Jealous Again

Infobox Album
Name = Jealous Again
Type = EP
Artist = Black Flag


Released = August 1980
Recorded = Media Art Studios, November 1979 and April 1980
Length = 6:34
Label = SST Records
Producer = Spot & Black Flag
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:v72vadskv8w4 link]
*Robert Christgau (B) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=black+flag link]
Last album = "Nervous Breakdown"
(EP)
(1978)
This album = "Jealous Again"
(EP)
(1980)
Next album = "Six Pack"
(EP)
(1981)

"Jealous Again" is a 12" EP that was the second release by Black Flag and the third-ever release on SST Records.

History of the EP

Although released as a 12" extended-play 45 RPM single, "Jealous Again" initially started out to be Black Flag's first full-length album.Spot with Chuck Dukowski, liner notes to "Everything Went Black", SST Records, 1982]

Spurred on by the reception to their first release, the EP "Nervous Breakdown", Black Flag entered the studio in late 1979 with new drummer ROBO and original singer Keith Morris to begin recording their first LPMichael Azzerad, "Our Band Could Be Your Life", Little Brown, 2001] . Basic tracks for all of the songs were cut live in the studio with Morris singing temporary vocal parts. Almost without warning, however, according to bassist Chuck Dukowski, Morris "smashed his records and guitar and walked out screaming for a week," quitting the band and refusing to complete the album.

The band then recruited former Redd Kross member Ron Reyes, (credited on the record as "Chavo Pederast" after a falling out with the band) to be their new vocalist; however, guitarist and band leader Greg Ginn felt he was not yet ready to record, and the tapes were put aside for several months. After several shows with Reyes, one of which was filmed for the movie "The Decline of Western Civilization", the sessions resumed, first with Ginn overdubbing new guitar parts and then Reyes doing his vocals. However, the initial attempts to record with Pederast proved fruitless when he started walking out of the vocal booth, and sometimes the studio entirely, in the middle of takes. Reyes later quit the band in the middle of a live performance, derailing the sessions entirely for a second time.

Ginn and Dukowski were already talking with another former Redd Kross member, Dez Cadena, about joining the band as a second guitarist; when Reyes quit the group, Cadena was invited to take his place. The band's producer/engineer Spot took an incentive and brought Cadena into the studio to record his own vocals for the album. Several tracks were done in one night with Cadena, but were shelved when Reyes agreed to complete the project. These new vocal sessions, according to Spot, went so smoothly that he could not resist jokingly asking Reyes, "Why didn't you quit the band before this?"

Ginn and Dukowski decided to release five tracks from the finished Reyes sessions as the 12" EP known to Black Flag fans today, and elected to make a second attempt at a debut album with Cadena as lead vocalist.

ong History

Early versions of "Revenge" and "White Minority" with Reyes on vocals, along with an early version of the "Damaged" album track "Depression", were recorded and filmed for "The Decline of Western Civilization". In the movie and on the soundtrack album, Reyes defiantly dedicates the former song to the LAPD"The Decline of Western Civilization", Spheeris Films, 1980; Media Video, 1987] "The Decline of Western Civilization" soundtrack LP, Slash Records, 1980] . Already, Black Flag (and many other LA punk bands) were getting harassed by police; it is likely that "Revenge" may have been inspired in part by the band's unprovoked encounters with them.

"White Minority", while commonly misinterpreted as borderline racistGeorge Gimarc, "Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide To Underground Rock, 1970-82", Backbeat Books, 2005] , is actually an attack on white supremacy and a mockery of racism. Given that Black Flag's lead singer at the time, Ron Reyes, was part-Hispanic, and that Ginn was a fan of black jazz and blues artists (including B.B. King, whom he idolized), it is not hard to presume that the song's sentiment is anti-racist. In addition, ROBO was Colombian, and Spot, the band's producer, was black.

"You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" initially started life as a Greg Ginn/Keith Morris composition, "I Don't Care", recorded during the original album sessions with Morris on vocals. When Morris quit the band, however, he took both "I Don't Care" and "Nervous Breakdown"'s "Wasted" (the only other Morris/Ginn songwriting collaboration under the Black Flag moniker) "Wasted" appears on the "Nervous Breakdown" EP; an alternate version cut during the aborted Morris sessions for "Jealous Again" appears on "Everything Went Black".] with him and recorded them with his new band The Circle Jerks on their debut album "Group Sex"The Circle Jerks, "Group Sex", Frontier Records, 1980] . Offended by what they saw as the missappropriation of two Black Flag songs, Dukowski wrote new lyrics to Ginn's music for "I Don't Care" and recorded what is essentially an attack on Morris and the Circle Jerks. "You Bet..." is also the first and only time Dukowski sings lead vocals on a Black Flag song.

Existing Outtakes

Outtakes from all three vocalist's attempts at recording for the EP, including Cadena's version of the title track, dominate the band's 1982 compilation double album "Everything Went Black".

Reissued Variations

*The entire "Jealous Again" EP appeared on the singles compilation "The First Four Years", but is also still available separately. It has also been reissued as a 3" CD and as a 10" vinyl EP.
*The initial CD version of "Damaged", for reasons unknown, appended the "Jealous Again" EP to the CD as bonus tracks [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=black_flag Black Flag entry] on Trouser Press Online Record Guide] .

Outside References

NOFX's 2003 album "War on Errorism" features a track titled "We Got Two Jealous Agains" about a couple (presumably Fat Mike and his wife) merging record collections.

Track listing

All songs written by Greg Ginn, except where noted.

#"Jealous Again" – 1:52
#"Revenge" – 0:59
#"White Minority" – 1:02
#"No Values" – 1:45
#"You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" (Chuck Dukowski, Ginn, Chavo Pederast, ROBO) – 0:52

Credits

*Ron Reyes - Vocals (Credited as Chavo Pederast)
*Greg Ginn - Guitar
*Chuck Dukowski - Bass; lead vocals on "You Bet..."
*ROBO - Drums
*Spot - Producer, engineer, mixer
*Raymond Pettibon - Artwork

References and footnotes