Crime - San Francisco's Doomed - LP

The legend of CRIME looms large among punk aficionados the world over. Formed in the mid-1970s, the bandÕs dual-guitar sound, confrontational image and sleazed methodology still serve as inspiration decades later. With only a handful of singles released during their active lifespan, CRIMEÕs legacy grew significantly as archival recordings began to trickle out in the early 1990s. Of all these excavations, San FranciscoÕs Doomed was one of the first and certainly one of the most powerful.
Culled from 1978-79 studio demos and rehearsal tapes, San FranciscoÕs Doomed captures the frenzy of CRIMEÕs sound in a fittingly loose, devil-may-care framework. Side one is a gloriously unpolished assault of classic, gutter-level punk with vicious live set staples like ÒFeel The BeatÓ and ÒPiss On Your DogÓ taking marquee placement over the more well-known singles tracks. Side two finds CRIME taking aim at the so-called New Wave, augmenting their attack with ripped odes that bear the direct influence of science fiction and rockabilly on the group. Few recordings from US punkÕs first wave match the raw intensity heard on San FranciscoÕs Doomed.
As Michael Stewart Foley writes in the liner notes, ÒUnimpressed with the once idealistic counter-culture and all the bands associated with it, CRIME declared itself San FranciscoÕs First And Only Rock ÔNÕ Roll Band. Dressed in police uniforms and driving sonic ice picks through listenersÕ eardrums with the volume cranked past 10, they looked more like a street gang that might take your wallet and slash your face with a switchblade just to watch you bleed. But despite the bandÕs best efforts to stand apart, CRIME could have come from nowhere else, at no other time.Ó