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Artist:	"UNION 13"
Title:	"EAST LOS PRESENTS...UNION 13"
Label:	Epitaph
Reviewed By:	Dave Merrill
Rating:

"Union 13" is an unusual band. They’re Latin American punk rockers. On the surface this seems so unlikely that I saved their album for last this month. As I read the writeups on the band, it suddenly seemed not unlikely, but the most natural of marriages. Hailing from East L. A.’s barrios, "Union 13" brings politics back to punk rock in the tradition of the "Dead Kennedys." "Union 13" is punk in its purest form. They are singer, Edward Nescoto; guitarist, José Mercado; bass player, Jerry Navarro; drummer, Louie Villareal; and guitarist, Ben Sandoval. At first they were rejected by their own people, who didn’t understand punk rock, and went to other cities to play gigs. Finally they began playing in East L. A. back yards just to be heard. Chance smiled upon them when an intern working at Epitaph saw them play at one of those backyard shows. The intern brought a bad video tape of the show back to Epitaph, and the rest is history. Epitaph signed the band, and their heroes from "Rancid," Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederickson, produced the album. There are eighteen songs on "East Los Presents. . .Union 13." Most of the songs are only about 1 1/2 minutes long. The album runs just over half an hour. Since I don’t speak Spanish myself, I can only comment on the sound of the songs in Spanish. I almost feel wrong in doing so, but I think the band would approve. In reaching me, they’ve gone way beyond the confines of East L. A. back yards. "Todo es Una Politica," the fifth song on the album, has some great guitar work, which surpasses the usual boundaries of punk. The title becomes a chant, which works beautifully in the punk tradition. The sixth song "Burocrata Estafador," and the twelfth song "Govierno Podrido," didn’t distinguish themselves for me from the other songs, but they represent good hardcore music. "Realidad," which follows "Govierno Podrido," is quite good. The title becomes a chant as with "Todo es Una Politica." "Un Muro Por Cruzar" opens with a drum beat reminiscent of the Clash. The guitar work on this song is wonderful. It exceeded my expectations of the hardcore punk genre. All of the songs on this album express a frustration at an American society that constantly pulls the rug out from under the Latin American subculture that lives here. In "Who Are You," Nescoto screams, "They call me a screw up a reject of society/ Little did they know that I had my own fuckin’ army/ It’s better to struggle than to take the easy way out/ The only way to get somewhere is to fuckin’ speak out !!!" And "Union 13" does just that. They don’t mince words. This album is not for the timid. The second song, "Regrets," speaks to an ethic of not giving in, to living life as it suits them. The message in "Fuck Society" is that something has gone wrong with our society. "I want to see society tremble and fall/ Watch it come down like the Berlin Wall/ Try to rebuild what has been destroyed." This isn’t the only positive message on the album. In "Bonded as One," Nescoto sings "Together we can overcome it all/ No matter how hard it seems/ As long as we have each other/ To fight through everything/ Cause we are all bonded as one!!!" Song seven, "Children Stories," opens with soft Spanish sounding acoustic guitar, then jumps right into the usual hardcore punk barrage of sound. "Falling Down" is about frustration with working. "Your boss takes advantage of your ignorance." "Country Full of Lies" is probably the most political of the songs in English. "You call this Democracy/ I call this hypocracy/ In a country where everything is a lie. . ./In this country they don’t respect our human rights/ In this country money is the only thing we count." "I Can’t Stand Any More" opens with soft and intricate guitar work and a softer vocal than on the rest of the album. It sounds a bit like a Clash song. Nescoto sings of when life was simpler in youth. Then the refrain, "I can’t stand it any more" repeats, and the hardcore punk takes over the song as the naiveté of youth is lost. The music speeds up and he sings of the frustration of a lost relationship. "Over the Hill" is about the realization of growing old. "Government" has some heavy metal guitar, but the fast yelling marks it as a hardcore punk song. "State of Conscious" has some really nice guitar work at the beginning, but quickly dissolves into a hardcore attack. It reverts back for a while, only to introduce another attack. Nescoto sings, "The rich have the law in their hands. . ./ While nations continue to fall/ Our flag is raised on a pole/ To symbolize that you have won your stupid greedy war." In the handwritten liner notes, "Ronalds Fuckhouse" says simply, "Lyrics not worth printing." The only words I could understand were the refrain "Ronald McDonald/ That’s what you are/ You fucking clown." It made me laugh. The last song, "Final Approach," sounds a lot like the Clash. The closing lines of the album are "We don’t believe that this country stands for freedom/ The only thing we see is a cell for you and me/ We are all the prisoners of war/ Living the illusion of hope." Appropriate words to end "Union 13’s" debut album. "Union 13" puts forth a good effort on their first album for Epitaph. This band has a lot to say. I only wish I could understand more of the words while listening to the music. Much of their message is lost without the liner notes.

Artist:	"BOY WONDER"
Title:	"WONDER-WEAR"
Label:	Roadrunner Records
Available:	Any Major Music Store
Reviewed By:	Jill Williams
Rating:

Boy Wonder began their career in Boston less than a year ago and are already tearing up the local scene and soon to be the national one. Paula Kelly, the singer/songwriter/guitarist for the group has been in a few unknown bands previously, but I believe she's found her niche here. The entire group works very well together and share in lead roles throughout the album, having all been in bands before this one. The drummer is Bruce Caporal, the co-songwriter and vocalist is Jake Zavracky, and on bass we hear Paul Natale. Once this album starts getting some airplay, I'm sure you'll hear even more about them. It's "Green Day" meets the "GoGo's" in this fast and fun bit of music. Right from the very first (very short) song, "Walking Disaster," we know what this band is about. It starts out with a highly danceable tune, and the album continues to satisfy. Next in line is "Softie," which is a strolling kinda song. It puts a bounce in your step, but isn't exactly a rocking tune, just nice and leisurely. It does pick up at the end, which is good too, but it doesn't really effect the overall feel of the song. Many of the songs on the cd have the same feel and I love it. You can just bop along and enjoy it without getting either over involved or bored. "I Would" has a male lead vocal for a change, and doesn't sound anything like the previous songs. It's fairly mellow while keeping with the bouncy tempo of the previous tunes, but his voice changes the whole feel. It's also wonderful in it's diversity. It's not particularly interesting lyrically, but it is a nice soft love song. A little while later we hear "Ladder" a very pretty and slow song that shows us a slightly different side of "Boy Wonder." It's a little flirty, but not rambunctious. A little peppy, but not too much. Very nicely done. "Liar Baby" is another song with lead vocals done by one of the men in the group. This is a little harder and a little faster than many of the other songs. I like the way the songs are arranged here. Just when one style might be starting to wear a little thin, they change things up. "Sweet Delilah" is the most interesting, and pleasant, song on the album. It's a little bluesy in the beginning and picks up through the chorus. It's another meandering song that you can't help but bounce to. The vocals are really super on everyone's part. Similarly, "Gone" seems to use all of the vocal talent more equally, and is a close second for best song. What is boils down to, is that if you don't like one half of the album, you will probably like the other half. It does tend to get a little bogged down in the middle, with songs that sounds a little too much alike, but there are no bad songs on the album. The band does make a good attempt to separate their songs, so you don't grow bored with either singer. That might not sound like the best recommendation, but it truly is a fine album. Buy this CD and you will be pleasantly surprised. I hope to see them go far.

Artist:	"AUTOGRAPH"
Title:	"MISSING PIECES"
Label:	PMI Records
Available:	Any Major Music Store
Reviewed By:	Colette Engel
Rating:

Back in 1983, "Autograph" started with a demo that worked its way into the hands of David Lee Roth. This led to a 48 show tour with "Van Halen," although they still had no recording contract with any label. After the tour, the offers came flooding in. A big name association will do that for you. "Autograph's" biggest hit back then, was the song which has since become a sort of semi-classic in rock music, "Turn Up the Radio." If you remember the 80's rock scene, "Def Leppard," "Van Halen," "Night Ranger," et al., then you probably remember "Autograph" and this song. It made it to #28 on the Billboard charts and sold over 700,000 copies, making the band a hit. They put out two more records after that, which sold another 500,000 copies combined and earned the band a solid spot in the annals of the 80's. The band was approached recently and asked for unreleased demos. There were over 20 such songs in their trunk and the best of them are included on "Missing Pieces" the latest release from PMI Records. The album includes the original demo of "Turn Up the Radio," a solid rock tune. This song begs to be cranked up and played loud. It brought back memories of my high school days and parties from that time. It's definitely a loud party rock song. "Turn up the radio.....I need the music......give me some more....." This song still rocks hard over 10 years later. The problem with the rest of the album is that there really isn't anything that stands out from the rest. Nothing really grabbed me. It's a compilation of a lot of mediocre songs that the band had stashed away over the past 8 years since the last demo was written. The music is good and the songs have all been remastered for this release, but it's still not an original album. It pales next to the new rock bands of the 90's. Actually, the chief complaint I have with this CD is why, after 8 years, are they releasing these demos? The story is, as I stated earlier, that the band was approached for unreleased demos. Why now though? Is it for nostalgic reasons? Perhaps to tap into the current market of 80's music cravings? We may never know. As a matter of fact, if you pick up the CD it doesn't even state on it that these are old songs. It's only when you open the CD and read the liner notes that you find out that the songs are old unreleased demos. Then again, maybe there's a sticker on it in the stores. I hope so. If you're a big Autograph fan, you may want to pick up this CD to complete your collection. Otherwise, I'd skip over it. There's nothing new here.

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