When
DMZ made their debut on
Sire, it was as disappointing as major-label debuts by fellow Bostonians
Private Lightning,
the Nervous Eaters, and
Willie Alexander's Boom Boom Band. As
Alexander's locally produced demos by
Dr. & the Medics madman
Craig Leon (who also produced
the Ramones) were superior to the final product by
Willie on
MCA (also produced by
Leon), the
Turtles' wacky
Flo & Eddie just didn't know what to do with
DMZ. Four
Craig Leon-produced tracks released on
BOMP -- which is the parent company of
Voxx -- and five demo tapes that were recorded on four-track comprise this excellent collection.
"When I Get Off" was the number two Garage Record of the Year in 1978 in Boston's
Real Paper, and it is a psychedelic masterpiece. The dueling guitars, slashing riff, and great Corraccio bass complement
Mono Mann aka
Jeff Connolly's blitzkrieg vocals. Here is a slice of pyschedlia that is the fans outdoing the bands they idolize. Also, as with
Willie Alexander's demos, it seems
Craig Leon did a much better job on smaller budgets. The lyrics are sexist, but fun in
"Barracuda" -- definitely not the
Heart song --
"Lift up Your Hood," and the aforementioned
"When I Get Off." There is also a cool cover of
Roky Erickson's
"You're Gonna Miss Me" and a fantastic album jacket of the band photographed at what looks like
the Rat nightclub inside a red background covered in barbed wire fence. There's even a cool inside joke,
Bomb records instead of
Bomp, the famous label founded by
Greg Shaw. A definite statement about the heart and soul of demos having a special something major-label homogenization fails to establish.
Rudy Martinez of
Question Mark & the Mysterians has even covered a
Connally composition written for
Mono Mann Jeff's current group,
the Lyres. ~ Joe Viglione
