Red Cross (EP)

Red Cross, a six-song punk rock[1] EP record, is the first stand-alone release by American rock band Red Cross.[nb 1]

Red Cross
EP by
Redd Kross
Released1980
RecordedOctober 1, 1979
StudioThe Shelter
GenrePunk rock
Length6:22
LanguageEnglish
LabelPosh Boy
ProducerRoger Harris
Redd Kross chronology
Red Cross
(1980)		 Born Innocent
(1982)
Alternate cover art
First pressing in a generic sleeve.
Alternative cover
1987 reissue as Annette's Got the Hits.
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Background

On August 29, 1979, the day after Ron Reyes joined them on drums,[8][9] replacing Johh Stielow, McDonald brothers' middle school punk rock band, the Tourists, changed their name to Red Cross.[2][8][10][11] A few days later, they went into a recording studio for their first time,[10] accompanied by Joe Nolte, leader of Los Angeles rock band the Last, who produced their session at Media Art Studio in Hermosa Beach, California on September 6, 1979.[8][10] However, when Red Cross signed shortly after with Posh Boy Records, its owner, Robbie Fields,[nb 2] didn't like the Nolte recordings, and insisted that most of the songs be redone.[8][10]

Only one of the cuts from the Nolte session would be later released. "Rich Brat" was featured on the 1982 New Underground Records compilation album Life Is Ugly So Why Not Kill Yourself.[nb 3][12][13]

"By September [1979], Red Cross had saved up enough money to record a demo, booking some time at Media Arts for their first recording session. "I came home one night, real tired, and all I wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep," ... "They said, 'We're going to the studio tonight, and we don't know what to do.' So I ended up producing the session, after drinking three cups of coffee. We had fun, and they sounded good, and I sorta liked the recordings. Their label, Posh Boy, hated them though, and made them record everything again."

— Joe Nolteas he was quoted in the book Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag[10]

In 1980, six tracks from the Posh Boy recording session were included on The Siren,[nb 4][13][14][15] a sampler LP shared with San Francisco power pop band 391, and Salt Lake City punk rock act Spittin' Teeth.[14][16][17] The album, released on Posh Boy, was the recorded debut for Red Cross.[7] The subsequent Red Cross EP would be a stand-alone re-release of their songs featured on said compilation.[1][7]

Production

All songs on Red Cross were originally recorded with producer and engineer Roger Harris at the Shelter Studios in Hollywood, California on October 1, 1979.[8] The mixing was done at Paradise Studios in Burbank, California.

Release

Red Cross was first released in 1980 on Posh Boy Records,[2][3][13] in 12-inch vinyl disc format.[nb 5] The first pressing, without any cover art, came with pinkish-red labels and packaged in a generic, multicolored die-cut record sleeve.[18]

Reissues

In 1981, Red Cross was included, in its entirety, on the rare cassette tape version of the Beach Blvd compilation[nb 6][16][19] issued by Posh Boy Records.

By 1985, Red Cross was re-released featuring its own cover art,[20][21] and disc labels printed in black and red on a silver background.[22] This same edition would be repressed the year after.

A new repressing was released in 1987, featuring disc labels printed in black on a silver background and packaged in a generic record company sleeve as the original release.[23]

In 1987, Posh Boy repackaged The Future Looks Bright,[nb 7][24] a sampler album originally produced by the label, jointly with SST Records, in 1981.[nb 8] Retitled as The Future Looks Brighter,[27] this edition featured only artists from the Posh Boy roster. The complete Red Cross EP was added to the CD version.[nb 9][24][28]

In late 1987, the EP was reissued under the title Annette's Got the Hits,[1][29] featuring alternate cover art[30] but keeping the same catalog number[nb 5] and the old disc labels from the 1985 re-release.

In 1990, Posh Boy issued the single "Cover Band",[nb 10][nb 11][32][33] bundled with "Burn Out" on its flip side.

