Review Summary: Jealous Again is Black Flag in their rawest state, with nothing but straightforward, angry, unadulterated punk rock.
Black Flag is undeniably one of the most important punk rock bands to ever exist. Whether it be the raw ferocity of
Nervous Breakdown or
Damaged that pioneered the genre of hardcore, or the way they pushed boundaries by slowing the speed on releases such as
My War or
Slip it In, their influence is still felt today in the underground punk, and sometimes metal scene. However, even their earliest material holds a lot of significance in the 80s underground scene, whether people realize it or not. One of these releases,
Jealous Again, is one that sadly goes unnoticed. This is most likely due to the shaky position Black Flag was in at the time, with the sudden absence of Keith Morris, but it still deserves a mention in the grand scheme of the band's career.
Jealous Again is Black Flag’s second release, and easily one of their most straightforward. Instead of opting for slow tempos or poor impressions of Black Sabbath, Black Flag simply make fast, aggressive, and quick punk rock songs. It’s not all conventional though, with Greg utilizing a rather different approach to guitar playing than most of the fellow punk rock guitarists. He uses lots of individual notes and solo techniques instead of just power chords and fast picking. Every song of course is based around power chords, but he often does short breaks of different notations, which would normally be considered too complex for punk rock. Every musician does their job well here, with Robo doing fast, seamless drumming, Chuck’s bass playing is aggressive as usual, and Ron’s singing is typical of punk, but it fits in perfectly. While the songs don’t tend to differ too much from one another, every song does its job just fine.
With
Jealous Again, Black Flag have crafted a short and sweet little EP that will sit proudly in any punk rock fan’s collection. One could argue that it’s too straightforward and doesn’t really convey anything new, but it does its job very well by just being a quick punk EP. The songs are all performed well, have a punch to them, and feel raw and unadulterated. The production certainly isn’t the best, but it adds to the old school attack of the release. So overall, this is certainly a solid EP, as well as a decent starting point for newcomers to Black Flag.
