Asking when “Americana” became a thing isn’t a real fruitful pursuit. Did it start with Uncle Tupelo at the dawn of the ’90s? Or maybe it was when X’s country-punk alter-ego, The Knitters (also featuring Blaster Dave Alvin), formed in the mid-’80s. Perhaps Paul Westerberg penning “If Only You Were Lonely” as the B-side of The Replacements first single? The truth is, blues, country, r & b, rockabilly, etc., etc., have always run through the veins of rock and roll and, yes, punk. But if you want to find where punk attitude and volume were first fused most directly to those early lineages, The Blasters is as good a ground zero as any.

 

Formed in 1979 in Downey, California, home of Karen Carpenter, The Blasters hit the roughest, toughest joints in LA when punks at the Starwood might pelt you with bottles, earning them the respect of everyone from Black Flag to the Gun Club. With brothers Phil and Dave Alvin bringing the wailing voice and whip-smart songwriting, respectively, the initial, four-piece line-up also featured the swinging rhythm section of John Bazz on bass and Bill Bateman on drums.

The first four songs on this new 21-song anthology are from The Blasters first LP, American Music, which saw that initial quartet recording in the garage of their label boss, Ronnie Weiser of Rollin’ Rock Records. That record was largely covers, but did contain some originals, including the first stab at “Marie Marie,” The Blasters best known song. They were clearly already an excellent band, but when you get to track four on Mandatory, the second take of “Marie Marie,” this time done for Slash (and later picked up by Warner Bros.), it’s like the world goes technicolor, and a band that has been working a potentially limited genre suddenly transcends it entirely. Some of that is also attributable to the addition of Gene Taylor on piano, as well as Lee Allen and Steve Berlin on tenor and baritone sax, respectively, making The Blasters a formidable seven-piece.

From there, Mandatory covers the high points from The Blasters’ three studio albums, and there are many high points. From that eponymous Slash/Warners album there’s the stomping anthem of shame and regret “No Other Girl,” and the wonderful, melancholic ode to loneliness and international signal “Border Radio.”  In addition to writing fantastic tunes and playing stinging guitar, Dave Alvin seemingly had an incredible talent for observational lyrics right out of the box. The aforementioned “No Other Girl” contains a typically great line when, in the midst of his frantic night, the singer tosses in the slice-of-life couplet, “The busboy speaks in Spanish; the waitress checks her hair.” I love that kinda stuff.

The Blasters’ second album, Non-Fiction, is perhaps my favorite, and this collection contains some of its best tunes, including the wistful lost love anthem, “Red Rose.” There is also “Long White Cadillac,” about Hank Williams’ last ride, which was made much more famous (and slowed down considerably) by a guy who shared the stage with The Blasters in his early days, Dwight Yoakam.

By the time 1985’s Hard Line was released, the first album’s getting-ready-to-rock excitement and Non-Fiction’s I’ll-pay-for-this-tomorrow party gave way to something much darker and troubled. In fact, the album starts off with “Trouble Bound,” which is also included on this collection. With Dave and Phil increasingly at odds over musical direction and volatility building, this would be the last album to feature both brothers. While much slower and more esoteric, songs like “Little Honey” (co-written with X’s John Doe) and “Help You Dream” have plenty of depth and The Blasters manage to cover pretty much every dusty corner of the world of roots music on what would be the band’s last album of largely original music, although there have been albums of covers and live recordings as The Blasters continued over the years.

By 1986 Dave Alvin had joined X for a brief tenure before moving onto a storied solo career that continues to this day. Happily, Dave and Phil have performed together again as The Blasters for some original line-up reunions, and collaborated on a couple of albums of blues covers. But this is where it all started, and if you want to hear some rock and roll played with plenty of sweat and passion, Mandatory is pretty much mandatory. The CD digipak has some great flyer reproductions and liner notes by LA music writer, Chris Morris. Sure, I might’ve liked a few more outtakes or rarities—here you’ll only find Hard Line outtake “Kathleen” and two songs from the Streets Of Fire soundtrack—but I suspect there really aren’t any. And when you want to hear more, you can always just go and pick up the albums themselves!

Rating: A-

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