Naked Beast is the first batch of new material in decades by original members of the legendary San Francisco punk band Crime, under the moniker that shares the same name as the album. Naked Beast is an exciting experiment mixing two different bodies of work, a set of cuts rooted in late 1970s rock ‘n’ roll, much like the music they did when Crime was around but with less angst and distortion, and a magnificent group of spoken word pieces by singer and guitarist Johnny Strike recorded live some years ago. The combination is electric and never stalls or feels forced. The spoken word pieces in particular are captivating – only suitable for safe harbor. I’m very curious how they will perform this material live. One of my favorites of 2017.

RIYL: Crime, The Jesus Lizard, Jeff Bridges’ Sleeping Tapes album, Alejandro Escovedo and William Burroughs’ Call Me Burroughs.

FCC WARNING: 3, 4, 7
Recommended Tracks: 1, 2, 3 [FCC], 4 [FCC], 6, 7 [FCC], 8

1. (3:55) ** Gnostic Wolf – Medium-up rocker. Guitar driven. Solid.
2. (1:09) * The Girl From Somewhere – Brief spoken word piece with weird noises.
3. (9:07) *** Crazy Carl's Thing – FCC (Shit, Fucking). Extraordinary spoken word piece channeling Burroughs. More strange noises and slow tempo jazz-rock accompaniment.
4. (3:41) * Emergency Music Ward – FCC (Fucking). Loud guitar rocker in the spirit of Crime. Yeah!
5. (1:07) The Homeless Mutants – Another brief spoken word piece with weird noises.
6. (3:17) *** Aether Sation – Slow intro then goes medium-up tempo driven by a great beat and killer guitar riff. Play it!
7. (2:00) ** Ports Of Hell– FCC (Assholes, Fucking, Fucked). Brief spoken word recording. From the same session as track 3.
8. (2:38) *** Remote Viewers – The closest you’ll get to Crime in this century. Upbeat and loud.