In 1991, Annette's Got the Hits was included in the numbered 3-EP box set The Posh E.P.'s Vol. 1,[nb 12][34] in conjunction with Stepmothers'[35] 1981 EP All Systems Go[nb 13][36][37] and an untitled six-track EP featuring Social Distortion's early songs recorded in 1981.[nb 14][40]

Cover art

The original cover art for Red Cross, informally referred to as "the red cover", shows the band's name on a red background, written, with its original spelling, in uppercase white letters resembling strips of medical tape.[20]

On the cover art for Annette's Got the Hits, a photomontage in sepia, portraying the four band members performing live, is displayed on a dark grey background.[30] The original spelling of the group's name is changed to "Redd Kross".[2][4][5][6][7]

Re-recordings

After Greg Hetson left Red Cross to join the Circle Jerks in December 1979,[2][5][7][8] a controversial alternate version of his song "Cover Band",[nb 15] reworked with new lyrics by Keith Morris,[43] was featured as "Live Fast Die Young" on his new band's first studio album, Group Sex,[nb 16] released in October 1980 on Frontier Records.[1][3][16][44][45]

Track listing
Side A
No.TitleLyrics/MusicLength
1."Cover Band"Greg Hetson1:25
2."Annette's Got the Hits"Steve McDonald/Jeff McDonald1:08
3."I Hate My School"J. McDonald0:57
Side B
No.TitleLyrics/MusicLength
1."Clorox Girls"S. McDonald/J. McDonald0:58
2."S & M Party"Hetson/J. McDonald0:56
3."Standing in Front of Poseur"J. McDonald0:58
Total length:6:22

Personnel

Red Cross[13]

Production

  • Robbie Fields – executive in charge of production
  • Roger Harris – production, engineering

Notes
  1. "Following the album's release [Born Innocent, 1982], the band was threatened with a lawsuit from the real International Red Cross; as a result, [as of late 1982] the group became Redd Kross..."[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
  2. The American-born Englishman, Robbie Fields, a former aspiring journalist, was the founder of Posh Boy Records.
  3. New Underground Records #NU-11
  4. Posh Boy #PBS 103
  5. Posh Boy #PBS 1010
  6. Posh Boy #PBC 102
  7. Posh Boy #PBC 120
  8. "[The Future Looks Bright was] Originally a ... cassette only release[25] with 500 white label vinyl versions [Posh Boy #PBS 120] pressed without cover art[26] for radio promotion. Posh Boy supplied the bands for Side A, [and] SST Records the bands for Side B..."[24]
  9. Posh Boy #PBCD 120
  10. Posh Boy #PBS 22
  11. Credited to the McDonald brothers instead to Greg Hetson.[31]
  12. Posh Boy #PBS 88111-1
  13. Posh Boy #PBS 1009
  14. Posh Boy #PBS 1011. Originally a four-track test pressing, with the working title Posh Boy's Little Monsters, the record was a project intended as Social Distortion's first release, which never materialized. Instead, the band's first recordings were featured on several compilations and one single. In the liner notes for the 1987 compilation The Future Looks Brighter,[38] Robbie Fields commented:
    "... When Social Distortion recorded for Posh Boy in [April] 1981,[39] it was contemplated that [the label] would release a 12" e.p. ... Somehow PBS 1011 ... never got released and instead there were singles ... and cuts on various compilations..."
  15. According to Ken Salter, who played in a high school punk rock band called the Mongrels (1978-79) with Falling James Moreland of the Leaving Trains, Greg Hetson, who was in the group for only two weeks, stole the music of his song "Civilization" from 1978, which would be later used, first in Red Cross' song "Cover Band", recorded in October 1979, and subsequently in Circle Jerks' song "Live Fast Die Young", recorded in July 1980. According to George Hurchalla, author of Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1989, there's a demo recording that proves this.[41][42]
  16. Frontier #FLP 1002

