WM3 Benefits Album Reviews

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Free the West Memphis 3 - A Benefit for Truth & Justice (2000)
Rise Above – 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three (2002)

Free the West Memphis 3 - A Benefit for Truth & Justice (2000)

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Steve Earle – The Truth / Rocket from the Crypt – Wrong and Important / L7 – Boys in Black / Supersuckers – Heavy Heart / Joe Strummer + The Long Beach Dub All Stars – The Harder They Come / Tom Waits – Rains on Me / Supersuckers with Eddie Vedder – Poor Girl / Tony Scalzo – Indicted / Zeke – Wrathchild / Kelly Deal – Fucking Hostile / The John Doe Thing – Hwy 5 / Mark Lanegan – Untitled Lullaby / Murder City Devils – She / Nashville Pussy – Highway to Hell / Killing Joke – Our Last Goodbye

Free the West Memphis Three At this moment, three young men are serving time for a triple murder they didn’t commit. At least, there was no physical evidence in 1993, and there haven’t been any witnesses so far. Yet, Damien Echols resides on death row, while Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley received a life sentence … and – grab hold of your chair - basically because they liked heavy metal, horror literature (immoral stuff like Stephen King) and wore black t-shirts with band names on them (for more - and accurate - information, check out the website www.wm3.org). Since then, two award-winning documentaries have been made (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) and Paradise Lost 2 – Revelations (2001)), that according to several sources – I haven’t seen them myself yet – “give new meaning to the concept of reasonable doubt.” On the heels of those, this benefit album was released, with the proceeds being held in a college money trust fund for when the three are released after all (?). As usual – the benefit album features tracks from artists who are known for their political stance (Steve Earle, for instance, has been dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty for a long time), as well as sympathetic bands who contribute to the cause with the power of rock ‘n’ roll.

Earle kicks things off in an appropriately sinister way, with a dark, folksy ballad, while contributions by Tom Waits (“Rain on Me,” co-written with Chuck E. Weiss) and Mark Lanegan (“Untitled Lullaby”) also reside in bluesier, rustic territory, where weathered voices replace the racket of guitars and crashing drums. Most other bands, however, turn up the amplifiers, with covers, songs they felt like recording or ones they’d written especially for the occasion. While the majority of them come up with something that’s a continuation of their usual bag of tricks, the question whether you’re gonna like their contributions or not simply depends on the question whether you like or dislike these bands to start with. L7’s sludgy hard rock “Boys in Black” explicitly deals with the WM3-case, while Killing Joke’s “Our Last Goodbye” starts off with a few depressing statistics and soon transforms into a familiar slab of industrial-oriented rock. Lots of the other acts, however, prefer a straightforward, mostly punk-oriented approach: both with and without Eddie Vedder, the Supersuckers prove they’re one of America’s best high-testosterone rock ‘n’ roll bands (and they’re so much cooler with Eddie Spaghetti on vocals!), while Rocket from the Crypt provide a similarly hard-rocking “Wrong and Important,” that combines tough guitars with their trademark horns. Even more rudimentary sounding are Zeke’s remarkably restrained take on Iron Maiden’s “Wrathchild” and the Murder City Devils’ excellent goth-punk version of the Misfits’ classic “She.” These songs haven’t got anything in common with the goal/theme of the album, but why talk superfluous nonsense if you can kick out the jams instead? There’s also “Indicted,” by Fastball’s Tony Scalzo, but his contribution is only average, unlike the reggae classic “The Harder They Come,” as done by Joe Strummer and a bunch of friends. The best part of the albums hovers between decent and good (certainly not great), but a few songs here are pointless misfires, like Kelley Deal’s ridiculously fucked-up deconstruction of Pantera’s “Fucking Hostile” and Nashville Pussy’s indecent assault on “Highway to Hell.” Seriously lacking in the “high quality”-department, Free the West Memphis 3 feels too much like a quickly assembled collection that’s saved by some no-nonsense rock and a handful of serious efforts, but it could’ve been more effective and convincing if it were treated with more care. Like the album that was inspired by the movie Dead Man Walking, or Rise Above, the benefit album featuring 24 Black Flag songs. Oh well, it’s still a cool way to spend your money.

