Coming out of 1979 California, Agent Orange had really only one idea, but it was a decent one.....combine the hardcore west-coast punk of the time with the sound of classic surf music, the result is really quite effective, although fairly forgotten today.....I remember rocking these hard quite a bit back in the day, they were favorites of my brother's as well, and I recommend to fans of hardcore, Germs/Black Flag-style California hardcore AND to fans of the surfing instrumentals compilation I just posted the other day, it really DOES work on both levels, at least for a minute or two.
The original band's lineup, who released the "Bloodstains" single in 1979, were Guitarist/vocalist Mike Palm, bassist Steve Soto, and drummer SCOTT MILLER, yes the unfortunate lad shared a name with myself, his parents were as name-challenged as were my own. James Levesque would replace Soto as bassist which would result in the classic lineup. Their first album release was 1981's "Living In Darkness", it is their best, my version here is for some reason sequenced differently the original LP release but it does include all three tracks from the classic "Bloodstains" single, as well as an interview.
Other than that, the highlights for me are the rockin' covers of "Pipeline", "Misserlou" and "Mr Moto", three of the greatest of surf instros, given a shot of 1970's crush......it's really quite a fine album, an underappreciated gem of of the early 1980's. Next thing I have is from 1986 "This is the Voice", and for my money, it was over.....pretty standard hard core punk, sounds pretty tired, I think I've only played it a few times in 30 years....also courtesy of my brother, we have "Surfin' To Some Fucked Up Shit" a comp which includes some latter day stuff if you are interested (I think Palm is the only original still going strong here), ....basically they were a one and done ("Living In Darkness"), but if your a fan of this stuff, they were really good at it. Cherry pick as you wish but don't miss the debut album......I think that they released a live disc or 2, maybe a couple of EP's, some of which I assume turn up on the comp. Enjoy at your own pace!
LIVING IN DARKNESS-01 Bloodstains/02 Too Young To Die/03 Everything Turns Grey/04 Miserlou/05 The last Goodbye/06 No Such Thing/07 A Cry For Help In a World Gone Mad/08 Bloodstains (Darkness Version)/09 Living In Darkness/10 Pipeline/11 Breakdown/12 Mr Moto/13 America/14 Bored of You/15 El Dorado/16 1981 Interview/17 Slapshock
THIS IS THE VOICE-01 Voices (In the Night)/02 It's In Your Head/03 Say It Isn't True/04 Fire In the Rain/05 In Your Dreams Tonight/06 Tearing Me Apart/07....So Strange/08 Bite the hand That Feeds Part 1/09 I Kill Spies/10 This Is Not the End
SURFING TO SOME FUCKED UP SHIT-01 It's All a Blur/02 Say It Isn't True/03 Breakdown/04 Wouldn't Last a Day/05 Everything Turns Grey/06 Message From the Underworld/07 El Dorado/08 Tearing Me Apart/09 Cry For Help In a World Gone Mad/10 I Kill Spies/11 Bloodstains/12 What's the Combination/13 Bite the Hand That Feeds/14 Seek and Destroy
