Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

Consumer Guide:
  User's Guide
  Grades 1990-
  Grades 1969-89
  And It Don't Stop
Books:
  Book Reports
  Is It Still Good to Ya?
  Going Into the City
  Consumer Guide: 90s
  Grown Up All Wrong
  Consumer Guide: 80s
  Consumer Guide: 70s
  Any Old Way You Choose It
  Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough
Xgau Sez
Writings:
  And It Don't Stop
  CG Columns
  Rock&Roll& [new]
  Rock&Roll& [old]
  Music Essays
  Music Reviews
  Book Reviews
  NAJP Blog
  Playboy
  Blender
  Rolling Stone
  Billboard
  Video Reviews
  Pazz & Jop
  Recyclables
  Newsprint
  Lists
  Miscellany
Bibliography
NPR
Web Site:
  Home
  Site Map
  Contact
  What's New?
    RSS
Carola Dibbell:
  Carola's Website
  Archive
CG Search:
Google Search:
Twitter:

CH 3

  • CH 3 [Posh Boy EP, 1981] B+
  • Fear of Life [Posh Boy, 1982] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

CH 3 [Posh Boy EP, 1981]
There's a Clashlike fierceness here that other L.A. hardcore boys only put themselves out of joint for. This is probably due to the Clashlike tunes. Derivative, manic, angry, fun. B+

Fear of Life [Posh Boy, 1982]
They're too neat--too pop, too heavy metal, too defined--for hardcore purists, but these hooks come the way I like them: one recitative/mechanical handclap/girl response/sound of breaking glass per hyperdriven two-minute song. Too bad they didn't cop more of the EP (say "Mannequin" and "I Got a Gun" in addition to "Manzanar"), thus stretching this specially priced but suspiciously unclocked album to customary hardcore length. Approximate time: 22:30. B+