Agent Orange

Sonic Snake Sessions

BY Stuart GreenPublished Aug 1, 2003

Culled from the three mid-‘80s Enigma releases from one of the founders of the West Coast pop punk movement, this two-disc set features the underappreciated This is the Voice full-length and the When You Least Expect It EP on the first disc with the Real Live Sound live album on the second. Both discs serve a specific purpose. The Enigma material captures a band in transition, some would say in decline, from that of punk band to skinny tie-wearing Jam wannabes. While there's no denying the music slowed down and took a decidedly more Mod turn in their later years (due largely to the slick production of the TITV album), it was no less driving. The live record shows that songs like "Fire in the Rain" and "Tearing Me Apart" sound right at home in a concert setting beside the legendary "Bloodstains.”
(Rykodisc)

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