References
  1. Rabid, Jack. "Annette's Got the Hits: AllMusic Review by Jack Rabid". AllMusic. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  2. Ankeny, Jason. "Redd Kross: Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny". AllMusic. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  3. "Redd Kross – Biography". Amoeba Music. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  4. Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. p. 83.
  5. Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005). Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. Second ed., 2016. PM Press. ISBN 9781629631134. p. 41.
  6. Chick, Stevie (Omnibus Press, 2009). Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag. Third ed., 2011. PM Press. ISBN 9781604864182. p. 269.
  7. Robbins, Ira; Schinder, Scott "Redd Kross (Red Cross)". Trouser Press. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  8. Nolte, Joe (January 3, 2004). "A few interesting dates that nobody asked for". The Last Website Forum. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  9. Chick, Stevie (Omnibus Press, 2009). Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag. Third ed., 2011. PM Press. ISBN 9781604864182. pp. 97–98.
  10. Chick, Stevie (Omnibus Press, 2009). Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag. Third ed., 2011. PM Press. ISBN 9781604864182. p. 98.
  11. Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. p. 82.
  12. Various artists, Life Is Ugly So Why Not Kill Yourself, cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  13. Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. p. 384.
  14. Various artists, The Siren. Posh Boy Records. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  15. Various artists, The Siren, cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  16. Tonooka, Tim (Fall 1981). Red Cross (EP), review. Ripper (5).
  17. Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. pp. 314-315.
  18. Red Cross (EP), 1980 release sleeve. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  19. Various artists, Beach Blvd, 1981 MC edition cover art Archived May 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  20. Red Cross (EP), 1985 reissue front cover. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  21. Red Cross (EP), 1985 reissue back cover. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  22. Yohannan, Tim (November 1985). Red Cross (EP), 1985 reissue review. Maximumrocknroll (30).
  23. Red Cross (EP), 1987 repressing sleeve. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  24. Various artists, The Future Looks Bright/Brighter. Posh Boy Records. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  25. Various artists, The Future Looks Bright Ahead, cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  26. Various artists, The Future Looks Bright, promo version sleeve. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  27. Various artists, The Future Looks Brighter, LP version cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  28. Various artists, The Future Looks Brighter, CD version cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  29. Yohannan, Tim (October 1987). Annette's Got the Hits, review. Maximumrocknroll (53).
  30. Annette's Got the Hits, 1987 release cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  31. Redd Kross, "Cover Band", cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  32. Redd Kross, "Cover Band". Posh Boy Records. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  33. Redd Kross, "Cover Band". Punky Gibbon. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  34. Various artists, The Posh E.P.'s Vol. 1. Posh Boy Records. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  35. True, Chris. "Stepmothers: Artist Biography by Chris True". AllMusic. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  36. Stepmothers, All Systems Go. Posh Boy Records. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  37. Stepmothers, All Systems Go, 12" EP reissue in a black sleeve from the 1991 box set The Posh E.P.'s Vol. 1. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  38. Various artists (1987). The Future Looks Brighter (music album). Los Angeles, California: Posh Boy Records. PBS 120. Liner notes.
  39. Social Distortion, "Mainliner"/"Playpen", cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  40. Social Distortion, untitled, 12" EP release in a black sleeve from the 1991 box set The Posh E.P.'s Vol. 1. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  41. Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005). Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. Second ed., 2016. PM Press. ISBN 9781629631134. p. 44.
  42. Salter, Ken. "Redd Kross 'Cover Band' Live at the El Rey 12/3/13" Archived October 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Ken Salter (at Google+). Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  43. Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. p. 84.
  44. Chick, Stevie (Omnibus Press, 2009). Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag. Third ed., 2011. PM Press. ISBN 9781604864182. pp. 129–130.
  45. Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. pp. 83–84.

Further reading

Magazines

  • Tonooka, Tim (Fall 1981). Red Cross (EP). Ripper (5).
  • Yohannan, Tim (November 1985). Red Cross (EP), 1985 reissue. Maximumrocknroll (30).
  • Yohannan, Tim (October 1987). Annette's Got the Hits. Maximumrocknroll (53).

Reviews

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