Teenage Hate / F**k Elvis Here's the Reatards

Before the late Jay Reatard started making punk records that were colored in the slightly rosier hues of British pop-punk (think the Undertones, Toy Dolls, Buzzcocks), he made exhilarating, sneering, garage-fume-driven punk rock. Reatard, who died at the maddeningly and tragically early age of 29 in 2010, made these recordings back in 1998 and earlier; F** Elvis Here’s the Reatards (tracks 30 - 39) was a rough, primitive cassette that came before his 1998 debut LP on Goner Records, Teenage Hate (tracks 1-18). Also included in this astonishing package is another collection of early cassette recordings (tracks 19 - 29), serving alongside the Elvis batch as the most raw, formidable Reatard recordings. They are sure to please serious fans and collectors. Whether it’s the pure, time traveled punk of “I’m So Gone,” the bluesy yowl of “Memphis Blues,” or the stomping ’60 garage rock of “I Lie To,” Reatard was punk rock incarnate ... though his heart may have pumped tattoo-black ink instead of crimson-red blood. The man rocked hard, but sadly lived harder; his relatively small catalog of music covers a surprising breadth of style. This collection is the critical starting point.