It's rather ironic that while Los Angeles was the capitol of the American recording industry in the mid-to-late '70s, most of the seminal bands of the original scene ( , ) were able to score major-label contracts, but nearly all of their West Coast contemporaries were ignored, having to rely on fledgling independent labels like or if they wanted to be heard on plastic. Consequently, several important bands, such as and , managed to slip through the cracks without ever releasing a proper album, and , who were one of the first major bands to emerge from the underground, broke up in 1981 without making an LP. (They did reunite for a spell in the 1990s, recording an album called with the help of friend and fan .) Fortunately, did manage to release a handful of singles and EPs during their 1977-1981 heyday, as well as demoing plenty of material that never saw release, and collects 14 superb cuts that set the record straight -- were, quite simply, one of the best and brightest American bands of 's first wave. 's hard, angular guitar lines suggested melody without sacrificing any of his propulsive punch, while the various rhythm sections were invariably tight, hard-driving, and energetic (the band went through four drummers and five bassists in five years; one of the group's bass players, , was originally their rhythm guitarist, and wrote a handful of superb songs, including ). And vocalist was a genius frontman; manic, funny, and just a little disturbing, could pour a world of passion and meaning into a nonsense lyric like "Bop helium bar tonight!," and his more coherent numbers, like were as hilarious as but with a genuinely ominous undercurrent their funny- brethren couldn't touch (check the claustrophobic ). is hardly the final word on this great band, but if you want concrete proof that were the great unsung heroes of , you could hardly do better. ~ Mark Deming