Saturday, March 26, 2011

S.N.F.U - ...And No One Else Wanted To Play lp

"Hey man, you guys S.N.F.U?"
"Very much so..."

In my never ending effort to bring you the finest in Canadian punk and hardcore, today let's talk S.N.F.U. Of course you know them already. They are freaking punk rock legends, not just for Canada, but the world.

I was digging around a local used record store last weekend and came across a sealed, brand new copy of the "Open Your Mouth and Say Mr Chi Pig" documentary. I have been wanting to see this for some time so I bought it right away and headed home to watch.


Wow. I have never been so bummed in my life. Two hours of watching one of the most energetic and best front men ever to hit a stage slowly lose grip of his mental and physical health, age about 60 years, and end up homeless, toothless and drugged out in the grimy streets of East Vancouver. Depressing.
Enough of this - come on let's get happy!

"...And No One Else Wanted To Play" was S.N.F.U's first full length album released back in 1984 on BYO Records.


My copy of this record is the second press. The picture on the cover is a drawn version of the Dianne Arbus photo, "Child With Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park". The first press used the actual photo, but that got pulled because the band used the picture without permission from the artist's estate.
I guess they thought drawing it would be ok, but that second press also got pulled and they had to go with a completely different cover for all the subsequent pressings that pretty much sucks. The tour cover is pretty awesome, but I digress.

Musically this album is perfect. Stunningly good. Every song is permanently etched in the DNA of every western Canadian punk over the age of 30. Shaun, am I right?

A lot of people pretty much think the band was at its best at this stage. Pretty hard to argue with that, but I love all their stuff. As long as Chi Pig, Marc and Brent Belke were playing - it was magic.

Time to listen to Misfortune. I'm out.
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12 comments:

  1. shaun citrusMarch 26, 2011 at 9:59 PM

    If it wasn't for SNFU i would never have gotten involved in hardcore/punk. That's why it bums me out to see how bad SNFU is these days. Chi is a shell of his former self. But man, those first 3 records before they broke up the first time are classics!!

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  2. biopunkMarch 30, 2011 at 12:27 AM

    This western Canadian punk over the age of 30 agrees!

    Nice to see that particular cover, the one I haven't seen for over 25 years...

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. MikeMarch 30, 2011 at 1:07 PM

    I own a CD for Better Than a Stick. I've probably listened to it about 5 times over 20 years. Is it worth revisiting, or should I go deeper into the band's catalog?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 16, 2011 at 9:47 PM

    Nice post! I have four copies of this album, each with a different cover:
    1. The original with the actual photo of the boy with the toy grenade.
    2. The second press which you've posted here
    3. The ever popular version with the boy's slaughtered body spread all over a living room.
    4. Then I have one that has an illustration of a boy with a rifle in his hands and his parents behind him looking at him and smiling in front of a Christmas tree (all three wearing green bathrobes) - this one's on red vinyl. Even Shawn Stern of BYO records couldn't give me any background info on this version.
    Do you know anything about this version?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. BasarabaMarch 2, 2013 at 11:46 PM

      Want to sell your red vinyl copy?

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMay 27, 2013 at 7:56 AM

      When they tried to think of a album cover to replace 2, they came up with a few designs, two of them got printed. The lesser-seen one is 4.

      Delete
  5. Doug WApril 18, 2011 at 2:16 PM

    The cover sounds like the tour press the band had made up when the Arbus original covers were pulled. They show one in the Chi Pig doc. Take a look and see if it looks the same.

    Color vinyl though? I don't know. I have never heard anything about color vinyl for this record at all. The original tour press was on black vinyl. That's for sure. It might even be a bootleg.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousApril 18, 2011 at 4:47 PM

    Thanks, Doug!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousMay 28, 2011 at 9:02 AM

    re: red vinyl and no one else / family guns cover - i am sure your copy is legitimate. i also have a copy, which i purchased at their show in montreal.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 8:18 AM

    Those weird "gun cover" lp's were legit. I have a copy on black vinyl which has the same vinyl as the original pressing. I have never met anyone who knows numbers for the SNFU colored vinyl for the BYO releases. That's probably why it goes for a fair amount of cash on the Bay. BYO and a lot of those old labels didn't keep very good records of the number of colored copies, as they probably weren't envisioning anyone caring in a couple of years let alone 20+ years.
    Dave Sams

    ReplyDelete
  9. patDecember 8, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    I have that version and at least 2 others (possibly 3 still) including the original photo cover and they are in great condition...thinking of passing them on if anyone is interested since I don't have room for my collection anymore...just make an offer...pbradfor@utah.gov

    ReplyDelete
  10. tobeistobexDecember 11, 2013 at 6:32 PM

    I sold merch for them on that tour for their omaha show after they played. I got two t-shirts and and a first pressing. The one I had was a drawn version.

    ReplyDelete

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