With the economy in the toilet, it seems no surprise that a number of the working class political-punk bands from the 80’s have been resurfacing. Reagan Youth just played “Punk Island” and Citizen Fish (featuring 2 members of Subhumans + Jasper + Silas) are playing tonight at the Knitting Factory.

From The Cradle to the Grave (Subhumans’ second release) originally came out in 1983 and shows the band’s songwriting maturing. The band’s message hasn’t changed substantially across the first two discs but the music on The Cradle to the Grave is diverse and stretches far beyond the two-minute punk anthems which were on The Day The Country Died. The music on this disc range from the ska-influenced “Us Fish Must Swim Together” (which starts with a flamingo guitar intro), the claustrophobic Dead Kennedys sounding “Wake Up Screaming” and the sprawling 17-minute birth-to-death prog-rock opus “From the Cradle to the Grave”. A point of comparison for this last track would be The Damned’s 1980 song “Curtain Call”.

Singer/lyricist Dick writes in-depth lyrics where the core themes rage against complacency and a society that boxes youth in at a young age. This isn’t preachy rhetoric but rather fairly telling observations on life in the cold war military-industrial complex era of the early 80’s.

Southern has done a brilliant job with their reissues of the first four Subhumans’ disc. (The final two discs are due out this Tuesday). The sound has been remastered from the original analogue tapes and the original lyric book and poster is included in each of the digi-packs.

Subhumans/Citizen Fish have been in town for a few shows this weekend . Citizen Fish finishes up the weekend with a show tonight at the Knitting Factory. Sharing the bill with Citizen Fish are A-Heads (DOWNLOAD: Changing Places Demo) and Ray Gradys (from Philly). Tickets are $12.

Links:
Citizen Fish/Subhumans Website