Swingin' Utters

Hatest Grits: B-Sides and Bullshit (2008)

xcarlupanddiex

It's nice to see record labels still have the guts to release B-sides albums, which will likely be bought by diehard fans only. This new Swingin' Utters release can be put in that category, since these 26 tracks are a good melting pot of what these San Francisco punks have been doing since their early beginning.

As the title itself says, Hatest Grits: B-Sides and Bullshit features quite everything (good and bad) the Utters have done even before their Fat Wreck Chords years: on this album there are songs like "No Groove in Gunsights," which was an outtake from A Juvenile Product of the Working Class, and songs like "Outside Life," "The Lonely" and "Heroes of the Corner Bar," B-sides from the band's self-titled album.

You will find tunes from their rare 7"s as "Gives You Strentgh," "Nothing to Rely On," "Teen Idles Eyes" and the Bombing the Bay split with AFI, not to mention compilation tracks like the 30-second "Back to You", "I Got Your Number" and "Sunday Stripper." There is also space for six early band demos ("Time Tells Time" is still a classic, even in its demo shape) and a shitload of unreleased songs, such as "The Blue Lamp," "Mr. Keen" and "Lady Luck," where the Utters show their love for the street punk-quality music.

The best thing of this release is its booklet for sure, filled with pictures from all the various lineups of the band and liner notes on each song, where Koski, Spike, Bonnel, Huber and Greg tell the reader all about how they give birth to songs, their influences and punk rock in general.