The Germs - M.I.A.: The Complete Anthology (1993)

There are other collections with rarer material out there, notably the live Germicide and Media Blitz, but unless one is a rabid must-have-everything-Crash-breathed-on fanatic, (MIA) is everything one could ever want from the Germs in one perfect collection. Not simply a reissue of (GI) – thus the joke of the title – (MIA) pulls together everything from the very first recordings to the last efforts of the classic lineup, namely six songs done for the film Cruising. Only one was ever actually released on the soundtrack, "Lions Share", so hearing the others in studio form is welcome and long overdue, including the only Crash/Lorna Doom co-write, the brusque strutter "Now I Hear the Laughter". The debut single, the primitive blast "Forming", and its hilarious, chaotic live B-side, "Sexboy", bottles breaking while Crash practically attacks the audibly scared audience, understandably start the collection. Meanwhile, the alternate "Forming 2" (featuring DJ Bonebrake and recorded by Chris Ashford, as compared to the un-produced and proud of it original) wraps it up just as well. All three tracks from the Lexicon Devil EP appear, including the slightly slower original recording of the title song and the sly, self-referential "Circle One", as well as two selections from the "What We Do Is Secret" EP, with Bonebrake again turning up on a live rip through Chuck Berry's "Round and Round". To be fair, on that number Crash reaches new depths of sheer incoherence. In terms of presentation, one couldn't ask for more – even the CD case itself has a classic Germs blue tint. (~ AMG)


It's a shame that the Germs are better known for their trashy, charismatic singer Darby Crash's demise than for their music, because M.I.A.: THE COMPLETE ANTHOLOGY proves that they were easily one of the best bands on the LA punk scene in the late 1970s. (According to legend, Crash's fatal overdose wasn't an accident, but a deliberate homage to his idol, Sid Vicious, in an attempt for gruesome rock & roll immortality. Unfortunately, John Lennon was murdered around the same time, and Crash's death never made a blip on the media radar). The aptly named collection begins with the astonishingly primitive, yet bizarrely compelling and genuinely hilarious, first single "Forming" (a later re-recording with X drummer D.J. Bonebrake closes the set). M.I.A. also includes the entirety of the chaotic, furious WHAT WE DO IS SECRET release and the streamlined, Joan Jett produced "GI" album, plus six previously unreleased songs recorded for a film soundtrack shortly before Crash's death. This 30-track compilation traces the too-brief career of a group that had perhaps more untapped potential than any other American punk band of their time.

Tracklist:

01. Forming
02. Sex Boy [live]
03. Lexicon Devil
04. Circle One
05. No God
06. What We Do Is Secret
07. Communist Eyes
08. Land Of Treason
09. Richie Dagger's Crime
10. Strange Notes
11. American Leather
12. Lexicon Devil
13. Manimal
14. Our Way
15. We Must Bleed
16. Media Blitz
17. The Other Newest One
18. Let's Pretend
19. Dragon Lady
20. The Slave
21. Shut Down (Annihilation Man)
22. Caught In My Eye
23. Round And Round
24. My Tunnel
25. Throw It Away
26. Not All Right
27. Now I Hear The Laughter
28. Going Down
29. Lions Share
30. Forming [2]

• Darby Crash - vocals
• Pat Smear - guitar
• Lorna Doom - bass
• Don Bolles, Donna Rhia, Nicky Beat - drums

Original Release Date: August 3, 1993
Release Date: October 17, 2000
Label: Rhino / WEA (Slash)
Catalog No.: R2 79954-2