Fire Of Love

Ny men angenäm bekantskap.

This better than most punk, however it's just background music to me.

Some ok punk but not really for me. 2.5 goin down.

Pretty exciting at first, got kind of same-y later on. As I'm learning from working through this list, that can happen when I don't have a great frame of reference for the music. Will revisit.

2.5/10. No. Shut the fuck up.

Rockabilly mixed with blues and punk. Interesting concept, but failure to execute. Favorite songs: For the Love of Ivy, She's Like Heroin to Me, Preaching the Blues Least favorite songs: Promise Me, Jack on Fire, Cool Drink of Water Blues 2/5

4/5. Love this punk album, they are just so nonchalant about it, confident in their playing, like they've been doing this for years. And it seems like they have, as part of other bands and it shows. Great use of traditional blues songs and sounds to elevate the energy already found in the blues. Some of the songs do sound similar but the heaviness keeps you engaged. Plus the vocalist is unique enough to match the energy. A great punk blues album even if similar sounding. Best Song: Preaching The Blues, For The Love Of Ivy, Fire Spirit

Good stuff

Interesting mix of punk and blues with decent production value.

Not much of that anymore.

pretty decent

I've given very low marks for all Punk. It's just not my favorite (despite the many many many punk albums on here). Out of all the ones I've listened to, this is the one that is most tolerable to me.

Interesting enough.

Good. Started strong kinda got crappier. Not terrible.

Interesting I suppose. A unique brand of punk for sure.

I love the energy and sound of this album. The first half is stronger than the second, but it’s still great. Skip all the alternative takes. I lost this record to the fire.

A piece of post-punk, avant-pop history. Tinny guitars, off kilter beats and anguished singing make for a curates egg of an album - not sure if I like it or not, but enough here to make me come back for repeated listens.

Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why do dogs’ paws smell like corn chips when they sleep? Why does this music make me so damn happy?

Pretty unimpressive for an album called Fire of Love by a Band named The Gun Club. Mediocre Punk album. 2.5/5

Mjög fínt pönk.

Ágætis amríkupönk

I thought it was pretty cool, there was something indescribably appealing about it

Ok 2/5

Some punk is good, some punk is not.

The Gun Club really nails this great combination of blues and punk, with some tracks even carrying a strong country vibe. The punk element gives their music a rebellious edge, while the blues brings a gritty, raw feel to it. On top of that, they have a wonderful Gothic Americana vibe that truly sets them apart from any other punk band out there. If I were ever to make a list of my top songs of all time, “Sex Beat” would definitely be on it. It’s one of my absolute favorite tracks.

Everyone says this album is ‘raw’ and ‘intense.’ Sure, if by that they mean it sounds like it was recorded in a basement during an exorcism. 3/5 because apparently ‘yelling with conviction’ is enough to be a classic now.

Liked this - not sure I would call it punk though!

Чуть более блюзи, чем хотелось бы. Лучшая песня - Sex Beat.

I lost my notes for this but I did *not* enjoy this. I think I said something about it being to same-y and I didn’t like the guys voice. 1 star.

That's not my taste in music - But ok

This felt more like a band trying hard to be punk than a punk band.

3/5

Great punk discovery.

This record rips. Never really listened to Gun Club, but I can hear them in most of everything else I listen to. IMO a perfect blend of Americana and pissed off post-rock.

Meh

Sounds like music written by an arsehole.

I really like the first track, as it is quite punky and raw, but I don’t care much for the blues, and there is too much blues and racket on this album, and not enough songs like Black Train

Я уважаю что группа сочетает разные жанры в своих песнях, но это сочетание для меня просто не звучит

Fun album but it gets repetitive to the point of songs sounding the same. Small doses is the way to enjoy this one.

'We can fuck forever but you will never get my soul.' Ten years the senior of the Jon Spenser Blues Explosion, this is the OG coming together of punk and blues music. Not that punk isn't always already indebted to the blues, but The Gun Club is a particular marriage of sentiments. What I love about their record is how much history you hear - Robert Johnson, of course, but also The Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, Suicide, The Modern Lovers, Patti Smith, not to mention early rockers and auras of American culture in general. It even gets poetic: 'In the stillness of the mosquito sunset.' But points are deducted for racial slurs. Tho Pierce was of mixed race, he fails to harness these words effectively or authentically. Still, a revelatory listen.

sex beat seeeehr cool irgendwie ultra attitude. preaching the blues isch afoch sehr geile new wave punk aber au no blue i love it? nai fr fr huere geil. ah isch auno robert johnson. super cooli version. promisenme mega ruhig aber groovy mit de geld wo macht de rhythmus. d giige wo sich durezieht wird mit de ziit fast unagnehm aber das isch glaub de sinn. shes like heroin to me au uuuhuere cool country rhythmus aber punk? hammer. for the love of ivy findi au wieder super dynamik macht sache es isch uhuere crushed de mix mit de drums finds suuuper. hittet gad en spot das album. fire spirit mega coole stöhner hahah. etz sehr simpel aber de song. ghost on the highway insano coole titel sehr cooli giti ufem song moll. jack on fire wär sochli en talkng heads deep cut. isch okay. "i will fuck you until you die" okay nice aha. kalte wassrt blues coole blues i like. ich find alles mega geil??? goodbye johnny au wieder afoch sochli hässige rockabilly suuuper cool. aso weni keis füfi gib denn nume meeega knapp. super guets album mega kreativ hässig uf e gueti art und glich kohärent obwohls so stil vermischt und so. riese fan.

riiiiiese albumcover ok punk blues züg es macht bis jz easy spass! au wenn na nüt würkli hange blibe isch heroine und for the love of ivy isch schön dreckig gspielt, liebs! würkli singe chaner nöd sber finds sehr passend oke ghör au immer wieder country ihflüss hahaha jaa ich han whrlich gaeit chli pennt währendem album. hans grundsätzlich easy abwechsligsriich gfunde 3 oder 4?

