something, just check that shit out, its the best song anybodys ever performed, ever, and nothing will be as good as it ever again

steve.robey@mindspring.com
This is essential for the inclusion of the original single versions of "Love Canal" and "Ha Ha Ha", two of their finest songs ever. And I forget what that song was that does that 30 second hardcore song sample over and over, but I love it because it's so annoying. And! That Man Who Swallowed a Fly song! Children's Nursery Rhymes! Tubular!

thepublicimage79@hotmail.com
Simply put, Flipper rules, and Ted Falconi is one of the greatest noise guitarists of all time, signed, sealed, and delivered. You can really hear how brain-damaged that noise can get on "Love Canal"/"Ha Ha Ha" - probably, along with the "Sex Bomb"/"Brainwash" single, the two most extreme, half-melodic and hilarious punk singles that ever came out of the San Francisco punk scene. All with catchy-as-skin-rash basslines! Well, except for "Brainwash," which is what, the punk equivalent of "Wild Honey Pie"? "Forget it, you wouldn't understand anyway..."

Essential listening.

DecoTrash@aol.com
Hello! This is HASBEEN again saying that this is essential as well! I would like a copy of this as well as Falconi's Concerto in D-Fault so somebody have a heart and please help out thanx loads! I would like to pose a question...Has anyone ever heard off an L.p. entitled The Nuenberg Fistrials? Everyday it seems like there is something new and lt seems to never end! But I quess it's more to like I suppose!Well time to fly! Hope to hear from some one real soon! And Thanx again this is a great website for the ever ruling "FLIPPER"!

baronvonmachiemer@yahoo.com
great cd. the original vinyl version of "brainwash" (b-side to sexbomb) had a "closed groove" on it, so that it looped back upon itself creating a skip that would make the record play "forget it, you wouldn't understand---forget it, you wouldn't understand---forget it, you wouldn't understand.." etc over and over and over again forever....the only way to make it stop was to actually remove the needle from the record! brilliant!

nineinchgoth@hotmail.com
Yeah, this probably should have received the 10. "Love Canal", "Ha Ha Ha", "Sacrifice", "Get Away".......... As a singles/rarities compilation, this is remarkably cohesive. Well, as cohesive as Flipper can be.

Add your thoughts?

American Grafishy - American 1993.
Rating = 6

Disappointing reunion album. Will Shatter had died of a heroin overdose six years earlier. This CD has some wonderfully catchy, distorted-bass-driven tunes ("Exist Or Else," "Fucked Up Once Again" and "May The Truth Be Known" get stuck in my head all the fine day!), but the band is tighter (duller), Bruce is trying to sing but relying too much on screaming (ala Sammy Hagar) and man, does the disc hit a patch of shitty riffs during the second half! Most fans don't consider this to be true Flipper anyway. In my opinion, 3/4 of Flipper counts as Flipper, but maybe they're a little too old and strung out to put out work of the calibre they once made had did. Yes.

Yes? Ah, NOW you're talkin' my penguinge! Pass me that Tormato immediate!

Reader Comments

landonmoblo@home.com
Flipper was much better than both Black Flag and Foetus and is the only American punk rock band to even enter the 'Surfers caliber. A truely underrated band.

jfrankparnell@hotmail.com
This album sounded like the Cows meets Motley Crue. Yccccccccccck! I know you as you age you usually improve your musicianship but that doesn't mean you have to suck as well. Very dissapointing considering I actually liked the Flipper Twist 7" that came out before the album.

armlesspete@hotmail.com (Robin Kempson)
nirvana/melvins fans apply here.

severus03@aol.com
Hello

Anyone with soundboard or FM recordings of Flipper contact Steve Depace@excite.com, or me, at Severus03@aol.com: Steve and Ted Falconi, & provisonally Bruce are trying to put out a live CD.

Thanks.

in Flipper veritas

Malcolmofscotts@aol.com
fipper fucking drules. Willl and Bruce get the fuking thing going. I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly. I guess she will die. Shed no tears for the dying man.

Keep the faith.

james.madison@comcast.net
There is a flipper cover band in the N.W. called War Against Terror. You should check out the site. http://www.dead-gods.com/phpnuke/bands/The_War_Against_Terror/

leeharvey43@yahoo.com
I've been a longtime fan of the site, but for various reasons I've never commented before, regardless of my feelings about things (Favorite albums being trashed, other readers with a pronounced lack of irony, etc.) But I finally want to say something. First off, Flipper rules, OK? You'll get no argument from me on that one. My favorite being the headache-inducing Generic Flipper. And yes, Grafishy doesn't really do anything for me, but armlesspete@hotmail.com's comment on the Flipper live album really irked me:

"yeah.....a fucking live album....how it should be. a big fuck you to all the nirvana and melvins fans who wanted something more produced."