Rise Above – 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three (2002)

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Rise Above (Chuck D., Henry Rollins) / Nervous Breakdown (Keith Morris) / Fix Me (Iggy Pop) / American Waste (Neil Fallon) / I’ve Had It (Cedric Bixler Zavala) / I’ve Heard It Before (Jeff Moreira) / Room 13 (Corey Taylor) / Wasted (Exene Cervenka, Rollins) / Jealous Again (Nick Oliveiri) / TV Party (Rollins) / No Values (Hank III) / Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie (Dean Ween) / Depression (Casey Chaos) / Six Pack (Mike Patton) / Police Story (Ice-T) / Revenge (Tom Araya) / Thirsty & Miserable (Lemmy) / What I See (Chuck Dukowski) / No More (Tim Armstrong & Lars Frederiksen) / Black Coffee (Rollins) / Slip It in (Rollins, Inger Loree) / Annihilate This Week (Rollins, Kira Roessler) / My War (Rollins) // Nervous Breakdown (Ryan Adams)

Rise Above Although there had already been the Free the West Memphis 3 tribute album that featured contributions from bands/artists as diverse as Steve Earle, Nashville Pussy, Tom Waits and Zeke, watching the Paradise Lost documentaries about the three young guys who basically went to jail because they liked heavy metal and wearing black clothing, made Henry Rollins go berserk (as usual) and decide something extra needed to be done. Not wanting to make/compile another conventional benefit album, he got the idea of releasing an album containing covers of Black Flag-songs, with each song featuring a different guest vocalist, while the music was provided by the remaining 75% of the Rollins Band. They quickly found a bunch of people who were willing to contribute (many of them first choices), and the list of participants became quite impressive, to say the least. Not only were original and later members Chuck Dukowski, Keith Morris and Kira Roessler willing to perform (and Rollins himself – who’d been the band’s vocalist from 1981 until the break-up five years later), but also several legendary stage maniacs (Lemmy, Mike Patton, Iggy Pop, Slayer’s Tom Araya) and current favorites and critics’ darlings (Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, The Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler Zavala) as well. Using the same gear Black Flag (implying also that weird, transparent guitar of Greg Ginn), these folks turned in a nice updated version of Black Flag’s legacy.

Considering that they wanted the point to be understood properly, Rollins & Co. selected a bunch of songs with the emphasis lying on Black Flag’s earliest period. Two thirds of the songs come from the first singles and the seminal hardcore classic Damaged, from which no less than ten songs were chosen. By result, most of the songs are short and intense bursts of energy, high-energy slices of pure adrenaline that seethe with the anger that infested the band’s legendary early records. Most of the time, I prefer the vocalists that are able to express the same kind of disgust and aggression as Rollins or – before him – Keith Morris did. This works great when QOTSA’s Nick Oliveiri (with roots in hardcore punk) and Dean Ween get hold of the mike (during “Jealous Again’ and “Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie” respectively), or when Tom Araya injects the 53 seconds of “Revenge” with enough venom to fuel an entire album. Also Keith Morris proves he can still deliver the goods, with a fitting take on the band’s first single (and perhaps the start of hardcore punk) “Nervous Breakdown.” Somehow, the songs that feature younger shouters are less successful: Clutch’s Neil Fallon, Poison the Well’s Jeff Moreira and Corey Taylor provide vocals/barking that would fit much better in the metallic NYC-variety of the genre, while Bixler Zavala’s Jello-Biafra-on-speed-impersonation is something of an acquired taste. Unavoidably, some of these guys are trying to outdo each other with over-the-top histrionics: gold and silver in this department are awarded to Hank Williams III (another Biafra-freak), and the ever-dependable Mike Patton, whose take on “Six Pack” is one for the books. As for disappointing cuts: Iggy Pop sounds bored throughout “Fix Me” but forgets to be pissed off, Rollins’ duet with X’s Exene during “Wasted” simply lacks the electricity I’d have expected, while the directionless ranting of Rancid’s Armstrong and Frederiksen gets tedious really quickly. Highlights come in the guise of Lemmy, who performs “Thirsty & Miserable” as if it’s been his signature song for 25 years, Dukowski’s psychotic rant during the awkward “What I See” and Rollins’ familiarly maniacal performance in “My War.” Best of all, however, is the sheer surprise of hearing Rollins’ backing band – also performing as a trio called Mother Superior -, usually situating themselves closer to hard rock-territory, sound completely at home in Black Flag’s catalogue. Rise Above bursts with good intentions and energy and is one of the few benefit/tribute-albums that actually live up to the expectations. So, if you’re in for a nostalgic trip through prehistoric hardcore punk, done by a bunch of decibel-addicts of several generations, and wanna support some good cause in the process, here’s finally your opportunity.