= the Beatles

-hmm this is an interesting sound!! the post/punk rockabilly combo is certainly unlike anything I’ve ever heard… listening to it made me feel like a cowboy. or perhaps a leather daddy -not much else to say beyond that, it left a mark and I sure as hell wouldn’t call it unexceptional but not all of it stood out to me personally… had some phenomenal tracks though -Favorites are Sex Beat, Ghost On The Highway, and Cool Drink Of Water

Funny how this album manages to sound outdated, trying to innovate by mixing blues with punk. Like come on, that's literally reverse engineering rock music in some really weird way. Anyways: Not bad, but not special or interesting in any way.

A very good blend of punk, blues and country/rockabilly, a really enjoyable and consistent album from start to finish even without a standout track.

What the fuck did I just listen to? I appreciate creativity and experimentation. I usually appreciate post-punk - my love of recent post-punk revival bands is what led me to this project in the first place. It's just... on a personal level, as a listener, I'd like this album more without that infernal country-style twang.

3.5

The ‘other’ enduring psychobilly band (along with Lux, Ivy and the lads). A twitching, andrenalised Alan Vega vocal sneers and yelps over frenetic, no-fi Delta blues and 50s rock and roll played at varying levels of speed and intensity. Wild stuff.

Nice blend of punk, blues and rockabilly. Gets a little repetitive and maybe lacks a really good standout track, all in all a good listen, I like their sound and will probably come back to it at some point

Even though the use of certain words seems unnecessary, this album is innovative, catchy, lyrically interesting, and instrumentally brilliant.

What the heck is this? Punk, yes, with blues in it, raw but musically sound. An unexpected gem.

Love me some punk but I wasn't familiar with this. Reminds me of Wipers and The Damned a little, at least with the sound. This will be in rotation.

Pretty solid mix of punk with blues and rockabilly. Opens up with a total banger to grab your attention before it shows off its weirder moments. That's how you do it! I dig this.

Pretty good, assume will get better with revisits

This was fine. Fairly mild as far as punk goes.

Really enjoyed this but didn't care for the production unfortunately.

hugmyndin um kúrekapönk hljómar vel. en ekkert spes en gef þessu aðra umferð. 3,5.

Grei høyoktan punk.

Pretty generic 80's rock. The singers vocals lean British to me I feel, even though they're American. 2.5

This might be a missing link between Punk and Blues, but it's not very interesting in itself. I feel 3 stars is fair.

I like this post-punk SoCal album fairly well. It’s raw and unashamedly gritty. The vocals are all over the place, but they usually don’t need to be anything more than that. Occasionally however, there comes a point when the songwriting requires some complementary singing and Jeffrey just isn’t always able to provide that. I liked this album up until the last two. “Cool Drink of Water Blues” is much too long for its boring premise and “Goodbye Johnny” holds no interest. Everything else fucks pretty hard. I enjoy it. 3/5

Nope.

Some bangers, i felt the groove, not something I’d go back to super frequently.

This isn't necessarily bad, but it's really samey. It's the exact same style and energy throughout the entire album. I couldn't differentiate any of the tracks. 2.5 rounded down.

A first time listen. Liked it. Shades of Violent Femmes. Solid garage music, if a bit mono-paced.

cool album cover. the songs? not so cool. could it be worse though? absolutely

bad, i don’t wanna waste more words x

fun little psychobilly album…

I actually dig this even though I wasn’t giving it my full attention.

Some are pretty nice, feels kinda haphazard for some reason, like the vibe of a musty corner of a crowded 90s arcade where all the shady teens hang out.

Not bad. not my fav punk stuff tho.

Flojo. Sin más

I listened to this yesterday and don’t remember a song from it.

Not for me. The singer's voice is just grating and everything else was high school garage band level.

I do revisit this album from time to time, but it might still be my least favorite from the Gun Club. All the pieces are here though.

Some very fine Psychobilly flavored punk.. Can hear there influences on other bands for sure. Great listen.

Fantastic, high energy, punk-blues-rock-a-billy. There were a couple bands pulling together some of the same threads at the time (Cramps, X,…) and this is as great as any of them. Definitely shaped other bands to come…

Good energy. A great way to start a week. I think i have Sex Beat on a couple of playlists.

I really enjoyed this album. Great mix of punk/post punk/psychobilly and stuff that bands I love had to be inspired by. Great stuff.

A solid combination of blues and punk rock. I see the historical signings, but it didn't really move me enough

Good energy but not sure…

Very dope

a clear forerunner to self-consciously stripped back Rock And Roll indie/alternative acts ...kinda fun to get this so soon after the white stripes. easier to enjoy and Get The Gist of then floridly describe lmao but such is a record with this set of strengths, generally speaking, in any era. tho ofc an actual old rock and roll record probably wouldnt carry quite the demented underbelly that this does,,,again not much to say rly lol but deffo an interesting one!

J'ai été absolument séduite par le petit côté frondeur et rebelle, le rock énergique et efficace, son allure contagieuse même dans le pessimisme

well its def weird to hear a white guy say the N word i like the blues and the influence here is fun, i dont think the punk mesh if my fav, im not a punk fan for the most part. If youre gonna fuse blues with rock i think i prefer the led zep 1 type of fusions , heavier rock the heroin song is catchy and hearing this was intresting just for how unique a fusion it is , just not for me

Cool

3.74@5

40 minuter av repetitiva och störande instrument, jobbig röst. Inte min grej alls

Cool album I hadn’t heard of before.

Upbeat post punk album. Hadn’t heard it before and I enjoyed the listen.

6/10. Meh.