Fuckity fuck fuck fuck, what an ignorant comment. Brainlesspete, what the name of god are you talking about? OK. I can imagine the scenario. Here we are in 1986, when this live album came out. I know I, for one, couldn't turn on the radio once without hearing the candy-coated Phil Collins-esque sounds of the Melvins' Gluey Porch Treatments sugar-sapping up my brain. (Had it even been released yet? Have you even heard that gutteral slab of a record? Is that your idea of overproduced?) Buzz will be the first to admit that they owe a big debt to Flipper, but they weren't ripping them off. Even when the Melvins cover Flipper songs, it sounds way more like Flipper themselves than the Melvins. (Sacrifice, Sex Bomb, Love Canal) When they play Sacrifice live, they even change the lineup of their band. (Last time I saw it was Dale on bass and some midget playing drums)

As far as Nirvana goes, I hold the unpopular opinion of hating them as well. You'll get no argument here. But you still have your timeline wrong. Essentially, there were no Melvins or Nirvana fans yet. And as far as Nirvana ripping off Flipper, why not take them to task for ripping off Killing Joke (proven in court), Gang of Four, Scratch Acid, the Butthole Surfers, the Pixies, and about fifty billion other more talented bands?

Then later, you say:

"nirvana/melvins fans apply here"

about the American Grafishy album. Um, did I miss something? Once again, that durn-blasted poppiness of the Melvins must really get to you. I know that Colossus of Destiny is a big sell-out to the Creed fans, but jeez. All those bands influenced by the Melvins are just all over the radio as well, huh? Dillinger Escape Plan, Strapping Young Lad, Brutal Truth, Meshuggah, Eyehategod, Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Naked City...the list of sugary pop goes on and on.

The Melvins eat your face. You're not fit to lick the sweat from Dale Crover's speedo. And quit lumping Melvins in with Nirvana. No one but fourteen year old Queens of the Stone Age fans fall for that shit anymore. And no one's impressed with overuse of the word "fuck" anymore, either.

Nothing against Flipper. They ruled and are underrated as hell. I just get pissed when stupid people dog the Melvins. To quote Buzzo in his interview with Mark: "If people have a problem with [us], they're letting their inability to comprehend what we're doing impact their feelings for [us]."

steve.robey@mindspring.com
"Someday" is worthy of inclusion in the list of the finest Flipper songs ever. Most of the rest is kinda iffy.

dfaye@mac.com
Things that are truly beautiful are usually misinterpreted when you first see them. happened to me regarding Flipper . Fully trashed and talkin to Ted Falconi while we crashed at Kim Mc cabes Speed and heroin hotel, I knew at the time these conversations which I stumbled to keep up with were changing my life. I saw Ted at the Olympic theatre on Halloween 05 with Bruce and Steve and some other dude on the bass. Fighting that lump in my throat I knew I was right about that time in my life and I wish I could have shown up for my own life The way Flipper did to create the most enviable and original music I might ever hear,

lonewolf@fire2wire.com
Where literally every other band in the world sucks...Flipper Rules..OK!

Their churning white noise chaotic mayhem dirge, combined with their stark between your eyes lyrics make them the greatest band to ever grace the ears and minds of humanity.

When the gods created the universe... Flipper was their choice of background music to work to.

With war after war and rumors of war...is there a song more telling then "Sacrifice?" It should be the anthem of the world wide anti-war movement and played daily on radio and T.V. for the education and eddification of war hawks and fence riders everywhere.

Rest In Peace Will. You are sorely missed indeed.

