(2020) Savage Republic - Recordings from Live Performance, 1981-1983


Review:
This album of early live recordings from Savage Republic was originally made available in 1992 as a double 10” vinyl release in Independent Project Records’ Archive Series. Recorded during the first two years of the band’s existence, this documentary release includes one track from the group’s first ever live performance in May of 1981, several songs never recorded in the studio or otherwise released, as well as a generous amount of “atmosphere,” consisting of snippets of dialogue, band/audience exchanges, and ambient club noise. All in all, it’s as good a document as you’ll find of the early years of this unique Los Angeles-based band. Formed in 1981 by UCLA art students Bruce Licher, Philip Drucker (a.k.a. Jackson Del Rey) and Mark Erskine, along with Jeff Long, Savage Republic explored a wide range of musical ideas, consistently redefining what had come before as they went along. Never wanting to repeat themselves, the songs in the first few years were in a state of constant evolution, such that the versions recorded for their first studio LP “Tragic Figures” are often quite different than those versions you will hear on this Archive release. Savage Republic did indeed create a unique music. Even in the thirty-plus years since this music was made, there has not been anything quite like it, and although one can occasionally hear influences, what Savage Republic managed to create was never quite like anything else that had come before. Not an easy thing to do, to create a unique musical expression, in this day and age. We hope that you will agree that this document of a special time and a unique band is well worth the listen.





Tracklist:
01. Exodus (Live)
02. Machinery (Live)
03. Mobilization (Live)
04. Kill The Fascists! (Live)
05. Attempted Ivory Coast – Ivory Coast (Live)
06. Procession (Live)
07. Real Men (Live)
08. Snakedance (Live)
09. Tragic Figure (Live)
10. So It Is Written (Early Version – Live)
11. Surfin’ With The Shah (Live)
12. Flesh That Walks (Live)
13. When All Else Fails… / Distorted Coup: Madagascar (Live)


Media Report:
Genre: alternative rock, post-punk
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits