Greg Ginn-Getting Even (1993)

 

Artist: Greg Ginn

Title:  Getting Even

Label: Cruz Records

Format: CD

Cat #: CRZ CD 029

Year of Release: 1993

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1993

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 12/18/21

Sell Price: $3.49

Discogs Last Sold: 10/28/21 $4.25 M/M

Low: $0.99

Median: $3.70

Average: $3.21

High: $5.68

Current low price: $1.00

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 23

Have/Want: 121/16

Where Sold: Troy, MI

Time it took to sell: 6 years

Where and When Bought: Smash or Sounds on St. Marks, guessing Smash $1 crate outside

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go: No

Greg's post-Black Flag career took a turn back to punk rock in the mid 90's.  Greg took over the vocals.  One of the most distinctive guitarists in any genre, these riffs sounded a little rehashed but life affirming all the same.  The format had changed away from slower and heavier or instrumental like The Process of Weeding Out.  Here it is all buzzbomb speed  in the short burst missives that started him off.

Greg played guitar and bass on this, as well as sang.  When Getting Even came out I enjoyed the sound and I still enjoyed it in headphones today.  Vocals seemed little murky but I like vocals buried.  Oddly enough they sound more upfront as I'm streaming this while typing on shitty laptop speakers.  

My (and Greg's) personal aesthetics notwithstanding, listening to this made me realize what made Black Flag BLACK FLAG, one of the greatest bands of all time.  I have to say it: theatre.  Anarchy. Star frontmen.  People in and out, great players all.  This album sounds like a demo that could be fleshed out.

I know Greg took this period on the road.  I saw him at CBGB's either for this album or the Dick album that came the next year.  He played to 30 people that night, some punks from Jersey and did a set of new ones and hits.  He sang 'em all.  My feeling was he can do what he wants, he wrote 'em but I'd rather he shut up and play.  The vocalIST makes his material important, not merely good.

Because of this, a song like "Pig MF" (Motherfucker, duh!) falls flat and seems formulaic.  This could be fleshed out better with a charismatic frontman that Greg is not.  You need someone out front that LIVES that brutality.   Ginn IS a charismatic guitarist and character.   "Yes Officer" addresses the same theme to better effect.   "Jealous Again" live and the other early Black Flag this with this unit were depressing.  No wonder he brought Ron Reyes back as long as he could stand it after dropping this phase of his career a couple years after he started it with reverse 'N' logo.  If you want nostalgia, Flag probably does a better job, although the Benefit For Cats shows I witnessed in LA around 2002 were worth the 9/11 anniversary flight from NYC.  A crowd pleasing showman lurks in the dark recesses of Greg Ginn's mind if he really wants to go there.

It might seem like I'm pissing and moaning on a record I like.  For me, Greg Ginn is one of the most influential players in terms of playing aesthetic and overall vision.  In terms of laying out a touring circuit, building a decades lasting infrastructure and sheer time playing, Ginn is in his own league.   I've seen him in various formats: the end of Black Flag and opening with Gone,  this era, the Benefit For Cats reunion in LA, a solo instrumental band tour in a singer songwriter bar, the reunion tour with Reyes to 800 people, the next Black Flag lineup with some anonymous kids and even at the Iridium  to 25 people where Les Paul's backing trio came out every Monday night to back whoever played around 10 years ago.  Now THAT was interesting to watch.  More interesting than Greg's laptop and guitar set he was touring on.  A big part of this vision is to switch it up and keep moving on.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn't.  That he set a high bar with Black Flag's first decade doesn't really matter, except maybe to the critical listener and the casual one.  You like it or you don't.

The mission, first and foremost, is to think freely, after all.