Propagandhi

Where Quantity is Job #1 (1998)

Boris

'Where quantity…' was released in 1998 by Propagandhi's own label g-7 Welcoming Committee, and it
basically is as the cover states 'Old, out of print, hard to find, unreleased,live, demo and otherwise painful and embarassing crap. Not new crap. Proceed with caution.' If you are familiar with Propagandhi, then you probably know that they are one of the best political punk bands of all time.They don't fall in the same category as those 'Fuck America' and 'Fuck the system' type of political bands.They really try to narrow everything down with more intelligent and
explanatory lyrics.

The CD starts with 'Mutual friend' which is 45 second punch in the face with angry vocals by Chris.Which then moves on to 30 second instrumental thats not even listed as a song at all. 'Utter crap song' or 'Possibly the worst song ever written' (it has two names) is Propagandhi's rare song that does not contain social or political commentary, it is more of a broken friendship anthem. 'Okay everywhere' is one of the best songs, in my opinion,that they've ever written.With lyrics like: ''How valiant, how white oppressor makes allowance for calculated gestures of insurgence (all tightly tethered to their purses)'' you just cannot hate this song. Fast melodic punk continues with 'Firestorm, my ass' a demo version of 'Nailing descartes to the wall/(liquid) meat is still murder' with completely different lyrics.
'White, proud and stupid' is an attack to nazi bands. ''Nazi skins and aryans pollute our land, skrewdriver (dead), white pride (broken up) and warzone (not nazis) and other nazi bands, they're a bunch of 'fag'-bashing goons, nationalist buffoons, and they don't even know what they're talking about at all.''

Is it just me or does 'Fine day' sound a lot like 'War is peace, slavery is freedom…' from Live Fat Die Young? I was somewhat dissapointed when I've heard 'War is peace…' because of that.
'Bent' and 'Degrassi jr high dropouts' were recorded in 89. It does not have the best sound or production value, but it is always good to see where a band comes from, and how much they have
musically progressed over the years. 'Bent' is a song about straight edge with lyrics like ''Your life's controlled by other's rules, forget it man, be yourself'' you know where they stand on that issue.

Live songs include 'Anti-manifesto' and 'Ska sucks' from their first album, which to be honest do not sound that good.Other live songs include 'Pigs will pay', 'Laplante song', 'Government cartoons', 'Gamble' and 'Less talk, more rock', which also in my opinion aren't the best presentation of their live sound, it just has this annoying feel to it and the sound is 'almost' terrible.
There is also a cover of Venom's song 'Stand up and be counted', demo versions of alread released songs 'and we thought that nation states were a bad idea', 'Haillie does herbon', 'Resisting tyrannical government' and one more instrumental 'Contest song'.

I would advise you to get their other proper albums instead of this if you want to hear quality and Propagandhi with better produced music. But this is a must for every Propagandhi fan, and if you like them as much as I do, you'll appreciate this record as much as I did.