JRees@tmcc.edu (TargetVideo77)
Just to let you all know the Flipper DVD release is coming up soon....We've been working on the edit with help from Rusty Wright & Joe Rees... Klaus Flouride is helping with the audio...and Ted's design logo on the cover...this is only the first release of a couple of shows, Kezar in S.F. and Berkeley Square....there will be more in the next DVD

Victor.Andrews@ssa.co.santa-clara.ca.us
I saw Flipper 12/20/06 in SF at Café Du Nord. They did this show a couple days after ending a tour of England, Ireland, & Scotland. They had every right to be tired and out of gas but the show was plenty intense and the whole group seemed to rise to the occasion. After about 70 minutes of performing, a tired, sweaty, and spent Bruce Lose, climbed off the stage and the other members slowly made their way off too. The crowd cheered and hooted for 4 minutes after the show ended. From my best guess, this band first climbed on stages as Flipper in appx 1979, so this show was after 27 years of water under the bridge. For longevity alone this group deserves kudos, but as indefinable as they are, they also deserve kudos for "feeling" their lyrics and music after this long and putting on intense shows after this long. If Flipper keeps going, very soon they will reach the 30yr mark. I enourage anyone that wants to see what punk rock is all about, this group is the one to see.

VICTORANDREWS@aol.com
Flipper continues on in 2008. They have already done shows in SF, and Hollywood, and are set for two shows in June up north then come back to SF @the Fillmore with Negative Trend (NT first show since 1979), Avengers, & Mutants, plus some footage from Target Video. The Fillmore show evidences Flipper's continued high place in the punk realm. The America Hardcore film will have to be re-done soon, giving fLipper more footage. I expect the Fillmore to sell out. Flipper established in 1979 now in its 30th year...I follow Flipper as a fan, I post comments about them because unlike many groups, fLipper is unique & extremely driven to do it "their" way, if they are known for playing out of tune and being sloppy, its by design, they know how to tune up.....maybe they like being under-estimated....but just see them live and you will see 4 men (to coin the line in Rocky 1) who werent just bums from the neighborhood....if they were paid what they are worth, they would surely return to the neighborhood and buy it.....miss fLipper at your own risk

myspace.com/flipper

spacebutlerxiii@hotmail.com
Further evidence that -- even this early on in your record reviewing "career" -- it always comes back to Yes, with you.

Not that I'm complaining.

Add your thoughts?

Love - Flipper 2009
Rating = 8

The success of a Flipper album depends mostly on the strength of its bass lines, and I don't know whether it was Bruce Loose, Krist Novoselic (of Nirvana fame!) or a combination of the two who wrote these riffs, but he/they did a fantastic job! Where American Grafishy started strong but ran out of riffs halfway through, this one throws you hook after hook after hook with only one or two boners on the entire record. From the fun and cheerful ("Night Falls," "Be Good, Child!") to the dark and twisted ("Learn To Live," "Triple Mass"), from the queasy and lopey-dopey ("Only One Answer") to the thudding and bitter ("Live Real"), from the anxiety-racked ("Transparent Blame") to the dirgey and doom-laden ("Old Graves") and from the Jello Biafra-esque ("Love Fight") to the terrible Led Zeppelin rip-off ("Why Can't You See"), these bass lines will have your ears literally jumping for joy!

Unless that's just the moth larvae. Either way, you should probably see an earologist.

The mix (by Jack Endino of Bleach fame!) is also as strong as an ox, with Krist's thick distorted bass tone locking with Steve DePace's uptempo (for Flipper) 4/4 beats as Ted Falconi thrashes out strange chords way in the background where he can't hurt anybody. If there is a weak sonic link, it's Bruce's voice. He does the best he can with it, but after a lifetime of rough living, he's so hoarse and raspy that it almost hurts my throat to listen to him. With repeated exposure, you get used to it though. He certainly never approaches the depths of godawfulicity that Brian Johnson reached in the '90s; it's just a weird surprise to hear how much rougher his voice has gotten after 16 years off.

The only other complaint I might make is that, although Flipper's sound has always been based on repetition, they've gotten a bit too professional and competent for their songs to be as endlessly hypnotic and inebriating as they were in the wiry, unpredictable Will Shatter era. For example, "Only One Answer" has a great bass riff, but not six minutes worth of one, and lacking that broken, hopeless, "might fall apart at any second" tone of their early material, it just sounds like a song that drags on too long. Ditto for the five-minute "Love Fight" and triple-ditto for the 9-minute "I Saw You Shine"y dirge "Old Graves." It's not so much of an issue that I'd lower the grade to a 7, but it's hard not to notice the big white elephant in the room who keeps tapping me on the shoulder with his gigantic foot and saying, "Hay, this song's too long. BRRREEEEUUURRRR!" Then he squirts water at me with his trunk and sure it's cute the first four or five times but at some p

I was originally going to give Love a 7, but apparently (as a Facebook friend pointed out) I'm a "Flipper flipper-flopper." Nevertheless, if you enjoyed American Grafishy even the slightest bit, I can guarantee that you'll "flip" over this "fliptastic" new compact "flipsc" by San "Flipcisco"'s "flipvorite" punk rock band, TSOL!