Pretty good. Especially for 81

I lost my notes for this but I did *not* enjoy this. I think I said something about it being to samey and I didn’t like the guys voice. 1 star.

Nice blend of punk and bluesy country. A bit long for what it is, but I dig it.

Not a fan of this genre. Nothing saved to the playlist.

Enjoyed the first couple of tracks and 1 or two others. Sounded like a mix of early Kings of Leon/Rolling Stones so can see where KOL got there influences. Punky and bluesy, wasn’t a big fan of his voice though. Lacked the snarl of Caleb from KOL definitely worth a re-visit though

That cool early punk sound, mixed with some early rockabilly vibes. A solid listen

I dig this. Definitely some really emotion coming through here.

Not very agressive punk was my take away after the first song and I feel that I was right with that take. The songs were okay but not my kind of music from the start and they didn't win me over. I have mentioned it before but some albums on the list seems to be there because of the influence on the genre they had/have and this feels to me like one of those albums. Nothing bad about it per say but nothing that pulls me in and want to listen to it again either.

Raw, messy, laud. Not going to my playlist. 5/10

Kinda punky, with definite rockabilly/country influences

Bleh

Another punk album that was a middle of the road OK but I have no idea why it was included. Fire of Love was very punk, but to my surprise they included touches of Celtic, blues, and country. That fact alone made the album not boring. I in fact enjoyed "Cool Drink of Water Blues," and I admired The Gun Club's ability to be daring. Outside of that, the nonsensical sounds in "For the Love of Ivy" and the lead singer's voice did The Gun Club absolutely no favors. Next album please.

Man, at what point did the author of this book decide enough was enough with the random punk/post-punk stuff? I'm ALL for the inclusion of punk but there was a lot of time wasted on mediocre punk albums. One thing I will say about this album that was interesting was the kind of "dark country" vibe that was mixed in with the punk. It bordered on rockabilly but was definitely, well, darker. Anyway, this album was not as bad as some punk albums, but definitely not the cream of the crop. 2.5 or so, not rounding up.

Nice album with good energy and guitar work. I was surprised at the amount of enjoyable bluesy/punk riffs.

Much stronger B side imo, the rock/punk blues fusion is very apparent, Im sure was revolutionary for its time but would prefer something much more melodic personally

Lots of fun here - it's punk, but it's not just punk. Almost a rockabilly side going on with the geetar. Sounds more modern than 1981. Simple songs but well done.

"Damn Pixies wannabes" *checks year* "Damn Gun Club wannabes"

some interesting stuff here and there - good use of dynamics and the steel guitar implementation was cool. but WHY is there so much goddamn punk on this list?!?! it’s a mediocre listen at best every time yet it feels like every 5th album is punk or post punk. i think that’s this list’s biggest flaw

I was pleasantly surprised by this, it's a pretty interesting album. This is the debut of a 1980s punk group, but it's a lot more rootsy and bluesy than most punk. They actually manage to blend the genres pretty well. You legit get like Creedence Clearwater Revival vibes at times with like punk rock vocals. It's pretty cool actually. Like most punk bands, it's questionable whether the lead singer can actually sing. There's also a pretty noticeable quality drop-off near the end. That said, pretty solid overall. This is in 3.5 territory for me. Favorite song: Sex Beat Other: Preaching the Blues, Promise Me, She's Like Heroin to Me, Fire Spirit, Ghost on the Highway 1/16/25

Not for me

This is the 366th album I have listened to on this list, which means I have been listening for an entire year! In this time, I have listened to many wonderful albums, a few albums I've hated, and quite a few albums like this one, which I have mixed feelings about. There's a really interesting mix of genres and the sound is pretty good, but I don't find the lyrical content to be all that good. It looks like I will be rounding off this first year of albums with a 3/5- here's to approximately 2 more years! Favorite track from this album: "Ghost on the Highway," probably.

Wow, I had never heard these guys before and that was definitely my loss. Every song on here is amazing. Punk infused with blues. I love it.

An interesting cow-punk album that's having at times really fun, and at other times pretty forgettable. I think some songs like Jack on Fire are pretty awesome, with the right amount of twangy swing in his voice. From my favorite era in punk, unfortunately, and it doesn't stand up quite to the kings of the era.

Ihan kivalta kuulostaa mut eivät keksi yhteenkään biisiin omaa, erottuvaa melodiaa… meiningistä pidän ja sanoista.

JLP ei kuule melodioita mutta tulkitsee niitä poikkeuksellisen vaikuttavasti. Levyllä on kovia raitoja: She's Like Heroin To Me nousee ensinmäisenä mieleen. Kiistatta kuulemisen arvoinen, mutta miinusta turhasta jammailusta. 3,5

"Fire of Love" is a raw version of The Gun Club, but they eventually came under the wing of Chris Stein (Blondie) and made "Miami" a major-label debut and then later, "Mother Juno" with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. Jeffrey Lee Pierce & Co had quite a trajectory, and "Fire of Love" is where it all started--naked and screaming.

A couple of interesting moments that stood out as more "jazz" adjacent, and other moments where you could tell grunge music would eventually take inspiration. However all together it's a pretty shabby album that doesn't offer much in the way of an interesting listen. 2/5

Not my thing

Kind of interesting punk, but only kind of.

Fun listen, falls off for the last couple songs, but great before that

again we should bring up the fact that a non-black singer is taking a genre traditionally sung by mostly black musicians (the blues) and mixing it with a genre that is seen as culturally white (punk) and that's what makes the sound (somewhat more mainstream) successful. I don't know if he really needed to sing the n-word on that one song either. still, "cowpunk" is an interesting concept that results in an interesting sound when it melds together in the right way. however, i do think it works better on some songs than others, otherwise, it's either too disjointed or too clearly in one direction or another. i do agree with Jack White that "She's Like Heroin To Me'' and "For the Love of Ivy" are great songs though.

