Cheifs

Slipping through the cracks of time, L.A. outfit Cheifs once played with the likes of punk rock legends Black Flag, Circle Jerks and X. Unfortunately, they haven't maintained the same prestige and clout as their former gig mates over the past three decades. Mostly forgotten, other than in a few small groups, the band's simplistic drive and trashy essence are quite enthralling. Striving to remedy their obscurity and reward those in-the-know, this release of their collected works from 1980 to 1982 packs 13 tracks into one album yet still wraps up in under a half-hour. No wonder they fell below the radar. Essentially, the band's drive is modestly similar to Dez-era Black Flag, but they're clearly a band more responsible for inspiring the scene's punk rock'n'roll and pop offshoots. For the former, four-chord tracks blend a raunchy guitar sound and rolling vocal delivery together in the same manner as Rocket from the Crypt and Electric Frankenstein, while the latter side shows up via shades of Vandals and (much later) Teenage Bottlerocket. Regardless, while the end result has left Cheifs somewhat in the dust, hopefully this comprehensive retrospective offers them some degree of infamy.