Red Rockers - As Good As Gold

Good As Gold was a giant leap forward for New Orleans' Red Rockers after Condition Red. No longer satisfied with being merely Clash imitators, they moved towards a more accessible sound while maintaining their punk edginess. Good As Gold is quick and tight power pop, fast paced (most songs clock in under four minutes), lean, and consistent from start to finish. The opening blast "China," with its bouncy rhythm and catchy chorus, deservedly became a modest hit. The title cut follows in that vein, a cautionary tale on the trappings of materialism. The highly danceable "'til It All Falls Down" could have been a club hit, but during the synth-pop era probably it never had a chance. Red Rockers voice their political concerns on "Change the World Around" and "Home is Where the War Is," the latter tune a ringer for early U2. With nary a false step in its 36 minutes, Good As Gold was a terrific record that pointed to a promising future.

China

Today I’m featuring the red rockers - no, not Sammy Hagar, but the New Wave band Red Rockers and their classic 12” single China. Picked up by Columbia from their 415 Records home the Rockers tidied up their angst and produced one of the finest Power Pop singles of 1983. Although they sound like they would be a part of the English New Romantic invasion of the early '80s, the Red Rocker's home is actually the heart of Cajun country in Algiers, Louisiana. Another misdirection of China is that the title and chorus of the song have nothing to do with the country of China as its lyrics are best described as ambiguous.

Guns Of Revolution

The Red Rockers were a punk band originally from New Orleans who took their name from the Dils song of the same name. Inspired by groups like the Clash, Stiff Little Fingers and the Dils, they started off as the Rat Finks doing cover tunes of aforementioned groups, then changed their name and released the "Guns of Revolution" single before moving to San Francisco. There they hooked up with 415 Records and put out the Condition Red LP in 1981. Despite popular claims, this was not produced by Jello Biafra, something which has been constantly perpetrated on rare punk lists for years. He does, however, sing backing vocals on their punk-country cover of "Folsom Prison Blues." That said, the sound quality is excellent, and their raunchy but melodic sound is heard in full force on this CD reissue. Red Rockers are much more lyrically tolerable when they tackle subjects closer to the actual mean streets, such as the anti-drugs, "Peer Pressure", or the album's poppiest moment, the generically anthemic "Teenage Underground". After this LP, their original drummer left and was replaced by former Stiff Little Fingers drummer Jim Reilly, when they were signed to CBS, for whom they recorded two subsequent LPs, "Good As Gold" and "Schizophrenic Circus", neither of which come close to capturing the raw energy on this album. They did score a minor radio hit with the single "China," but much of the original youthful angst was gone and the slick major label production moved them into the realms of New Wave. Give this one a chance if you want hear how they were in the early days.