Merge Records, June 26, 2020
Redd Kross (Red Cross) make a bunch of punky youthful noise on reissue of debut.
Redd Kross have been around for a while now (like forty years or so) and done a bunch of different things punk adjacent, mostly stomping around in power pop and glam land. But their roots are in the California punk scene and their long unavailable/hard to come by debut EP Red Cross is finally readily available again with a few demos and a blown-out live recording tossed on, revealing a young punk band with some emerging pop instincts.
On Red Cross, the McDonald brothers (Steven and Jeff) are joined by Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks, Bad Religion) on guitars and Ron Reyes (Black Flag) on drums, and the chaotic energy is palpable throughout. The six originals are all pretty basic and typical punk rock from the era, sloppy, fast, and decrepit with pop hooks poking their heads out every once in a while. What really holds them all together is the boundless enthusiasm (both McDonald brothers were teenagers when this was recorded). In punk rock, enthusiasm can go a long ways, and on Red Cross it comes across brilliantly. Songs like “Cover Band” and “Standing In Front Of Poseur” nearly fall apart at points while others like “I Hate School” and “Clorox Girls” work more as singalongs. And “Annette's Got The Hits” slows down to a groove and messes around with a surfy bass line and some catchy cool singalong bits.
Among the add-ons, there are demos of three of the songs from the original (“Cover Song”, “Clorox Girls”, and “Standing In Front Of Poseur”) that are pretty good recordings, maybe a bit cleaner and meaner sounding than the versions released on the original, but nothing newly revelatory. The demo of “Rich Brats” is cool only because I like the 38-second song a bunch – no jump in recording quality to be found or anything. The live song is a completely blown-out and destroyed live recording of “Fun With Connie”. It's on the verge of unlistenable, but a couple of catchy hooks pop through. At best, you're left with a song that you can maybe vaguely hum along to.
Red Cross ends up being worth a dive. The original gets by on enthusiasm and does that well and the add-ons more or less do their job of stretching the record past the ten minute mark. It's nothing that is going to change your mind about early punk rock or Redd Kross even, but it's a fun record to get back.
You might like this if:
- You're into early punk rock and are okay with simple sloppiness and pretty raw recordings
You might not if:
- Rudimentary punk rock isn't your thing
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He's very secretive, he might be an alien.