MRR Presents: Turn It Around!, 1987 (now with FULL booklet!!)

To see my list of ten (more) great Lookout Records singles, please visit The Big Takeover!


We'll end the series commemorating the final end of Lookout Records (more HERE), with a compilation that was actually released by the fanzine, Maximumrocknroll. Of course, this 1987 double 7", was compiled by Lookout records co-founder David Hayes ("It was a Gilman benefit paid for by MRR but I disorganized it" he later claimed).  Soon enough, eight of the thirteen Gilman St. mainstays herein would end up on Lookout Records and help to define the label's sound and aesthetic.

In fact the record explains much  much of the nineties, like a vinyl Rosetta Stone. Here we have Operation Ivy single-handedly creating third-wave ska, Sweet Baby Jesus clearing the way for pop-punk in general and Green Day in particular, No Use For A Name setting up the Fat Wreck-Chords dynasty and The Yeastie Girlz sparking the Riot Grrl Revolution. Heady stuff.



Tracklist
A1     Corrupted Morals –  Where Is He?  1:43    
A2     Sweet Baby Jesus –  She's From Salinas     2:01    
A3     Isocracy –  Confederate Flags     2:07    
A4     No Use For A Name –  Gang Way     2:00    
B1     Crimpshrine –  Another Day     2:40    
B2     Operation Ivy –  I Got No     1:15    
B3     Stikky –  Fun On The Freeway     1:49    
B4     Nasal Sex –  Freezer Burn    1:48    
C1     Yeastie Girlz –  Yeast Power    0:35    
C2     Rabid Lassie –  Contragate     1:42    
C3     Sewer Trout –  Wally & The Beaver Go To Nicaragua     2:11    
C4     Isocracy –  ZBHR     0:56    
C5     Operation Ivy –  Officer     1:55    
D1     Sweet Baby Jesus –  Pathetic     1:49    
D2     Crimpshrine –  Rearranged     1:58    
D3     Stikky –  Moshometer     1:23    
D4     Buggerall –  Two Taps     2:25

 

Let us know your favourites from this seminal compilation in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Turn It Around link).

Sewer Trout: Songs About Drinking (1987)

 

Sewer Trout, with the late Jim MacLean, bass, vocals Hal MacLean, drums Keith Lehtinen, guitar Erik Benson were a huge part of the scene centered around the Gilman Street Project. Not only did the band play there regularly, appear on the project's benefit compilation, Turn It Around but they were also an early signee to Lookout Records (which chronicled most of the Gilman bands) putting out this single (Lookout 8) and appearing on the label's ground-breaking compilation, The Thing That Ate Floyd. (More Lookout Records posts HERE)





Sewer Trout hailed from Sacramento and used bratty humour (take that title, Big Black), hooky, almost folky tunes and plinky bass lines to create their Trout-rock sound. The band offer further proof that there never was an exact Gilman St. sound just an attitude.






According to my old Lookout catalog this single, Songs About Drinking,contained a vitally important document called "Is Sewer Trout Really the Word of God?" but I still await someone with a copy and a scanner to prove it's existence to me. Some consider this single their best work, though I say it's the Flawless 10" (see HERE). Regardless of  rankings, these seven songs are catchy and clever, especially the Dead Milkmen-like cow-punker, "President of the Anarchist Club". 








Please render your verdict on Sewer Trout in the comments section (where you'll find the Songs About Drinking 7" link).



Sewer Trout for President, their other 7", is available at the consistently excellent good bad music so go get it.

Sewer Trout: Forgotten Memories...

Sewer Trout's (see here) discography was briefly released on a CD entitled From The Forgotten Memories Of Punks Failed Hopes And Forgotten Dreams Loom..., only to disappear soon after. I bought my copy at this basement record shop in Calgary. The owners had let the band I was touring with, the Paperbacks, crash in their filthy storage room. So, after a fun-filled show at a Tiki lounge, we did some late night record shopping, took a nap, payed for our purchases and hopped back in the van.

Since like so many punk odds n' sods compilations, it cluttered up the good stuff (the two 7"'s, the 10" and the comp tracks) with live tracks and muddy, demoish material. So, back in Winnipeg, I soon ditched it, which I now regret since it's hopelessly out-of-print.


Download Forgotten Memories...CD

(Say goodnight, Jim...)

Sewer Trout: Flawless

Sewer Trout's (see here) 1990 10' e.p, Flawless, is pretty aptly named. Unlike the band's early work, which sometimes suffers from too many simple songs and sub-cultural in-jokes, like another funny-punk band touched by suicide, the Dead Milkmen, this one nails what it sets out to do.



Like it's predecessor, Songs About Drinking, this record's first note is a peal of laughter but from then on it's whole a different bag of milk.




These final songs still cover ludicrous subject matter from psychopathic cats named after Frida Kahlo ("...but spelled differently") to conspicuous consumption vs. Communism to K-tel punk rock nostalgia to post-millennial dispensationalism but the band bristles with a new-found confidence. The music follows suit, with harmonica breaks, country beats and strong melodies - it's all still punk rock but somehow much more too. Some of the witty, catchy highlights include the Dead-Kennedy's referencing cow-punk of "Holiday in Romania", The Frank Zappa referencing speed-folk of "Frieda Ripped my Flesh", the Jesus referencing ecumenical-rock of "God's Got Balls" and, for the final notes of their career, a straight but moving take on Patsy Cline's (via Harlan Howard) country classic "Foolin' Around".





{MRML Readers: Sewer Trout's Flawless: Yes or No? Leave us a comment!}

Download Flawless 10"



Next: Forgotten Memories

Sewer Trout: Songs About Drinking

Sewer Trout, with the late Jim MacLean, bass, vocals Hal MacLean, drums Keith Lehtinen, guitar Erik Benson, were an early (circa 1985-1990) Gilman Street punk band.

The band hailed from Sacramento and used sarcasm, hooky, almost folky tunes and plinky bass lines to create a peculiarly original sound.


According to my old Lookout catalog this single, Songs About Drinking,contained a vitally important document called "Is Sewer Trout really the word of God?" but that may be another li'l in-joke, These seven songs are catchy and clever, especially the Dead Milkmen-like cow-punker, "President of the Anarchist Club".




{MRML Readers: Please render your verdict on Sewer Trout in the comments section!}

Download Songs About Drinking 7"

The awful ending occurred in 2005, when Jim Maclean committed suicide


Sewer Trout for President, their other 7", is available at the consistently excellent good bad music so go get it.

P.S. Thanks to knuckles for the images.














Next: Flawless