Death – …For the Whole World to See (2009) [Drag City] // Grade: A-

Not to be confused with Chuck Schuldiner seminal Death Metal band of the same name, this Death are 3 brothers from Detroit circa the mid 70s. As the story goes upon seeing an Iggy Pop performance the boys got a new outlook on Rock ‘N Roll and what they wanted to do with their musical careers. They tried to come up with the most badass name they could think of and settled on Death. They got signed by Columbia Records, recorded an album and were then asked to change their name to something easier to swallow. The band refused and the album got vaulted. The brothers did manage to press a 7″ of “Politicians in My Eyes” in 1976, which has since gone on to become a holy grail of sorts amongst record collectors.

Fast forward some 30 years later and Drag City dusts this out of the vault and reissues what I’m sure many will consider a lost classic. A lot has been written comparing Death to Bad Brains, but truthfully outside of the fact that both bands feature all black members, the comparison is hardly on point. Sure it’s there… but only in the general sense that Death, like the stooges were a proto-punk before punk and hardcore existed. Death’s sound is deceptively more complex though than just labeling it anyone thing. They perfectly captures that point in the 70s when rock was rock rather than broken down into more specific genre labels. When the embryonic fluid that would form Metal, Punk, Stoner, Prog, Hardcore were all in the air and the best of bands would pull from.

Death definitely owe a lot to the Stooges & MC5, but there’s also a lot of Kiss and even a heaping spoonful of NWOBHM, and Funk swagger that could be heard throughout this short but oh so sweet album. This is the sort of album that reminds just how good Rock ‘N Roll can be and why you fell in love with it the first place.

Kudos to Drag City for getting this out, along with the equally excellent reissue of J.T. IV’s Cosmic Lightning late last year. …For the Whole World to See goes up their with Gary WIlson’s You Think You Really Know Me? as recently re-appreciated albums should have been classics in their time.

- My Pal the Crook