US 80s punk/post punk, garage band feel which wear's blues and 60s influences. Liked it but not as much as the components suggest I should.

A good album for when you’re in the mood to hear the Violent Femmes sing the blues. Which apparently I was today.

This blues-y punk worked for me.

I think I like punk even more when it’s mixed with blues. This is a 3.5 that I can’t quite round up.

Whether it's punk blues or rockabilly punk, I wonder if this is the beginning of alternative rock. Regardless, I'm a fan.

This is good punk. But I still don't love punk enough to rate it very high. 3.5*

Punk x Rockabilly x RnB. Sounds a bit generic to me, as they just thrown together pieces of these genres and it get's a bit repetitive after 2-3 songs.

I was happy to receive this album because I had tried to listen to it awhile ago but didn't finish it because I wasn't in the mood for it at the time, so it was about time I revisited it... Turns out I likely never will be in the mood for this. It's got a decent bluesy sound with some nice moments here and there but otherwise it's pretty unremarkable. Favorite track: Sex Beat 2.5/5

I can hear where they influenced but the execution plus some subject matter leaves a lot to be desired

it was fine, but didn't belong on this list.

This album is a bit of everything, post punk, psychobilly, gothic. It has a great vibe and energy and just great punchy songs. Really enjoyed it all around.

Rolig rock å blues, skaffade boken on the road av kourac nydligen och finns få soundtrack’s bättre för den en denna

I just discovered one of the best bands I've ever heard in my life through this. Right on.

It’s a 2.5 star album for me. I don’t mind listening to it, but it sounds like it could be from the 50’s not 1981. There is fun in it but not enough creativity to round up.

Probably one of those records that was considered groundbreaking at the time, but just sounds a bit generic now.

Uh... I've realized through this list that only the very best punk rock works for me. This doesn't fall into that category. The riffs are very similar and I find that it overall lacks anything musically to keep me interested. It's all just a bit of a mess. Also failed to find any song that I particularly like. Strong 2.

Sounded like typical punk music to me, was pleasant but nothing stood out at all. The bluesiness of "Cool Drink of Water Blues" was what stood out the most (which wasn't much). Strong 2.

Well that was a pleasant surprise some highly decent tracks that I totally wasn't expecting.

Way better than I was expecting, based on what appears to be the worst album cover I've ever seen. Don't be afraid of this. It's alright.

For this review, I will not include the alternate takes tacked on at the end of the 2020 remaster. I can't say I've heard of The Gun Club before. From what I gather, they were considered one of the first punk bands to incorporate blues, rockabilly, and country music in their sound. That's the vibe I got from their debut album Fire of Love - taking a lot of the rockabilly elements such as the rhythmic swings and adapting them to faster tempos, fuzzed-out guitar work, frenetic vocals from Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and lyrics that are more violent and sexual. It's a solid and at times fun album in that regard, though not exactly mind-blowing and it does lose steam with the penultimate track "Cool Drink of Water" which is a slow, plodding cover of a traditional song. Fire of Love was a neat find on this list and I can see how The Gun Club helped pave the way for later garage rock bands like The White Stripes and Japandroids. Give it a listen.

Reveal thoughts: Never heard of it. Released in 1981. This is gonna suck. OK, not sure it sucks, but it's not my thing. It kind of sounds like punk meets rockabilly? Some songs kind of have a blues-y type sound. This will be a tough ranking because I don't really like it, but at the same time, I can *just* see why it's in this project. It's sunk, mostly, but it's not exactly like the other punk from the era, and you can hear the influences of other types of music. In the end, though, I just don't like it. It's too long, especially for a punk album, too repetitive, and too dated. 2 stars.

Solid post punk album with great blues and country riffs in a couple songs. I'm glad I listened to it, but probably won't listen to it often 3.5/5

Interesting to hear the country and blues influence in some of these tracks. My favorite tracks on this album are Jack on Fire and Cool Drink of Water Blues.

3 maybe 4

Don’t care how “influential” this supposedly was. This is just edgy racist dogshit. Listen to The Doors, The Cramps, or some Howlin’ Wolf instead. Hell, listen to literally anything else.

Nice!

Pretty solid sound.

Maybe post-punk generally doesn’t do much for me. Am I weak for wanting hooks? Whatever. Strong musicianship.

Fairly generic post punk bollocks, nothing earth shattering, just here.

Het is misschien niet 100% punk, maar het is ook niet bepaald goed. Het zijn mensen die een instrument op de juiste manier kunnen beethouden, maar ze doen niet erg hard hun best en de zanger, die geen enkele moeite doet om verstaan te worden, blèrt ook maar wat weg. Mwah.

Punk blues lees ik. Te weinig blues. Te veel punk.

Postpunk uit begin jaren 80. Eigenlijk hebben we dit al honderd keer gehoord, in voorafgaande bands of bands die daarna kwamen. Ik hoor er namelijk Velvet Underground in, maar ook Pixies en zelfs wat White Stripes. De zanger is wat bozig, zoals gewoonlijk, en ietwat verveeld. De gitaren raggen er lustig op los. En de drum heeft maar 1 taak en dat is om het tempo er in te houden, als de rest even stil is. En die stiltes vallen er semi-expres regelmatig. Het zijn genoeg ingredienten bij elkaar om het heel erg kut te vinden, maar er zitten dus ook elementen in die het juist wel heel tof maken. Ik zit er een beetje tussen in. De zure broeders vinden dit uiteraard kut, dus ik moet de eer hier een beetje hoog proberen te houden. Die ouwe meuk is alleen ook niet helemaal aan mij besteed. Alhoewel nieuwe meuk er dan weer amper in staat. Ik vind dit nog redelijk goed klinken, qua productie. Ze hebben dit in een iets minder stinkerig hol opgenomen dan hun postpunkgenoten. En het resultaat is een stuk beter om naar te luisteren daardoor. 3,5 ster, wat we uiteraard naar boven afronden.

