Option #41 (Nov/Dec '91)

CRIME: San Franciscos Doomed.  It's criminal that this band has been so neglected in the annals of punk rock.  If you've never heard of them, don't worry about it; they're never mentioned along side names like the Ramones, the Clash, or the Pistols, yet CRIME was every bit as energetic and raw as those groups.  It's sad that bad punk bands like Alice Bag have been immortalized on film while CRIME has been mostly forgotten.  Sounding more like their British counterparts than the Ramones, the Dead Boys, or hometown contemporaries such as the Avengers and the Dead Kennedys, CRIME was badmouthed by critics and scenesters alike.  The only places you'll find a trace of their existence other than this record are old San Francisco police reports, old copies of Bay Area newspapers, and a small credit beside "Hot Wire My Heart" on Sonic Youth's Sister.  CRIME was everything punk stood for: a grating, hard-rocking, passionate rock'n'roll band.  They loitered about the Bay Area in SFPD uniforms, attracted violent audiences, and broke up before they had a chance to become "significant".  This collection has it all - the great straight-ahead punk of songs like "Frustration" and "San Francisco's Doomed" to the chaotic "Murder by Guitar".  Punk rock is dead as hell, and this album drives that fact right home; listening brings on feelings of both melancholia and exhilaration.  I recommend it, but with a caveat: look back, but don't stare. (Solar Lodge, 130 Talbot Rd., London W11 1JA, UK) - (Mark Kemp)

Ugly Things Issue 13 (1994)

CRIME - SAN FRANCISCO'S DOOMED (Solar Lodge) LP/CD.  While other bands fell over themselves in the late '70s trying to be "punk rock", CRIME set themselves apart from the herd, boasting they were "San Francisco's first and only rock 'n' roll band".  No doubt about it, CRIME had an attitude.

They also had a stark, vicious image to go along with it.  Their sneering, legs astride stance of tough boy cool mixed in hints of belladonna-skinned androgeny - no doubt a residue of their glam roots - and the full, regulation police uniforms they often wore made them more striking.

CRIMEs music didn't conform to the norm either.  They didn't use the standard-issue highspeed buzzsaw guitar approach.  Instead their noisy attacks were an unpredictable stew of clanging, howling guitars and shuddering rhythms - more of an intense sonic RUMBLE than anything else.  Lead guitarist Frankie Fix somehow managed to wring the most violently dischordant notes out of his Flying V; his style mixing elements of James Williamson and Johnny Thunders yet with a surreal, chaotic twist which make any firm comparisons invalid.

Unfortunately CRIME only released three singles- all very hard to find - leaving them all but forgotten except by a few collector dweebs and diehards who were there at the time.  Recently though, more CRIME material has started to surface - and the world is a better place for it.

San Francisco's Doomed has actually been out for a while now, but it's so essential I couldn't pass up writing about it here.  Basically, this is probably the closest we'll ever get to an actual CRIME "album", combining two rehearsal sessions (one from March '78, and one from July '79) - 20 tracks in all.  The sound auqlity is a little murky, with the vocals and drums somewhat submerged beneath the guitars, but that is a minor detraction from the great music.

The '78 session kicks off with "Frustration" (their second single), a song so brilliant it defies rational description.  It's pure, raw rock'n'roll emotion with Fix's guitar peeling bloody strips off the songs fleshy wall of noise and a vocal leering: "Feeling frustrated, baby, make a move on you / Frustration, honey, don't know whatta do / I see your face nearly every day : And all you hippies can fade away!"

Basically it doesn't let up from there on in as the band bashes out a string of gut-charged songs, each every bit as weird and great as their song titles suggest: "Crime wave", "Rock'n'roll enemy #1", "Twisted", "Murder by guitar"...

"Piss on your dog" has to be singled out for particular attention, a dark, dirge-like riff, almost grotesquely out-of-tune, chundering along like some kind of obese robot - fuckin' beautiful.

The'79 session finds CRIME incorporating elements of rockabilly and R&B into their sound, while still keeping their strange and dangerous edge.  "Flipout", "Dillinger's brain" and "Rockabilly drugstore" are just three of the standout rockers here, all utilising timeless rock'n'roll tools but still coming off as unique and innovative.

"Monkey on your back" is a real favourite, grafting an intensely crazed vocal and scorching dual guitar noise onto a throbbing Junior Walker soul groove.  The overall effect is not unlike that of some British punk R&B band circa 1966!

Pick up San Francisco's Doomed at all costs, along with the equally essential 7-inch EP reissue of CRIMEs first two singles, and prepare for a full spread on CRIME by Phantom Surfer Michael Lucas in the next UT.  Study up hard, there will be a test.  (Mike Stax)