| Jealous Again | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| EP by | ||||
| Released | August 1980 | |||
| Recorded | November 1979 and April 1980 | |||
| Studio | Media Art,Hermosa Beach, California | |||
| Genre | Hardcore punk | |||
| Length | 6:30 | |||
| Label | SST (003) | |||
| Producer | Spot, Black Flag | |||
| Black Flag chronology | ||||
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Jealous Again is the second EP by Americanhardcore punk bandBlack Flag, and the third-ever release onSST Records. It was Black Flag’s first and only non-compilation release to feature the band’s second vocalistRon Reyes, as well as adiss track with bassistChuck Dukowski on vocals.
Although eventually released as a 12" 45 RPM extended-play,Jealous Again was initially intended to be Black Flag's first full-length album.[1]
Spurred on by the reception to their first release, the EPNervous Breakdown, Black Flag entered the studio in late 1979 with new drummerRobo and original singerKeith Morris to begin recording their first LP.[2] Basic tracks for all of the songs were cut live in the studio with Morris singing temporary vocal parts. Almost without warning, however, according to bassistChuck Dukowski, Morris "smashed his records and guitar and walked out screaming for a week," quitting the band and refusing to complete the album.[1]
The band then recruited formerRedd Kross memberRon Reyes, (credited on the record as "Chavo Pederast" after a falling out with the band) to be their new vocalist; however, guitarist and band leaderGreg Ginn felt he was not yet ready to record, and the tapes were put aside for several months.[1] After several shows with Reyes, one of which was filmed for the movieThe Decline of Western Civilization, the sessions resumed, first with Ginn overdubbing new guitar parts and then Reyes doing his vocals. However, the initial attempts to record with Reyes proved fruitless when he started walking out of the vocal booth, and sometimes the studio entirely, in the middle of takes. Reyes later quit the band in the middle of a live performance, derailing the sessions entirely for a second time.[1]
Ginn and Dukowski were already talking with another former Redd Kross member, Dez Cadena, about joining the band as a second guitarist; when Reyes quit the group, Cadena was invited to take his place.[1][2] The band'sproducer/engineerSpot took an incentive and brought Cadena into the studio to record his own vocals for the album. Several tracks were done in one night with Cadena, but were shelved when Reyes agreed to complete the project. These new vocal sessions, according to Spot, went so smoothly that he could not resist jokingly asking Reyes, "Why didn't you quit the band before this?"[1]
Ginn and Dukowski decided to release five tracks from the finished Reyes sessions as the 12" EP known to Black Flag fans today, and elected to make a second attempt at a debut album with Cadena as lead vocalist.
Early versions of "Revenge" and "White Minority" with Reyes on vocals, along with an early version of the laterDamaged track "Depression", were recorded and filmed forThe Decline of Western Civilization. In the movie and on the soundtrack album, Reyes defiantly dedicates the former song to theLAPD.[3][4] Already, Black Flag (and many other Los Angeles punk bands) were getting harassed by police; "Revenge" was undoubtedly inspired at least in part by the band's unprovoked encounters with them.
"You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" initially started life as a Greg Ginn/Keith Morris composition, "I Don't Care", recorded during the original album sessions with Morris on vocals.[1] When Morris quit the band, however, he took both "I Don't Care" andNervous Breakdown's "Wasted" (the only other Morris/Ginn songwriting collaboration under the Black Flag moniker)[5] with him and recorded them with his new bandThe Circle Jerks on their debut albumGroup Sex.[6] Offended by what they saw as the misappropriation of two Black Flag songs, Dukowski wrote new lyrics to Ginn's music for "I Don't Care" and recorded what is essentially an attack on Morris and the Circle Jerks. "You Bet..." is also the only time Dukowski sings lead vocals on a Black Flag song.
Outtakes from all three vocalist's attempts at recording for the EP, including Cadena's version of the title track, dominate the band's 1982 compilation double albumEverything Went Black.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [8] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B[9] |
At the time of the EP’s release,The Village Voice‘sRobert Christgau wrote, "Black Flag are committed to rage, not in itself—I don't believe their 'I've got something personal against you' even though I know it's true—but as a musical principle. Five songs, seven minutes, as arty as no wave, with a comparable relationship to punk precedents, which for L.A. are basicBrit. The sound is extreme and unique, all forced rhythm and guitar blur with no ingratiating distractions—no humor, irony, hooks, or (God knows) melody. Well, maybe irony."[9]
All tracks are written byGreg Ginn, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Jealous Again" | 1:52 |
| 2. | "Revenge" | 0:59 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "White Minority" | 1:02 | |
| 2. | "No Values" | 1:45 | |
| 3. | "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" | Chuck Dukowski, Ginn | 0:52 |
| Total length: | 6:30 | ||
Adapted from the album liner notes.[10]
Black Flag
Production
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)