CD - 12 Crass Songs
This CD is OUT OF STOCK (Note: this has the best-ever CD packaging design!)
Alternatively you can buy it digitally at the Jeffrey Lewis Bandcamp page here: JeffreyLewis.Bandcamp.com
Note: Shipping/packaging cost will be calculated/added at the end of the check-out process.
Released in 2008 on Rough Trade Records. Crass were a groundbreaking British anarchist hardcore punk band/commune/collective who released a handful of classic albums between 1978 and 1984, albums known and revered worldwide by fans of hardcore punk music but musically inaccessible to most other listeners - until now! Jeffrey has taken a dozen of Crass's greatest songs and given them his own thoughtful re-interpretations, ranging in style from folk to country to rock to electronica and more, re-imaginings which dazzle the ear while losing none of the political power, lyricism and humanitarianism of the originals. PLUS the CD packaging design/artwork, entirely conceived and executed by Jeffrey Lewis, has to be seen to be believed.
PRESS QUOTES for "12 Crass Songs":
"Weird? Very... [...] but it's also downright inspiring" (4 of 5 stars) - Rolling Stone
"The record presents Crass’s lyrics calmly, often demonstrating how sane and practical they are; it proves once again, and kind of thrillingly this time, that no music is immune to interpretation" - The New York Times
"Jeffrey Lewis retunes [Crass'] vituperative, cats-and-gravel-in-a-blender sound into something approaching sunny-side-up genius... [and] Crass' lyrical, ultrapolitical vitriol is, if anything, more relevant than ever. It's the most astonishing cover album of the last 10 years, bar none." (4 of 5 stars) - Austin Chronicle
“Folk maverick raids anarchist commune and finds catchy tunes… Works wonderfully” - Spin
"Jeffrey Lewis’ talents appear without end… (on 12 Crass Songs he) magically makes the anarcho-rockers’ anti-establishment savagery his own, by wrapping their barbed sentiments in his trademark mottled tea-towel warmth” - NME
"12 Crass Songs succeeds utterly... eerily beautiful and strangely affecting" - Plan B Magazine
"He’s taken hold of any number of my old stormy favorites and breathed fresh life and fire into them. . . Man, I’m in awe of Jeffrey right now. Who’d have thought he could have done that?" - Everett True/ Village Voice
"Quite brilliant" - (4 of 5 stars) MOJO
“What could be sacrilege is actually a small epiphany: the gorgeous instrumentation…proves a deft counterpoint to the lyrical rage. The Man probably said it would never work but The Man was wrong” - (4 of 5 stars) UNCUT
“It's no mean feat to transform such abrasive harangues into lush, tuneful folk… without defusing their righteous anger… but Crass's intelligent and indignant screeds could not hope for a more sympathetic translator.” (4 of 5 stars) - THE GUARDIAN
TRACKS:
01. End Result
02. I Ain't Thick, It's Just A Trick
03. Systemic Death
04. The Gas Man Cometh
05. Banned From the Roxy
06. Where Next Columbus?
07. Do They Owe Us A Living?
08. Securicor
09. DemonCrats
10. Big A, Little A
11. Punk is Dead
12. Walls (Fun In the Oven)
