When DMZ made their debut on Sire, it was as disappointing as major-label debuts by fellow Bostonians Private Lightning, the Nervous Eaters, and Willie Alexander's Boom Boom Band. As Alexander's locally produced demos by Dr. the Medics madman Craig Leon (who also produced the Ramones) were superior to the final product by Willie on MCA (also produced by Leon), the Turtles' wacky Flo Eddie just didn't know what to do with DMZ. Four Craig Leon-produced tracks released on BOMP -- which is the parent company of Voxx -- and five demo tapes that were recorded on four-track comprise this excellent collection. When I Get Off was the number two Garage Record of the Year in 1978 in Boston's -Real Paper, and it is a psychedelic masterpiece. The dueling guitars, slashing riff, and great Corraccio bass complement Mono Mann aka Jeff Connolly's blitzkrieg vocals. Here is a slice of pyschedlia that is the fans outdoing the bands they idolize. Also, as with Willie Alexander's demos, it seems Craig Leon did a much better job on smaller budgets. The lyrics are sexist, but fun in Barracuda -- definitely not the Heart song -- Lift up Your Hood, and the aforementioned When I Get Off. There is also a cool cover of Roky Erickson's You're Gonna Miss Me and a fantastic album jacket of the band photographed at what looks like the Rat nightclub inside a red background covered in barbed wire fence. There's even a cool inside joke, Bomb records instead of Bomp, the famous label founded by Greg Shaw. A definite statement about the heart and soul of demos having a special something major-label homogenization fails to establish. Rudy Martinez of Question Mark the Mysterians has even covered a Connally composition written for Mono Mann Jeff's current group, the Lyres. ~ Joe Viglione, Rovi

1		Busy Man
2		Can't Stand the Pain
3		When I Get Off
4		Do Not Enter
5		Guilty Child
6		Shirt Loop
7		Lift Up Your Hood
8		Bloody Englishmen
9		First Time
10		Oedipus Show
11		Might He I.D.
12		Pretty Girl

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