Adolescents Complete Demos 1980-1986

The title of this 16-song collection, Complete Demos 1980-1986 -- clocking in, as true short-sharp-blasts of hardcore should, at just under a half-hour -- might lead you to believe it's less focused on a certain time frame than it really is. Although it was recorded between 1980 and 1986, all but three of the tracks were done between March 1980 and July 1980. In essence, then, it's like hearing an unreleased Adolescents debut album with three bonus tracks, as all of the 1980 recordings predate their actual 1981 self-titled debut (also referred to among the faithful as "the blue album"). Seven of the songs on the 1980 demos (which include two versions of "Wrecking Crew") would be redone for The Adolescents, so as you'd expect, they're very much in the early Southern Californian hardcore style of the official album. Although the speed and energy jumps off the VU meter, fans can't get too over the moon, as the fidelity is often pretty mediocre. True, that's not something that matters to p