Face Value

Remember when Drew Carey used to run around the beginning of his comedy show singing about how Cleveland rocks? It's kind of true, but not in the way he meant it. To real punters, Cleveland is the home of bands like Nine Shocks Terror and other super-aggressive acts. Before them though, Face Value set the hardcore standard. That's what Rode Hard, Put Away Wet endeavours to prove with this CD/DVD compilation of their work, spanning from 1989 to 1993. Kicking off with 31 tracks pulled from the likes of their The Price Of Maturity LP and a few EPs, the sound quality is Misfits-esque, but when relaying tunes that are clearly the result of embracing Minor Threat and 7 Seconds, that's somewhat expected. It amplifies the passion and vigour of something not quite revolutionary, but still an important cog to one scene's general progress. The DVD side of the coin is modestly amusing, with its picture of the Cleveland scene at the time painted via Face Value shows in that era. Juvenile, uppity and as bare-bones as hardcore can possibly be, Rode Hard, Put Away Wet is a wonderful document of a band that flew under the radar in their prime and won't ever receive their due, aside from something as heartfelt as this.