3 - Didnt hate it but found it a struggle to listen to in parts

Ok, feels like it’s trying to be edgy 2.9/5

By the books, I should've liked this album. It just didn't speak to me, and a little annoying. Not bad, just blah.

3 stars for their clear influence on various sub-genres of the American punk/garage rock scene but also on the rock and industrial scenes. Most notably White Zombie in the late 80s and early 90s, as well as Ministry. The momentum doesn’t carry throughout the whole album but it is enough for proof of concept. I would not classify this as among the best rock ever recorded, not even the among the best released in 1981, but it was a fun diversion despite its silly sophomoric lyrics. If not for its influence in the development of a sub-genre it would not belong on this list on its own merits. So many more interesting albums in the 1980s that this list loves to ignore.

Bello ma non mi ha convinto al 100%

Voglio più album così

eddaje

Sarebbe 7,5 ma diventa 8 per la copertina

Hadn't heard this album before. Really enjoyed this album. Great energy and simple arrangements. Loose but well-played. Punk with rockabilly and blues influences. Good stuff. I love the tidbit that the the bands founder, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, was the guy that gave Blondie a tape of "Hangin' on the Telephone" by Peter Case's first band The Nerves.

Super fun, never heard it before

Got s great vibe but runs out of substance too fast

Great album

Another garage rock, punk-esque- pop-esque album from the 80s. This one was good enough but didnt do much for me personally. Overall- decent album

Ugh. I had a headache before listening to this and it definitely didn't help. 1.45

Really good album great rhythm section. I enjoyed it from start I'm also kinda shocked that all I knew about the The Gun Club, and even then I thought it was a different band...you know that Talking Heads off shoot. They do a great job of synthesizing their influences into a great messy sound all their own. Happy to discover them. 4-stars

I don't like it.

Fun album. Slide guitar in a punk record works surprisingly well.

Kinda interesting like blues-ish, honky tonk punk? I dunno.

Not bad at first, but soon feels to incredibly repetitive after a point.

Hadn't heard this album before. Really enjoyed this album. Great energy and simple arrangements. Loose but well-played. Punk with rockabilly and blues influences. Good stuff. I love the tidbit that the the bands founder, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, was the guy that gave Blondie a tape of "Hangin' on the Telephone" by Peter Case's first band The Nerves.

I really enjoyed this album - I knew "Sex Beat" from the compilation "Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground" so it was nice to hear the whole thing. 3? 4? I don't know...

I've never listened to this band before. The music sounded familiar probably because they influenced later better known bands. Interesting twangy punk that is easy to listen to, and easy to forget.

Interesting and different. Normally punk isn't high up on my listening list, but this had a lot of originality and exploration. Also, another tortured artist who exited the stage early. Glad this was on this list.

Really enjoyed it...fun listen.

Interesting how you get to know your genre when a record you’re not familiar at all with comes up and you sigh with relief and comfort… post-punk and punk is it for me and when this came up - while not the best record of genre - I disproportionately like it. Love the little infusion of country throughout and the musicians behind The Gun Club have intermixed with some of my favourite artists of the time. Enjoyed this one.

Singer needs lessons. I'll happily provide

Achei fraco

This is my kind of rock sound. I liked it a lot, but I didn't think it was 5-stars. Maybe like 4.3.

Started off sounding very fun, but nearer the end it had less energy and sounded a little boring.

Fire of Love is the debut album of the Gun Club, originally released in 1981. I really dig this. Some early west coast punk with some americana/blues influences sprinkled in. This group had a clear influence on music scenes that would come later such as 90s alternative. I mainly hear Pixies in this, but I also hear some Pavement as well. And these songs rock pretty damn hard. Their live performances were probably really fun.

не зашло. какой-то дебильный, старый панк-рок. подойдет для вечеринки в ионотеке в 2015 году.

Crazy good bassist. I love this. Early rockabilly 💕

Mucho fiery and wild and primitive – yes, all to the good. But this doesn't ultimately move the needle for one personally, despite all the blather about influence. One might even prefer Kings of Leon. And sorry, editors, these aren't "some of the best rock and roll songs ever recorded."

3.5

Hardly the highlight of 1981

This album was a decent listen. I got through all the tracks and it was easy to hear in the background.

This album confused me more than anything. I liked a lot of the riffs, but the production is quite thin, it’s the only Punk album I’ve ever had to turn the volume up on. But what confused me most was the lyrics. Songwriter Jeffrey Lee Pierce seems to be going for a sort of Outlaw persona, but he tries to take it in a Punk direction, and I’m not sure it works. It’s quite adolescent, attempting to shock with lyrics about killing people and fucking and stuff. It might have worked better had I known Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a teenager when the album was released. Attempting to shock like that would make sense, but he was 24. At that point both Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, clear inspirations on Pierce, were writing mature lyrics about their own lives, shocking with the frankness of the descriptions of sex and drug culture. They didn’t need to talk about fucking someone to death in a hole. Real life was much more shocking. I enjoyed a lot of this musically, and I can appreciate it’s influence on later Cowpunk and Psychobilly, but the weird lyrics and production put this off being a true classic

Ah oui, c’est vrai! J’étais pas sûr d’avoir écouté l’album d’hier, c’est peu dire à quel point j’men tape les schtroumpfs

Wild and unharnessed

This really didn't do anything for me. Not good, not bad.

I definitely won’t be seeking out this album or any other of their albums for future listening, but a couple of the songs had promise.

Sex Beat is a banger but the rest is meh

The band did the heavy lifting for this record in my opinion. I live how they found a way to merge blues and punk together and it not sound like nails on a chalk board. Loses a star from me because it started to feel like the album was overstaying its welcome but towards the end.

