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Repeater + 3 Songs

Fugazi - Repeater + 3 Songs Audio CD

A fair review of the Fugazi "Repeater + 3 Songs" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Fugazi reviews here, or go back to the Fugazi tabs.

Band: Fugazi
Title: Repeater + 3 Songs
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-04-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Turnover 2: Repeater 3: Brendan #1 4: Merchandise 5: Blueprint 6: Sieve-Fisted Find 7: Greed 8: Two Beats Off 9: Styrofoam 10: Reprovisional 11: Shut the Door 12: Song #1 13: Joe #1 14: Break-In

One of the great recordings of the 20th century.
Twenty years later, this album is clearly and absolutely one the most important, predictive, mind-blowing, gigantic, meaningful, and radical recordings of the past century. I'm not kidding. Its meaning and prescience become even clearer as its warnings and alarms are revealed to be more and more accurate with the passage of time.

From the rawness of the lyrics which combine emotion and politics and assert the fact that every choice is political and every action is meaningful, to the utterly adventurous and unique instrumentation, song structures, and sounds, this album is vital, uncompromising, and aesthetically perfect.

It is also a perfect representation of the idea that art, life, politics, performance, the public and the personal can be unified and treated as whole--that one's response to the world can be all of those things: artistic, moral, emotional, and political. Every boundary is pushed, formally, morally, emotionally, politically. . . every boundary is extended, and consciousness, both intellectual and aesthetic, is raised. Enormous.

"You are not What You Own!"
And all of the bands that fall into the genre argubably owe at least one thing to Fugazi. Influential and creative Fugazi were, arguably, the founders of the post-hardcore, a very adventorous and inventive genre as broad and open than argubably any other sub-genre. At-The Drive In, GAD, The Blood Brothers (hey, Guy produced their last album), all of these bands took something from Fugazi. Repeater + 3 Songs is perhaps their strongest work, a great blend of youthful energy, impassioned vocals, thoughtful lyrics, abrasive noise rock, a groovin' rhythm section, and truly inspired songwriting.

While I might rate this album a little lower than others simply because some of the songs I don't care for, this album still is good. The energy of Minor Threat is still there, though the album is less angry and fast. But it's traded in for adventrous songwriting. Fugazi fueses elements of punk rock, noise rock, dub, funk, and groovin rhythms, that the word hip-hop influenced isn't quite out there. Every instrumentalist is talented and brings a whole lot to the table. The rhythm team of Joe and Brendan pound out these snaking, dub and funk inspired rhythms with wholly inspiration and variety. Check out the jazz drumming on the title track, or the syncopated groove in Joe 3#, or the dub rock of Brendan #. And Ian Mackaye and Guy Piccioto make great strides in being an excellent dual vocalist approach and guitarists. Both are swiss army knife guitarists, wielding their amazing sounds in every direction. Squalls, riffs, strumming, they bring a whole bag of neat guitar sounds into the music.

The only song I flat out hated was Break-In. Reconditional isn't very good, and I find Turnover to be overrated (though not wretched). Everything else on here is an excercise of musical ideas and great instrumentation. The attitude and emotion don't even quite eclipse the level of musicianship these guys have. Listen to the pounding abrasiveness of Styrofoam, the way Blueprint evolves into it's fist-pumping conclusion, the absolutely infectious Merchandise interlude that will make you dance, the piercing guitar lines of Repeater, and the moody dub of Shut the Door. The lyrical content is no slouch either, as this album contains some lyrics to live by ("you are not what you own!" makes perfect sense when you think about it).

On top of all this, it's quite remarkable of the bands ethics. Their concerts alone were inviting enough, keeping tickets at a very low price (even five dollars?) and making then all ages. If a middle schooler was wise and had taste and went to a concert, hey Fugazi was all for it. Their manifesto about money may be considered a bit over the top (they didn't make t-shirts, which I find kind of iffy because I rather would have a t-shirt represnting Fugazi instead of a generic t-shirt of some lame surfboard company), but their ethics about greed are absolutely moral. Props to the band for keeping true to themselves.

No matter how you slice it, Repeater is an album that you need to at least listen to, eve if you don't like it. Oh, and for what it's worth, watch Fugazi's performance of Waiting Room on Youtube (it's just so fun watching everyone clap, sing along, and dance to it). I promise it will you show you one reason why Fugazi will not be forgotten.

Repeater
Forget Nevermind or anything else that comes to mind, Fugazi's repeater hands down takes the cake. Fugazi-Repeater *****

Repeater is easily the most important album of the 1990's. While it was far from the commercial success of albums by Nirvana or Pearl Jam, or even that of Sonic Youth it had something all those albums didn't have. The talent is stronger in Fugazi for both musical ability and songwriting, but most importantly because the band had heart. Sonic Youth was at a time of despair in their career, Nirvana was great but Kurt said it himself he just does what he does and it means nothing, and Pearl Jam are to Fugazi what U2 were to The Clash. . . . wannabes.

'Turnover' 'Merchandise' 'Sieve-Fisted Find' and 'Shut The Door' say more together than just about any other song from the generation. Ian's lyrics have always been something of a head turner but Repeater finds him more than any other album be it by Fugazi, Minor Threat, or his other project the Evens writing compelling and influential lyrics. Musicianship wise this is the guitar album of the 1990's. No debating it.

Repeater is Fugazi's most straight forward album and probably their strongest effort over all. The inclusion of 3 Songs ep doesn't hurt either. But why is it the most important album of the 1990's? Because it says what every other whiny band of the era wanted to say but without whining and with a solution offered. .

Do Not Pay $25.99 For This Incredible Album

That's blasphemy considering the band freezes all of their albums for $13 or under at the retail value. I am very saddened to see that the only Repeater + 3 available here is through an independent seller selling it for nearly $30. As a matter of fact I bought this exact album a few months ago at Border's for $13. So keep searching for it elsewhere until you find it. Special order it at a record store if you have to. This is a fantastic album that no greedy two-bit capitalist should benefit from. .

awesome
notable tracks are turnover and sieve fisted find. this cd owns. super melodic postpunk. if you're into sonic youth, hot water music, and bear vs shark. check this.

You can see a complete list of all Fugazi discography, or go back to the Fugazi tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.