Vision :: In The Blink of an Eye
These guys serve as an allegory for what happened to the HC scene in the early nineties. Journey back with me to a beautiful summer afternoon in 1991. Vision with Sick of It All (and some other bands I can't recall at the moment, but I do remember the whole bill was really good) at Bunratty's in Allston. The place was jam packed and the kids went crazy for tunes like "Once" and "Falling Apart". It was a great show with a big, fun crowd. Jump forward less than two years to January of 1993. Vision, this time with Killing Time (that other late eighties NYHC staple) at The Middle East in Cambridge. I'm one of maybe fifteen people at the show and no one other than me knew any of their songs or even who they were. Cartoon crickets chirped over the silence between songs. They still sounded great though. I so wanted my high school band to sound like this record. •

Social Distortion :: self-titled
Hard tunes about hard living and hard drinkin'. How can you beat that? One thing I'll never understand is the frightening overabundance of 'guys with mustaches who want to fight' at Social Distortion shows. Livin' the dream I guess. •

Jawbox :: Novelty
Jawbox was one of those bands you could always count on to put out quality music. This is my favorite of their releases. I always used to listen to it while riding the train home from college. For some reason it was the perfect soundtrack for staring out at the world speeding past. •

Sweetbelly Freakdown :: self-titled
A dream come true. The members of Swiz, the greatest, most underrated hardcore band ever, reunite to produce this little monster of a record. For the life of me though, I can't understand why they didn't just call it Swiz. Sure the music goes in a bit of a different direction, but it's not a total departure so why the ridiculous new moniker? Regardless, this record will rock your ass and I really wish they had done more. •

Buffalo Tom :: Birdbrain
Unlike their more polished 'tragic art school girl make out music' commercial releases this one packs a punchy guitar sound with a darker, less sugary underbelly (most likely because of J. Mascis' involvement with the production). The title track is one of my favorite power-pop anthems. •