CD a Day- 7 Seconds "The Crew" (1984)

*This CD a Day was suggested by the one and only Mark RoosterTrack Listing:

1. Here's Your Warning

2. Definite Choice

3. Not Just Boys Fun
4. This is Angry Part 2

5. Straight Out

6. You Lose

7. What If There's a War in America

8. The Crew

9. Clenched Fists, Black Eyes

10. Colourblind

11. Aim to Please

12. Boss

13. Young 'til I Die

14. Red and Black

15. Die Hard

16. I Have a Dream

17. Bully

18. Trust

7 Seconds first album "The Crew" is a classic hardcore album. If you've been one of the few reading my blog since the beginning (or at least went back and looked at the older posts) you're probably wondering "How can someone who hasn't been listening to hardcore very long make that statement?". Well, there are 3 reasons I can make it:

1) The album is from 1984, and even though I've just discovered it recently I love it. If it wasn't a classic album that stood the test of time, would that be true? I find it highly unlikely.

2) Mark Rooster loves this album, that alone would be enough for me to give it the benefit of the doubt

3) I checked on the internet to make sure I wasn't alone in my opinion, and I wasn't. Therefore, it must be true.

As I said above, the album was originally released in 1984. That version had 18 tracks. When it was released on CD in 1993 6 additional live tracks from a show at Fender's Ballroom, Long Beach, CA (June 1985) were added.

There isn't a bad song on this album. They all follow the same basic fast, melodic framework, but each song stands on it's own. Everytime I listen to this album (the orignal 18 track version), I get so absorbed by it that it just whizzes by. It's hard to talk about specific songs and not feel I'm slighting the others, what a silly thing to feel guilt over. "Not Just Boys Fun" is an anthem screaming for the acceptance of girls in the overtly macho 80's hardcore scene. "Colourblind" is another great song trying to make a change. As you may have guessed from the title, it's message is racial tolerance. The last 52 seconds of the song are Kevin Seconds rapping, which until you hear it might sound crazy, but it works. The song trails off on the line "and you have got to care enough to end the fight", it definitely gets the message across. Again, it's hard to pick just a few to talk about, but I feel like I'm being long winded. Go listen to the album, I promise you won't regret it.

One final thought courtesy of Kevin Seconds:

"Hey it's 1984, With a glimpse of what's in store, It looks like things are up to us, No talk, just action in the streets, That's what it's gonna take, No calm youth in the U.S.A....."- Opening line from "Here's Your Warning"