I listened to this about four time in a row because it sounds good but is also instantly forgettable. (ntm.)

Such a great album! Perfect from front to back.

Mediocre American punk. Am I missing the reason why this is on the 1001 list???

Awesome drums on this. Great psychobilly sound that is unique if not a little one note.

A bit of a misnomer to label these folks punk, I feel, as there is an awful lot more sadness than anger. Simple, but clear in its bluesy focus, and, given its DIY spirit, surprisingly listenable.

3.5/5 (could be a 4 needs more listens)

This caught me off guard, some good concepts but ultimately not my thing

decent noise

The only way I got anything out of this one was through viewing how this influenced the white stripes sound. That makes it fairly enjoyable but still sounds like standard punk with twang of blues. It did grow on me as it went on. Rating: 3.4

Sounds like all the other early punk albums I've listened to.

Being generous with the 4 stars but I liked it. Nice mix of country, rockabilly, swampy punk music. NOW GIVE ME DANGELO

Not all the songs are mind blowing but all the songs are certainly fun, a pretty stand out performance for a debut album but for something from the 80’s it’s actually really good

No love from me.

Kind of a ln attitude laden rockabilly b52s meets Violent Femmes vibe

The first track is pretty good, but the rest… does not impress. It’s not terrible, but it’s just 40 minutes of middling punkabilly with some dude yelling into a microphone.

No songs that make me wanna come back but not the worst. 2 stars for sure.

If Chrissy Hind and Lou Reed had a baby

This is like your friend winning a medal for ice hockey, but you don't care about sports. So you are happy for him, but could have died without listening to this Album.

4 - surprisingly ahead of its time with some great sounds

Pretty seminal album mixing nascent punk and Modern Lovers shenanigans with blues and Americana So many acts drew inspiration from Jeffrey Lee Pierce, from Nick Cave to Pixies. A band in France once reached huge commercial success there offen ripping The Gun Club off. As the latter were virtually unknown in France, no one except music nerds noticed the blatant theft. So I understand why this record is on the list, even if, when it comes to pure songwriting, it's not the most impressive LP that has ever been written (even Pierce admitted it). I have even always slightly favored sophomore album *Miami*. In many ways it's more of the same, but it's got the absolutely beautiful closer "Mother Of Earth", which is the greatest Gun Club song I have ever heard. So call me undecided on *Fire Of Love*.... 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5) Number of albums left to review: 22 (plus the 80-ish extra LPs listed on this app, included because different past editions of the book have mentioned albums that have since been dropped in subsequent editions) Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 420 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 251 (including this one) Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 311

Not so bad

Нормально, не восторг

Kinda punk kinda rock. Kinda fun

I liked it. Punk and edgy with really good lyrics. 4/5

Interesting hill billy punk. Ok I guess, not a favourite. Musically good and well put together. Vocalist ruins it.

Heard of ‘em but never heard ‘em. So far so good.

3.4

Nope

This was like Iggy Pop meets The Legendary Stardust Cowboy! At least it was only 40 minutes.

Boring, not awful.

Not bad enough to deserve a 1 but close. Low 2.

A bit inconsistent but there's enough decent music on here to give it a passing grade.

3.5 Bluesy Punk.

This is a good listen - fast and frenetic, but also changes pace and has a little nuance. Good musicianship, good vocals.

Not my favorite Gun Club, but still very enjoyable

Have heard multiple albums similar to this on the list so far, but this was still enjoyable

Punk junk…. Just this one not all punk

Oh, sweet memories!

Alternative/ Punk band sound. Not great music.

Good meat and potatoes punk. Learned one of my favorite Kings of Leon songs is a cover so that’s neat.

Not that fussed on the riffs, maybe being a bit hard on it but doubt i'll come back to i. sounds like velvet underground sped up

Didn't hate it but its a one and done.

pretty fun album

I always like a bit of punk in my day.

I didn't feel much fire. What rhymes with fire? Dire! Yes, that's what I thought of this album. It takes elements of some of my favourite music genres and turns them into a pile of shite. Inclusion of the slide guitar is just enough to persuade me to give this two stars instead of just one. Just terrible!

What a fun listen! Never heard of a band like this before. Jammed out hard.

I like the gritty aesthetic that fuses rockabilly, roots rock and punk but this LP is lacking memorable songs. Their sophomore LP Miami is superior in that regard. For rockabilly infused punk I still think the Cramps do it best.

From the beginning of Beat, I feel like I'm gonna be hooked! But then i kinda drifted... I liked Preaching the Blues and Jack on Fire.

Am I starting to like punk?? I blame this project. Bluesy punk is cool.

A white band with this album cover and insane racism in the lyrics uhhhhh

Dull

You could have told me this was one long song and I would have believed you (derogatory).

The vocalist on this is extremely annoying. Music is alright tho.

It feels like every garage band white strips wanna be can trace their origins to this album. Like the velvet underground for early 2000s music snobs

This is one of those albums that is more interesting than it is good, and by interesting I mean unique because it is a little boring. I think the genre meshing is cool, but every song is a little too samey. I can see a through line between this and double nickels on the dime which I enjoyed a lot more. Low 3

Never heard of this band. Interesting mash up of punk, blues and country. I don't think I've ever heard a band that sounds like this before. Wild stuff.

This wasn't very enjoyable.

