JIM CARROLLreviews DEATH  ...For the Whole World to See

DEATH

...For the Whole World to See Drag City ****

R'n'b's loss was punk rock's gain when the Hackney brothers first heard The Stooges and The MC5 back in the early 1970s and decided to switch tack. It was Stax go-to guy Don Davis who spotted the potential in their early demos and stuck them in a studio with Parliament and Funkadelic engineer Jim Vitti. The result was an album as fierce and furious as any other proto-punk work of the time. While Death also throw in flashes and strands of garage- rock, psychedelia and even some prog wig-outs, it's the full-frontal, cranked-up, blistering punk workouts of tracks such as Politicians in My Eyes, Keep On Knocking and Freakin' Outthat demand our attention. Little happened for the band after this album was released in 1975. They turned down a record deal from Columbia and later switched their musical attentions to gospel-rock and reggae. Here's a reminder, though, of when they were kings. www.dragcity.com

Download tracks: Freakin' Out, Keep on Knocking, Politicians in My Eyes