History in Reverse
Editorial Reviews
New York Rocker
"the Blackouts...can only be described as exhilarating, and their music, visionary..."
The Daily
"...the Blackouts doing what they do best: combining intellectualism skillfully with soul...the result is astonishing music."
Album Description
The Blackouts were the best Seattle band you never heard of. To those who bought their records and attended their shows, this is no secret. But for the majority who didn’t, this exciting anthology – long overdue – thankfully now exists. Sequenced in reverse-chronological order, it begins with their last recordings, produced by Al Jourgensen and originally released on Wax Trax! (three Blackouts members later worked with Jourgensen in Ministry after the Blackouts demise), and ends with their debut 45 single "The Underpass." Also included on 'History In Reverse' are three previously unreleased songs from the Wax Trax! session. In 1979, following the breakup of the notorious Telepaths, several members (guitarist Erich Werner, drummer Bill Rieflin, synth/sax player Roland Barker and bassist Mike Davidson, later replaced by Paul "Ion" Barker) re-formed as a new musical alliance – The Blackouts. They had an implosive intensity and were the antithesis of the bar bands that dominated Seattle’s anemic local music scene. Intentional, dynamic songs were the Blackouts’ stock-in-trade. Over the next six years they released four singles and EPs on four different labels: Modern, Engram, Situation Two (a subsidiary of 4AD) and Wax Trax! Few bands from that era can claim as impressive a legacy as History In Reverse.
History in Reverse
Average customer rating:
- Best Seattle Band E V E R !!!
- If you like potatoes
- Great collection of a little-known band
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History in Reverse
Blackouts
Manufacturer: K. Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
 General
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
Hardcore & Punk
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
| Vinyl Records
| American Punk
| British Punk
| Emo
| Garage Punk
| Hardcore
| Post Hardcore
| Proto Punk
| Punk
| Punk Revival
| Punk-Pop
| Riot Grrl
| Ska Punk
| Straight Edge
Alt Industrial
| Industrial
| Goth & Industrial
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
Post-Punk
| New Wave & Post-Punk
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
General
| Rock
| Styles
| Music
Pop Rock
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
ASIN: B00065TZ8M
Release Date: 2004-11-02 |
Tracks:
- Happy Hunting Ground [#]
- It's Clay Again [#]
- Chipped Beef [#]
- Idiot
- Writhing
- Everglades
- Exchange of Goods
- Industry
- Young Man
- Deead Man's Curve
- Probabilities
- Being Be
- Five Is 5
- Make No Mistake
- Underpass
- Idiot [Video Version][#]
Album Description
The Blackouts were the best Seattle band you never heard of. To those who bought their records and attended their shows, this is no secret. But for the majority who didn't, this exciting anthology - long overdue - thankfully now exists. Sequenced in reverse-chronological order, it begins with their last recordings, produced by Al Jourgensen and originally released on Wax Trax! (three Blackouts members later worked with Jourgensen in Ministry after the Blackouts demise), and ends with their debut 45 single "The Underpass." Also included on 'History In Reverse' are three previously unreleased songs from the Wax Trax! session.
In 1979, following the breakup of the notorious Telepaths, several members (guitarist Erich Werner, drummer Bill Rieflin, synth/sax player Roland Barker and bassist Mike Davidson, later replaced by Paul "Ion" Barker) re-formed as a new musical alliance - The Blackouts. They had an implosive intensity and were the antithesis of the bar bands that dominated Seattle's anemic local music scene. Intentional, dynamic songs were the Blackouts' stock-in-trade. Over the next six years they released four singles and EPs on four different labels: Modern, Engram, Situation Two (a subsidiary of 4AD) and Wax Trax! Few bands from that era can claim as impressive a legacy as History In Reverse.
Customer Reviews:
Best Seattle Band E V E R !!!.......2006-05-15
Everything I read in the other reviews is true. I saw them several times, so I know. This was without a doubt the best live band to come out of Seattle.
This band had the greatest drummer I ever saw, Bill Rieflin, now with R.E.M. The rest of them were amazing too.
I only wish Amazon would give you the chance to listen to samples of this cd. I would have you listen to Erich Werner wail in the song Writhing. You would drop what you are doing and buy this cd. I know it.
A technical note:
This compilation isn't exactly a collection of all The Blackouts recordings. There is a much longer version of Everglades we used to play at KAOS Radio. You can find it on the EP called "Lost Soul's Club" (Wax Trax 006). It's only on vinyl, but if you like the song, you'll want to hear the full 12:25 minute version. I even have a studio tape of out-takes that is brilliant, but alas, that didn't make it on this cd either.
If you like potatoes.......2006-02-26
If you like potatoes than this album is for you. Depeche Mode. Big Black. Joy Division. Spazz attack, good stuff. Time to bump into the big can of worms. Sorry for this utterly bad review. This album is awesome filled with energy. sometimes makes me feel like puking on a smurf.
Great collection of a little-known band.......2004-11-23
Tracked in reverse chronological order, a new anthology from K Records featuring The Blackouts -- aptly titled History in Reverse -- is an ideal portrait of the career of this 1980s band featuring Erich Werner on vocals and guitar, Roland Barker on synthesizer and saxophone, Bill Rieflin on drums, and Mike Davidson on bass.
Originally based in Seattle, they shared the stage with The Beakers and XTC. One live reviewer even suggested that, had the Beakers evolved into XTC, the Blackouts would have been an intermediate stage. The band itself eventually folded most of itself into industrial rock icons Ministry. That band's leader Al Jourgensen's presence is felt in his production of History in Reverse's opening -- and the band's late-period -- tracks.
Being more drawn to lighter than darker material, I prefer the Blackouts' earlier work (although "Happy Hunting Ground" is nicely reminiscent of Oingo-Boingo and "Idiot" is my favorite song on the album -- in both the regular and "pre-version" forms -- especially the pinging guitar), in particular the cuts from their debut single. In general, the further along in the track listing a song appears, the more I like it.
They have a definite sense of melodic structure, but unfortunately, Werner's sometimes-histrionic vocal style can break the spell ("Being Be" and "Probability"), often ruining the effect of the song, depending on one's mood. The only track on which this is not a likelihood is "Five is 5," a bouncy instrumental. "Chipped Beef" shows an influence on Soundgarder (Kim Thayil even offers a reminiscence in the promotional materials).
If the bass were tuned any lower on "Writhing" (another favorite due to that and the repetition of the title), there wouldn't be enough tension left for it to perform successfully as an instrument and "Young Man" finds saxophonist Barker taking a jazzier approach. "Dead Man's Curve" is not a cover of the famous Jan and Dean death rock song. It's actually one of the more fun tracks, with a near-novelty feel.
It is often more fascinating to program History in Reverse in reverse. When playing the songs in their proper chronological order, the listener gets a sense of the development (rather than devolution) of the Blackouts from a simple art rock band ("The Underpass" and "Make No Mistake" from the aforementioned single) to a band who members would later blend right into the fold of one of the hardest and darkest bands in popular music.
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