Plastic Surgery Disasters / In God We Trust Inc.

Performer Notes:

• 2 LPs on 1 CD: PLASTIC SURGERY DISASTERS (1982)/IN GOD WE TRUST, INC. (1981).
• The Dead Kennedys: Jello Biafra (vocals); East Bay Ray (guitar); Klaus Flouride (bass); D.H. Pelligro (drums).
• Digitally remastered by John Cuniberti and East Bay Ray (The Plant Mastering, Sausalito, California).
• PLASTIC SURGERY DISASTERS:
• Additional personnel includes: Melissa Webber (spoken vocals); Dave Barrett, Geoffrey Lyall, Bruce Ackely (horns); Ninotchka (background vocals).
• Producers: Thom Wilson, East Bay Ray, The Dead Kennedys, Geza X.
• Engineers: Olivier DiCicco, John Cuniberti, Mark Wallner.
• Recorded at Hyde Street Studios and Mobius Music, San Francisco, California.
• IN GOD WE TRUST, INC.:
• Additional personnel includes: Geoffrey Lyall, Ninotchka, Annette, HyJean, Darvon, Siobhan.
• Producers: Norm, East Bay Ray.
• Engineer: Oliver DiCicco.
• Having proved themselves masters of the quick, vicious smash and bash, on their second full-length album the Kennedys continued in that vein while finding other effective ways to express their all-encompassing message of resistance and satire. Absolutely nobody is safe, whether it's the more expected targets of conservative society, or those who claim to follow what the Kennedys and punk promised but only ended up acting like idiots. For the most part, though, it's a well-deserved smackdown of all the jerks the early '80s produced, set to some fantastic music. Bookended by random noise jams -- the first one with a wonderfully dismissive spoken-word analysis on societal programming for The Good Life -- Plastic Surgery Disasters shows East Bay Ray, Klaus Fluoride and D.H. Peligro turning into an even more awesome unit than before. Ray's sheet-metal intense guitar may once or twice get slammed into too much treble for its own good, but his spaghetti-western-cranked-to-ten playing is fantastic stuff at its best. The others have their moments, like Peligro's rolling drum breaks on "Trust Your Mechanic." When the band aims for subtlety, the results are grand -- the sudden silences on "Trust Your Mechanic," the goofy hipswing start to "Forest Fire." Unsurprisingly, Biafra is still at the center of it all; once again, the song titles make it clear what's at play. "Terminal Preppie," rips into an example of the type with gusto, and the wonderfully sneering "Winnebago Warrior" is just the tip of the iceberg. The real highlight can be found at the end -- "Moon Over Marin," with a soaring, anthemic surf-rock line from Ray offsetting Biafra's semi-apocalyptic vision of the Bay Area's snooty region. ~ Ned Raggett

Professional Reviews: Q (6/01, p.127) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Excellent....telling you how sh**ty things are, the better it makes you feel..."

NME (Magazine) (3/17/01, p.31) - 6 out of 10 - "...Still a riot....joined by the earlier, thrashier EP IN GOD WE TRUST whose high point is the fabulous 'Nazi Punks F*** Off'..."

Format: CD (1 Disc); Stereo

Country: USA

Studio/Live: Studio

Release Date: 11 September, 2001

Label: Manifesto Records

Dimensions: 12.7 x 1.3 x 14.6 centimeters (0.04 kg)