Search - Crass :: Stations of the Crass

Out of Chaos we Divide

MopedLad | los angeles | 07/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a mid teen in late 70s England, my character and sense of self was permanently affected and molded by this band. I saw them live only once...and I saw many punk bands of that era... the experience and impact was indelible and profound.

To have heard this album the first time, during a moment in time when punk was clearly a commoditity was to have seen punk reinfused with a sense of ideals and purpose.

There is a wisdom to many of the sentiments expressed in this album that mark it almost as a work of philosophy not just music. I was a punk in England during the heyday, and i will not slag the efforts of the marque names, cos I enjoyed them thoroughly too. For me though, Crass epitomised a midset of drastic, radical social and personal realisation, and that makes this album more personal than any I can think of from the day."

Makes the Sex Pistols look like the devil's ...

M. Jacobs | Harrow, Middlesex United Kingdom | 04/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a band who defied punk convention and just went for the jugular of social injustice. Lyrically, this album is very demanding (a lyric sheet is provided). These artists are obviously very intelligent, and they make their points in a direct and laconic manner. Musically, I like Mother Earth, Darling, and Walls, but there is plenty here to make listening to this CD end to end an absolute delight. How the girl manages normal/very high/normal/very high ... voice changes, is still a mystery to me."

If you only get one Crass album, let this be it

Zelie Nic | Pittsburgh | 12/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I was a teen I listened to a lot of Crass. Mother Earth was a song that really hit me hard. There was something in the way that Steve Ignorant's voice crackled out of those drawn out cries and the way the guitar came back in... that slow rumbly bass line... Mother Earth sounded like a nightmare song. I assumed it was about the enviornment (based on the title) because I'd be damned if I could understand all but a few words of it.



Recently I was reading the lyrics to the song, because it had come back into my head after years of not really listening to much Crass. I had no idea that the song focused on the death penalty and the case of Myra Hindley (one of the two involved in the Moors Murders of the 1960s).



The lyrics were intelligent, and difficult. I say difficult because I struggle with my believe in the death penalty. On one hand I support it, but on the other hand I know that justice can and will be wrong, and is often motivated by inferior influences than we would like. But that's what Crass does. To this day a Crass song, when you really listen, not just hear it, can do that to a person.



Crass were almost like the Amish in their strict adherence to their ideals. I know I don't have the gumption to be so steadfast, I have to respect them. Crass' music is often critisized as being "subpar" but that was never really the point anyhow. Their music, like everyhting else they did, was confrontational. It was hard to ignore.



So while I'm much, much, much to the right of Crass in my ideaology, I respect this group and listen to them, and others, with an open ear. This is not just some protest band going through a phase. This is a well-thought-out execution.



Frankley, this is their best album. Get "Best Before" if you need a sampler. But "Stations of the Crass" is truly the apex of the group as a creative political force. And for the love of Crass, please READ the lyrics!"