First, a history lesson. Back in the eighties Crass were the most important punk band in the UK. From the last dying heartbeat of the seventies to the doom and despair of 1984 they created an utterly uncompromising underground punk movement that grew in it’s thousands across the world, spawning a whole DIY underground punk culture that still exists to this very day.
Although their refusal to flirt with the mainstream music industry has led to them being almost completely written out of the history books despite how huge they were at the time, their influence is still felt to this day. Jeffrey Lewis is one such influence. Jeffrey, already an infamous New York anti-folk hero, had his mind blown by Crass at a young age and has now delivered the ultimate tribute, an entire album of Crass songs.
But this isn’t your usual lame tribute album; because of the harsh, screaming nature of the original recordings, Jeffrey’s softer approach has brought new melody and meaning to these classic protest punk songs and the lyrics, so important to Crass, now have new relevance and meaning and are twice as powerful. And best of all, 12 Crass Songs allows the message of Crass to live on for a whole new audience. Can we have another 12 please Jeffrey?
James Sherry