Look At All The Children Now
I always viewed the 1990 New York hardcore comp Look At All the Children now as big middle finger to those more famous NYHC bands like Agnostic Front, Sick of It All, and the whole stable of Revelation Records artists. Look… was the record that served notice that not all NYHC bands were cut from the same cloth, that there was more to the NYC scene than tough guy knucleheads and empty promises of ‘brotherhood’ and ‘unity’. While musically similar (metallic hardcore) to the bands they sought to distance themselves from, the mindset of bands like Citizen’s Arrest, Rorschach, Go! and others on the comp was miles apart. (i.e. the were more liberal and thus appealing to the almighty punk policy makers - MRR ) The title was lifted from a line from Iron Cross’s song Grey Morning, which was covered on the comp by MAS (a one off band?). This served as another shot at the NYC hierarchy, as Agnostic Front had been playing IC’s martyr complex anthem ‘Crucified’ for years. As I would expect, many of the songs on Look… haven’t aged well (i.e. Yuppicide, pure dreck), but a couple are still worthy:
Citizen’s Arrest - Death Threat.mp3
Hyper thrash from Citizen’s Arrest, who specialized in this sort of mayhem. I think these recordings may have pre-dated their first EP A Light In The Darkness.
Moondog - Expression.mp3
Voice sound familiar? That’s Walter Schreifels on vocals. Moondog was a post-Gorilla Biscuits, pre-Quicksand project for Schreifels that never had an official release (I think their demo was booted)
Bugout Society - Partyline.mp3
This was originally one of my favorites on this comp due to the humor and chaotic music. Bugout Society’s LPs never lived up to standard set by this song, stifled by bad production and subpar songs. This one still cracks me up however
Rorschach - Something.mp3
Crunchy, metallic hardcore that bleeds intensity. The raw vocals and tempo changes keep this interesting. Their discography CD Autopsy is quite good, though extended listens can be draining.
As always, hit me up with any corrections as their isn’t a ton of info on this comp out there.
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Holy shit - I wish I had started reading your blog earlier! I missed this post by a couple of months. I always wanted this record but could never find it. I also liked Bugout Society as well. Furthermore - Moondog was awesome. I have that demo, I’ll have to post it up one day soon…
[…] Man, 1990 was a great year for hardcore compilations, especially those in featuring bands from the NYC region. Forever is one of three killer NY/NJ hardcore 7″ comps released in ‘90 (Murders Among Us and Rebuilding being the other two 7″s, not to mention the Look At All The Children Now 12″). Forever was released on Irate and features early material from some of the NY/NJ hardcore scene heavies. 5 bands, 5 tracks, featuring posi-core from Turning Point, bilious hardcore from Born Against, and vicious blasts from Rorschach and Citizen’s Arrest. Not to be overlooked, Burn contributes a wild hardcore track that borders on greatness, hindered only by muddy production. One of my favorite comps from my own hardcore heyday: […]
[…] A short-lived blast of brutality from NYC, Citizens Arrest graced us with an EP and a fistful of comp tracks in the early 90’s before splintering on the eve of their first LP (Colussus). Hyperfast tracks in the Seige/Infest/Septic Death vein with insane vocals - hard to believe this shit aint Japanese. 1990’s A Light in the Darkness 6 song EP is smoking hot - I would post the whole thing but there are rumors of the discography getting a reissue. With that in mind here are a couple of cuts: […]
I havent heard this album in years but this Rorshach song is easily one of my alltime fav nyhc songs. If my memory serves wasnt there a pretty decent SFA song on here as well?
LOVE this comp. I’m looking at it right now. I’ve got a lmtd ed: #215 out of 500. White vinyl. Hand screened cover with a little note from Sam Evac of Evacuate Records about problems printing the jackets, etc….also came with a flyer from the record release show at the ABC NoRio. Also came with a booklet about all the bands AND the inside jacket is screened: SFA New York Hate Core. Love it. Gotta say, still love those Moondog songs.