Reader Comments

kreibabe@gmail.com
this album stinks

Add your thoughts?

Fight Live - MVDaudio 2009
Rating = 6

Hi everybody, it's Ticker Tape Jim here with another Ticker Tape Parade! If you know me, you know I like to start every Ticker Tape Parade with a whimsical observation, so here's one for you:

Apparently wives don't find it romantic when you sing the Police song "I'll Be Wrapped Around Your Finger" as "I Just Crapped Around Your Finger."

And now let's get started with the Ticker Tape Parade! Okay, the first float is coming around now. Oh great! It's the Flipper Fight Live float! I can see the band really whipping up a stir down there and the mix is just great, but oh no! Singer Bruce Lose sounds like he's invested his savings in a Phlegm Production Machine that he houses inside his neck! This doesn't bode well for such one-time great Flipper anthem track songs as "Way Of The World" and "I Saw You Shine"! Granted, Bruce had a big shoe to fill when he decided to replace the late Will Shatter on the latter - not that he's fatter, but cake batter and mad hatter tatter ra

And here comes the second float!

No, hang on. It's still the first float. It turns out I'd simply closed my eyes for a moment.

It's great that Nirvana's Cris Novoselic is on bass with them on the float here in this 2007 Portland and Seattle Ticker Tape Parade recorded and mixed by Jack Endino, because soon after this he's going to leave the band and be replaced by a woman -- not just in the band, but in his own life.

Look, I'll be honest with you, here at the Ticker Tape Parade. I'm sick. I have some sort of swiney flue with the headache and coughing and sore throat and weak muscles, and am only straining out this awful review so that I won't fall too far behind schedule. And now back to the Ticker Tape Parade!

Oh look! Some awful song choices! "The Light, The Sound"? That's never been a very good song. "Why Can't You See"? That's never been a very subtle Led Zeppelin rip-off. All the others are fine though, particularly the new ones because they were penned with Bruce's current (awful) voice in mind. And speaking of mind, how about that stage pater?

Yes, Wilhelm Grausz proved to be an exceptional stage pater, supporting his kinder in all their en

Also, Bruce's stage patter isn't among his strongest either; let's move the mic closer to his float here in the Ticker Tape Parade:

- "Hi, we're a band. Are you an audience?"
- (on Hilly Kristal's death) "There'd be no Ramones! There'd be no Blondie! There'd be no Talking Heads!"
- "That's not 'Life Is Cheap'! Oh, 'Why Can't You See'."
- "Fuck 'Sex Bomb'! We got some new shit to lay on you!"
- "What song is this?"

Looks like SOMEBODY didn't engage in enough Ticker Tape Parade rehearsal prior to entering their float in the Ticker Tape Parade!

nnnnnnnnnnnnn! (*ploop*) Look, a Ticker Tapeworm! Perhaps it can enter a float in next season's Ticker Tape Parade!

And that's it for the Flipper float in this year's Ticker Tape Parade. They performed 4 songs from Love, 2 each from Generic and Gone Fishin, the classic "Ha Ha Ha" single, and NOT WORD ONE from American Grafishy. But you know what they say about American Grafishy: it may have a few good songs, but it's certainly no Ticker Tape Parade!

Okay, now onto the second float.

Oh, that's it? Why, that was the worst Ticker Tape Parade I've ever seen! Back in my day, a Ticker Tape Parade would have all KINDS of floats driving all over the place willy nilly and helter skelter. The root beer float, the Flipper float, the root beer float -- you name it, I fucked it! Yes, I was a float-fucker. Stop staring at me with your disapproving orbs.

SICK - I'm sick.
DRUNK - I shouldn't have gotten drunk last night; it made me sicker.
BLOW - This album blows.
JOB - I've been unemployed for eight months.

Add your thoughts?


Other Flipper Sites

*Buying Flipper CDs by clicking here still rules, O.K.? (HINT: CLICK ON THE ALBUM COVERS TO REVEAL HIDDEN USED CD PRICES)

*Here's video footage of a 2008 Flipper in-store appearance at Amoeba Music that ruled, O.K.?

Don't be afraid to let them show -- your true colors. Your true colors are beautiful.

Like a reindeer.