Goddamn I wish I was Nick Hexum. Not only does the guy not look like he hasn't aged a fucking day since he graduated college but he owned a fucking island in the Florida Keys. An island. That is some serious shit. Anyways, twenty years before he became a paradise entrepreneur, his band released their second demo on Hexum's What Have You Records. In case you've been living in a soundproof cave on Mars since 1990, Hexum is the lead singer for perennial funk rockers 311; one of the few 90's bands that weathered the death of MTV just fine and still release arguably good shit to this day. I just picked up 311's 4-disc Archive box set and was kinda disappointed they didn't include the band's pre-Music demos. I've sifted through boatloads of illegitimate mp3s over the years trying to find a definitive copy of most of them and the aforementioned Dammit! (1990) has proved the most elusive. Sure there are umpteen "first generation" rips out there but they all seem to be from one of two sources; are completely inconsistent in their mastering; are actually songs from the more readily findable Unity (1991); and many rips clip off several minutes of some tracks (or are missing a song or two entirely). With that being said, I compiled a few "versions" and tried to form what is a reasonable facsimile of an entire album. Side A is actually pretty listenable but make no mistake, the quality is rough (think 64kbps mp3s sleazily up-ripped in disguise). Oh well, what the fuck, you can't have everything. Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment