"The feeding of 5.000"
Year: 1978
Country: UK
City: London
Label: Crass
Format: CD , LP
Tracks: 18
Time: 40 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
CRASS were an English anarcho-punk band, formed in 1977 and based around Dial House, an open house community near Epping, Essex, England. In contrast to the Sex Pistols
‘anarchy’, CRASS’ attitude was more directly influenced by libertarian
socialist philosophy and anarchism’s nineteenth century roots. In the
process they promoted anarchism as a legitimate political ideology, way
of living, and as a resistance movement
, popularizing the seminal peace punk
movement and touching on such overtly political issues as
anti-consumerism, direct action, feminism, pacifism, anti-corporatism,
environmentalism, anti-globalization, anti-racism, religious power, and
squatting. Taking literally the punk manifesto of “Do It Yourself”, Crass combined
the use of sound collage, graphics, song, film, and subversion to launch
a sustained and innovative critical broadside against all that they saw
as a culture built on foundations of war, violence, sexism, prejudice,
capitalism, religious hypocrisy and unthinking consumerism. They were
also critical of what they perceived as the flaws of the punk movement
itself, as well as wider youth culture in general. CRASS were amongst
the progenitors of the anarcho-pacifism that became common in the punk
music scene.
"stations of the Crass"
Year: 1979
Label: Crass
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 20
Time: 45 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
Stations of the Crass is the second album by Crass, released in 1979. The record, originally released as a double 12", includes live tracks from a gig recorded at the Pied Bull pub in Islington, London,
on August 7, 1979. The first three sides contain the studio tracks and
play at 45 rpm, while the final side comprises the live material and
plays at 33 rpm. The album's title is not only a pun on the Catholic rite of the Stations of the Cross (such jibes against the religious establishment were almost a Crass hallmark), but is also a reference to the graffiti campaign that the band had been conducting around London's underground railway system, the cover artwork depicting a wall at Bond Street tube station that had allegedly been 'decorated' by them.
"penis envy"
Year: 1980
Label: Crass
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 35 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
"Penis Envy", released in 1980, was the second LP by anarcho-pacifist punk band CRASS. Named as a reference to some of Freud's ideas concerning sexuality, this release marked something of a departure from the somewhat 'macho', 'hardcore punk' image that The Feeding of the 5000 and its follow up Stations of the Crass
had to some extent given the group, for it featured more obviously
complex musical arrangements, as well as exclusively female vocals
provided by Eve Libertine and Joy De Vivre (although Steve Ignorant remained a group member and is credited on the record sleeve as not on this recording). The album addressed feminist issues and once again attacked the institutions of 'the system' such as marriage and sexual repression. One track, not actually listed on the album cover, was a deliberately sacharine (described in fact by the band themselves as pure, unadulterated shit) parody of a "MOR" love song entitled "Our Wedding". This was given away as a flexi disc with a teenage girl's romance magazine called Loving after having been offered it by an organisation calling itself Creative Recording And Sound Services (note the initials). A minor tabloid furore erupted once the hoax was revealed, with the News of the World going so far as to state that the album's title was "too obscene to print" (a leaflet giving the background to this Situationist-style prank was subsequently issued by the band). Now considered a rarity, the original flexi-disc now fetches high prices on the collectors market. The album was banned by retailers HMV. During the mid-1980s, under the direction of James Anderton copies were seized, along with other records by Crass and The Dead Kennedys, by Greater Manchester Police
from Eastern Bloc record shop. Frank Schofield was charged with
displaying "Obscene Articles For Publication For Gain". The band Flux of Pink Indians, its two record labels and its publishing company were also charged under the Obscene Publications Act.
The judge ruled against Crass in the ensuing court case, although this
decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal, apart from the lyrics to
one song, Bata Motel. The heavy costs incurred by this episode were a contributing factor in Crass deciding to disband.
Discogs , Download"Christ, the album"
Year: 1982
City: London
Label: Crass
Format: 2 x CD , 2 x LP
Tracks: 34
Time: 90 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
Christ – The Album is CRASS third album, released in 1982. It was released as a boxed set double
vinyl LP package, including one disk of new studio material and another,
entitled Well Forked.. but not dead, featuring a live recording of their June 1981 gig at the 100 Club in London along with other studio tracks, demos and tape fragments. The album also included a book, A Series Of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums (which featured Penny Rimbaud's essay The Last of the Hippies, telling the story of the suspicious death of his friend Wally Hope) and a large size poster painted by Gee Vaucher. The album took almost a year to record, produce and mix, during which time the Falklands War
had taken place. This caused Crass to fundamentally question their
approach to making records, for as a group whose very reason for
existing was to comment upon political issues, they felt they had been
overtaken and made to appear redundant by real world events. Subsequent releases, including the singles "How does it Feel to Be
the Mother of A Thousand Dead" and "Sheep Farming in the Falklands" and
the album Yes Sir, I Will saw the band strip their sound 'back to basics' and were issued as 'tactical responses' to political situations. Re-releases of the album bear the line "With love to Steve Herman who
died on the 4th of February 1989" on the back cover. Steve Herman was
Crass' guitar player during their first few months. The 'Crassical Collection' version of this release, including new artwork by Gee Vaucher, remastered sound, liner notes by Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbaud,
and bonus material, was released May 2011. It does not contain the
original album cover or any of the material from the 'Series Of Shock
Slogans' booklet.
Discogs , Download"Yes sir, I will"
Year: 1984
Label: Crass
Format: CD , LP
Tracks: 7
Time: 36 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
Yes Sir, I Will, released by CRASS in 1984
was the band's last 'official' album. The original vinyl release
contained no banding between songs, thus presenting the contents as one
long piece split over both sides (the CD release was tracked by
individual song). The album was essentially a bitter and virulent attack
on then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her government in the aftermath of the Falklands War, set nearly wholly over a raging and an almost free-form improvised backing provided by the groups' instrumentalists. Many of the 'lyrics' of this piece, which can be read at, are extracted from Rimbaud's extended poem Rocky Eyed. Sleeve notes for the album include parts of Rimbaud's article The Pig's Head Controversy [2] that originally appeared in the Crass produced magazine International Anthem. The title of the record is ironic, taken from a news cutting reporting a conversation said to have taken place between Charles, Prince of Wales and a badly burned soldier (Simon Weston) who had returned from the Falklands; "Get well soon," the Prince said. And the heroic soldier replied "Yes sir, I will". Penny Rimbaud, commenting on this, has said "That was the hook. That
was such an audacious thing to do at the time. Especially given that one
had to feel compassion for Simon Weston". A film made by Crass member Gee Vaucher to accompany Yes Sir, I Will was shown at the UK National Film Theatre's Stuff the Jubilee festival of punk films in 2002, and the track has been recently remixed by Penny Rimbaud to incorporate additional jazz instrumentation provided by Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone) and Julien Seigal (double bass) to augment the original performance. The 'Crassical Collection' version of this release, including new artwork by Gee Vaucher, remastered sound and liner notes by Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbaud,
was released on May 17th, 2011. The reissue also contains a second disc
(entitled 'Why Don't You Fuck Off?'), which features Penny Rimbaud's
2002 remix of the album, featuring jazz instrumentalists Ingrid Laubrock and Julien Seigal.
PENNY RIMBAUD
"Acts of love"
Year: 1984
Label: Crass
Format: LP, CD
Tracks: 50
Time: 26 min.
Genre: electronic , vocal
Style: Modern Classical
Discogs , Lastfm , Bandcamp , Wikipedia
SCHWARTZENEGGAR
"the way things are..."
Year: 1994
Country: UK
City: London
Label: Allied
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 9
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
Discogs , Download
Format: LP, CD
Tracks: 50
Time: 26 min.
Genre: electronic , vocal
Style: Modern Classical
Discogs , Lastfm , Bandcamp , Wikipedia
SCHWARTZENEGGAR
"the way things are..."
Year: 1994
Country: UK
City: London
Label: Allied
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 9
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
Discogs , Download
"Tribute to CRASS"
Year: 1993
Country: various
Label: Ruptured Ambitions
Format: 2 x LP
Tracks: 27
Time: 68 min.
Genre: rock , electronic
Style: various
Format: 2 x LP
Tracks: 27
Time: 68 min.
Genre: rock , electronic
Style: various
THE KLONE ORCHESTRA
"tribute"
Year: 2003
Country: UK
City: London
Label: Klone
Format: CD
Tracks: 10
Time: 40 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
Discogs , Download
JEFFREY LEWIS
"Tribute to Crass"
Year: 2007
Country: US
City: New York
Label: Rough Trade
Format: CD , LP
Tracks: 12
Time: 36 min.
Genre: acoustic
Style: Folk Punk
Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, New York, graduating in 1997 with a degree in Literature. His Senior Literary Thesis was on the comic book Watchmen. Lewis also lectured on the topic of Watchmen at the Institute For Cultural Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 2000, and the text of his lecture ("The Dual Nature of Apocalypse in Watchmen") was published in the book The Graphic Novel, edited by Jan Baetens, in 2001.
"yes Sir, the truth of Revolution"
Year: 2016
Label: Cold Spring
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 12
Time: 40 min.
Genre: acoustic
Style: Jazz
Tracks: 12
Time: 40 min.
Genre: acoustic
Style: Jazz