I understand why this is on this list. good for them. however it was very average and since I give too many 3-stars and this album had a slur in it I'm giving it 2

A fun, enjoyable listen but something’s missing for me to call this great

It is my first time listening to this album. I'd never heard of this band before, so I missed them completely in my youth. I'm glad this album is on the list. I listened to it twice. It is a fun rockabilly and punk fusion. I will listen to it again. I can see the influence of this on Jack White's music, which I enjoy very much.

i hate post punk.

i dunno it just kinda sounds like shit. horrid vocals, repetitive guitar, like whats the point NNN

Þið vitið, ekki leiðinlegt svo sem, en rosalega einfalt og lítið inspírerandi til lengdar. Slædgítarinn hækkar þetta upp í rúman tvist.

Racist?

Sounds like some old punk. Presumably they were trailblazers to some degree, so I heartily thank them for their service...but I'll never listen to this again. I imagine this is something I would have liked if I were 20 when it came out rather than -4. 2.5

Good, no great.

Hørte albumet men husker ikke åssen d var

Feels very late-punk, early 80's \"new wave\" but with an interesting rock-a-billy vibe in some parts. She's Like Heroin To Me is classic mosh-pit fare and the weird stalls in the middle of tracks like For the Love of Ivy evoke images of underground punk clubs with the band conducting the audience like a leather clad orchestra slowing to halt only to explode again with the next measure. It gets pretty monotonous and angry, can't rate higher than 3 stars.

It's not punk, which is good. Weird indie post punk vibes. Not bad for an album I've never heard before. Might actually end up in the rotation.

Old punk!

Interesting proto-punk

A really good album. Some great tracks. Reminiscent of early Pixies in parts... more than 5 years before Pixies existed.

I liked this one much more than I expected. The Gun Club sound like rockabilly meets punk, with a heavy influence from pre-war blues. That description wouldn't have excited me as much as the music itself which feels like it could have gone back in time to have influenced The Stooges. It did however very clearly influence Jack White. The blueprint set by The Gun Club are all over The White Stripes' albums. The Gun Club featured members of so many other bands over the course of its existence that it's hard to believe I haven't stumbled across them before. The band described their own early work as "too arty for rock people, far too rock for arty people, too cuckoo for the blues crowd and too American for punk". Spot on. The music really does exist between those worlds.

Interesting indie punk album. But not really my vibe.

fast paced, high energy. Singing is not great as per the norm with this kind of punk.

Don’t enjoy this type of music

2,5

Musikken er god, men han kan jeg ikke synge

From the very first track I was hopeful that this was going to be a pretty good album, but I feel like the whole thing took a nosedive from there and never recovered. Everywhere I look it says that this one is a groundbreaking album, so it's probably important, and I'm not sure groundbreaking ever has to mean "good", but I had hoped for something different. Maybe this just isn't a good genre for me Standouts Sex Beat 2/5

Chalk up another punkish rock album getting a low review. Who knew there were so many of these terrible bands throughout the 70s and 80s? When Spotify ended the album and autoplayed the next song I knew it immediately because the Spotify selection didn't completely suck.

Some good peppy punk. I enjoyed the more bluesy track Cool Drink of Water Blues as well.

Call this post punk?? Sorry but American bands just can't do punk. This was repetitious rubbish. Vocals were awful. Would give it zero stars if the option was there but reluctantly it will have to be one 👎

I could give this thing 1 star just for the damn headache I put myself through before I heard even a second of this thing. See, I found out that there are two songs on this album where the writer and singer, a very white guy, uses the N-word. With a hard "R" both times, too. (Genius.com claims the second one's a soft "a," but let's not split hairs; the first four letters are the same.) So, me, myself, for my benefit, before I could put this album on, I felt I had to answer one simple question: is this guy racist? Catch me, then, doing Google searches and reading articles from websites I'd never heard of, about not only this guy, but about punk's use of the N-word in general. See me find a Reddit thread where someone references a biography from a third party who says the songwriter regretted those N-words. Find me doing some soul-searching to figure out if the use of the word even bothers me, and what that might say about me as a person—after all, I still listen to Billie Joe Armstrong, Elvis Costello, Axl Rose, Ben Folds and Richard Cheese despite all of **them** using it. Eventually, after what felt like an **hour**, I just hadda stop. 'Cuz what was I even doing this for? Simply put: I don't know him. I'll never know him. Even if he hadn't passed away twelve years ago, I'd never get to know him well enough as a person, personally, to know if he's racist or not. I didn't even know his name before today—and even as I'm typing this, I can't recall it. All I'm left with, then, is the art. And I don't know if I can judge a person's entire soul based on forty minutes, let alone one word among many. And, yes, of course: it's a bad word. I don't like that he used it. But I can't just see it and call him racist entirely on that alone. Like, what's the context of the line? Does he **really** mean it? Is he playing a character? Or does it even matter in the first place? And for my money, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt. This is punk, after all. Unless you're one of the groups the Dead Kennedys wrote "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" about, I believe, generally, you're against racism. Of course, there's plenty of exceptions you could list, but for this man alone, I didn't see anything to suggest otherwise. In the songs where he used that word, I'll grant he was probably just playing a character. If other people don't, that's fair. Interpretation and all. But as awkward as I feel about it, I just can't agree. So that's settled then. Although first, before I actually talk about the damn music, I wanna state the funny thing about those previous paragraphs. See, if my group had never mentioned it, or I just didn't see them mention it, chances are I never would've known about those N-words. After all, as I've stated in previous reviews: I'm melody-first. I hardly register lyrics the first time I'm listening to something unless I'm staring directly at them. And there's no guarantee I would've been for this album, so it might have flown over my head completely. I could've saved myself the headache and however long I just spent writing these nearly 600 previous words. Let's get to the actual point, then: the music. What do I think of it? Eh. It's fine. Like, I'unno. I saw one that Wikipedia had given "psychobilly" as one of its genres, and that got me really excited for something that, frankly, isn't here. This isn't the Reverend Horton Heat. No, I should've been paying more attention to the **first** given genre: "punk blues." And on that front... Sure? I guess? I'unno. There were a few parts of it that rocked, but on the whole it just didn't impress me terribly much. It's not **bad**; I'm willing to give it a 3 at most. I suppose it's just that I had misplaced expectations. Although believe you me, I'm **very** tempted to give this thing a 1 on the fact that I spent all that time reading articles and worrying just to end up at an "Eh, it's fine." Especially given that I didn't do nearly as much worrying over listening to Kid Rock or Kanye West, and I know for a **fact** over how terrible **those guys** are. So, I'unno. Take it or leave it. ("It" meaning either "this album" or "this review," frankly.) I'm just gonna hope whatever my group ends up getting tomorrow won't tire me out as much as this one did before I even pressed "play."

