HARDCORE AMERIKA - CD REISSUE OF BCT COMPILATION

In this age of websites, mp3s and message boards, it's hard to imagine how valuable Borderless Countries Tapes were almost 20 years ago. Most of the people I know who heard RAW POWER "back in the day," heard them through BCT. Likewise with countless other bands from all over the world. There were more than 25 tapes released by BCT from 1981-1986, and most of that material is slowly making its' way to CD, thanks to the efforts of a few brave souls. This is the fourth release, compiling music from BCT #3 and #10, from 1983 and 84 respectively. The only bands most folks have heard of on this 13 band, 57 song compilation are WHITE FLAG, DETENTION and LOVE CANAL, but there is a goldmine of unknown '80's hardcore on this disc. The PSYCHO tracks are worth the price by themselves, and the ACCELERATORS, NO RESPONSE, and DERANGED DICTION could easily be as popular as URBAN WASTE or NECROS, if someone thought they were cool enough to bootleg. I highly recommend any fan of hardcore to search out all these re-issues... sure there's plenty of less than amazing stuff, but without BCT, most of these bands might have been lost forever.
-MaximumRocknRoll

Another great BCT tape re-released on CD. This one combines BCT #3 (Eat Me) and BCT #10 (I'm Buck Naked). One thing I really like about the old BCT tapes is that they chronicled the hardcore/punk scene in the USA in the mid 80's. BCT's best known tapes are international (Raw Power and the I Thrash comp) but my favorites are tapes like this because they contain so many little known (yet great) bands. For instance, this CD has 13 bands (each playing between 3 and 7 songs) and of them I have only heard OF 4 and actually listened to TWO. So by virtue of buying this CD I found out about 11 new great oldschool hardcore bands. Now the hard part is trying to track them down to see if they had any releases. Musically this is great oldschool hardcore/punk (the original tapes were released in late 1983 / early 1984) and if you're a fan of that era's hardcore you'll have to buy this. The bands are Love Canal, Suburban Decay, No Response, Eat The Rich, Drills, Accelerators, Disorderly Conduct, Detention, Psycho, White Flag, Deranged Diction, Corrupted Service and Unexpected. The one thing that's missing from this CD are photos/lyrics/band info/etc. Apparently after 20 years these things had been "lost" or "purposefully destroyed." Great CD - if you liked This Is Boston Not LA or the old Flipside Vinyl Zine comps or the Rat Music For Rat People comps you will love this. Also, keep in mind that this CD came from two 20 year old tapes. Adjust your ears accordingly, there is some hissing and it's not perfect, but it's punk rock so who gives a fuck?!! 10 stars (out of 10)
Oldschool Or No School - www.ponk111.com

hardcore amerika... what more can i say? this is the fourth in the series of compilation CD's culled from the various tape releases that graced the catalog list of the legendary "bad compilation tapes" label. Here are ghosts from the 80's being resurrected from the punk tapes grave, to be given a second chance at life in the modern day digital audio format. Here we have some of the bands and their respective tracks taken from the "eat me" (EM) and "i'm buck naked" (IBN) tape comp releases presented here for the new generation to get their first taste of some of these long obscured bands, and for some of the old generation to pine nostalgic for the time long ago in their memory of cramming some bucks in an envelope, waiting for said BCT tapes to show up in their mail. Here, you get 57 blasts from the past! The first thing we hear coming out from the speakers is 3 out of the 6 songs by Love Canal (IBN). The songs are still good, but sadly the original tape did not survive time too kindly - they should of let me know, as i might still have my copy of their demo... oh well... Suburban Decay (IBN) kick in with 7 tracks, one more than the original comp tape, so the bonus is a treat. They rip out the midwest hc with their really raw recording. This is what punk is – ugly, not the squeeky clean pap that is spoonfed to mall kids. There is more raw midwest hardcore thrashings with the 3 tracks presented by No Response (IBN). The production value goes up a notch with the two tracks by the northern Cali band, Eat The Rich (IBN). Things go back to raw with the 3 tracks by the Drills (IBN). if this Seattle-based bunch had still existed to this day without changing one iota of their sound, maybe grunge might of never existed... too bad. Next are the five tracks of the catchy brand of hardcore punk rock by the Jersey based Accelerators (IBN). Fun punk with witty lyrics is what they do, and a bonus track by them is included here as well. Next is 4 of 7 dischordant hardcore tracks by Disorderly Conduct (IBN). They would have been considered blistering for the era. Next up is the legendary live tracks by Jersey's own Detention (IBN). Some might remember seeing a boot 7" released some time back, but if you were not able to score that, here is the real deal here. Five tracks of really twisted funny brand of punk that scream of New Jersey! Getting things going mean, fast, and nasty would be the 8 of 9 tracks by Beantown’s longest running thrash outfit, Psycho (IBN). Manic blistering thrash is their middle name, and they show their mettle here with this live radio show recording. The ever-prolific White Flag (EM) appear here with 5 out 11 tracks from their demo recordings. This is their early stuff, so you will get them doing hardcore over their latter pop and rock stuff. More blistering and thrashing comes with the six tracks of Deranged Diction (EM) here. You get a bonus track by these guys, as well, of which is a good thing, as more Deranged Diction is always a good thing. Back to the midwest is the 3 of 5 tracks by Lincoln's own Corrupted Service (EM). They deviate from the sound of the other bands, as they would move at a more slower pace, and done with a bit of darkness, of which still shows through in these raw sounding tracks. The compilation finally caps itself off with the four tracks by the Unexpected (IBN). Yeah, you get some goofy stuff from this hardcore thrash band, as you would guess, they are from Jersey! Ending with "everyday is Monday", they are right... oh so right...
- Katz (Los Angeles Punk Journalist)

I can't tell you how happy I am to see this Borderless Countries Tapes (BCT) stuff being released on CD. For those of you that are not familiar with BCT, they released countless hardcore tapes of worldwide punk and hardcore from 1981-1987. This release being reviewed is #4 in a series that is attempting to chronicle the best of BCT. On this compilation which is compiled from the "Eat Me" and "I'm Buck Naked" BCT releases you will find LOVE CANAL, SUBURBAN DECAY, NO RESPONSE, EAT THE RICH, DRILLS, ACCELERATORS, DISORDERLY CONDUCT, DETENTION, PSYCHO, WHITE FLAG, DERANGED DICTION, CORRUPTED SERVICE, and the UNEXPECTED. All of these bands are from the USA, but many of the BCT tapes concentrated on the international punk scene. Listening to these BCT releases again is almost like taking a punk rock history lesson. The stuff here is underrated yet classic punk rock with an urgent feeling of unbridled anger. The songs are mostly fast and raw and they bring to mind a long gone era of forgotten bands. I fucking love it! Thanks to Enterruption for giving folks a second chance to hear these amazing releases!
(Rob Coons from his column "Screams From The Gutter")MaximumRocknRoll #228