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| Sweetbelly Freakdown, live at CBGB's, 1997 (photo by Mark Beemer) |
Swiz had been broken up for nearly six years when Sweetbelly Freakdown got together in 1996. I remember wondering why they didn't just reunite Swiz when the four ex-members joined forces; it turns out they decided to go with a minimal, almost primal sound for their single and LP. The nine songs on their self-titled record just buzz. It's very out of step with a lot of their contemporaries. I remember only really seeing them on bills with metallic hardcore bands; maybe I saw them with 454 Big Block and Hatebreed?
I see a lot of comparisons to the Rollins Band and the later Black Flag records. To that, I say...maybe? I don't hear the metal or Grateful Dead influence present in those records. And as much as I love ol' Hank, Shawn Brown doesn't present like a poet so much as a method actor in his vocals. The Jason Farrell artwork here is also one of my favorite of his record covers; it certainly lays the groundwork for his Damnation A.D. and At The Drive-In illustrations. This is yet another release that I wouldn't mind reissuing and remastering, should I end up with a spare million spacebux to spend on a label.
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