At first, I was thinking of giving a solid 4, but then I heard those first hard Rs by a white band, so I have to bring it down to a solid 3. Otherwise, some solid tunes from the progenitors of blues punk.

I just don’t even want to write a review for this one. I’m so disappointed, man. Realistically, it’s actually a 1.5 bumped up to a 2, but because the white lead singer dropped the N word twice (hard R both times), I simply have to drop this down to a 1. If you go to the Wikipedia page for this album, you’ll get words like “groundbreaking,” calling it innovative, and saying that several musicians have cited the album as an influence. To be completely fair to this album, the only reason why this was at a 1.5 bumped up to a 2 is because I do think this instrumental style works – it’s very early garage rock, but with the sort of blues style flair that really got refined and perfected in the early 2000s indie scene. This is a genuinely innovative album in that sense, and I really liked a lot of the instrumentals here. If this album were just the instrumentals, I’d probably be at a 3, bare minimum. They are all wasted on some of the worst lyricism and vocals I’ve ever fucking heard in my life. I don’t even want to expand on that, but because I’m already giving this a 1, I may as well tear into them a little bit – they’re the fucking musical equivalent of Desert Bus. He can’t fucking shut up. Every time you play Desert Bus, you gotta nudge the bus a little bit to the right in order to keep it from going off the road, and that’s what his vocals are. Once you notice the “guitar riffs for 5 seconds, random ass lyric, guitar riffs for 5 seconds” pattern that permeates *so goddamn much of this album*, it is truly impossible to ignore. Those random ass lyrics are pushing the bus to the right. They’re annoying to listen to, and I genuinely believe they add almost nothing of substance to this album. The real stress test of whether or not you’ll like this album is entirely dependent on Fire Spirit, which I think is a genuinely encapsulating track of the entire experience. It’s got a fantastic fucking instrumental, and it’s got what I consider to be the worst storytelling and vocal performance of the entire album. It’s got a story, sure, but it’s like listening to the worst D&D player at your table explain his quest in the most unimaginative way ever. If you can handle that track without really wincing at either the vocals or the storytelling, there’s a chance you’ll genuinely like the album – I’m being harsh on it, but it’s not specifically bad, it’s just disappointingly mediocre compared to the expectations that were put on it – this thing got good reviews in 1981 and even got a 9.1/10 from Pitchfork in 2021, which is insane to me, because I did not fucking like this enough to even sniff a 3 on account of the vocals and lyrics alone. I really do think that there’s a great soundscape here, and it did pave the way for a lot of 2000s rock standards that I do like, but they have easily eclipsed what this album did. It just didn’t work for me – I think it drags on like hell, I think it’s draining to listen to once you notice the obvious structural patterns throughout the tracks, and I just don’t think the vocals or lyrics stack up to any kind of modern standard. It’s a 1.5, that gets bumped to a 2, that goes back down to a 1 for the slurs. It’s a damn 4/10 in my heart, though.

This is a pretty typical rockabilly album. Good lyrics, repetitive, shredding guitar, wailing vocals. I like it. Don't love it.

When I lived in LA, I attended an exhibition on the LA punk scene in from the early 80's at Bergamont Station. It was lost on me. Aside from the few bands that I knew of that era, it was apparent the scene was much bigger than The Germs or X and Circle Jerks. Recently, I received the Criterion Collection's Repo Man on Blue Ray which ignited an interest in LA punk bands. It's said that the secret to the success of Repo Man was the inclusion of the underground music at the time. Gun Club isn't a band I've listened to, but I do like the style. I guess this is Rockabilly, kinda sounds like Minutemen with a definitive connection to The Cramps, who I also like. But listening to this for 40 mins. a lot of the songs blend together and it's hard to enjoy. This is great for a bit, but wears on me after a bit. Still, would've been great to see these guys in their heyday and maybe run into them at Oki-Dog on Farifax afterward.

I actually dig their psychobilly sound, but it’s just all too same-y. Most tracks sound like they could all be part of one song.

The blues infused punk sound is great.

One long song with some short breaks every few minutes.

*I did not enjoy, seemed each track sounded alike. An ok album

fun rock album 4/5

3+

Meh

Never heard of this band and not surprising as it appears they had little success in the UK. If I’ve never heard of an artist will always look at the accompanying wiki page to learn about them. They are heralded as the first exponents of punk and American roots music which sounded an interesting combination. But on listening this album did nothing for me at all. Was quite bored after a while. 1/5 8/8/24

A rollicking good time this is. Clever lyrics accompanied by some bluesy, rockabilly punk. I’ve listened to this but it’s been well over a decade. Still just as good as it was, great energy on Fire of Love. 4 stars

Hard work but better than much punk I've had the misfortune to hear

Netter Punk.

It's aight. 3/5

Tedious.

A little bit of punk feel and has some jangly guitars that I dig. But all in all on the south side of mediocre.

I like the sound. As an album... some of it makes me think of a young band playing one of their first shows, sounding fine, but looking around at each other frequently like should we keep playing this song longer? Are we still on the guitar solo? Should we just play it again? Donny isn't looking at us, how long should we let him keep playing this riff?