Youth of America

by Wipers

Overview

A grizzly, furious beast of a 30-minute record, Youth of America saw Greg Sage and his Wipers lengthening some of their material to very unfashionable lengths; many a hardcore punk band of the time could tuck a dozen songs about Reagan and fisticuffs inside the title track alone. Opposed to the compromised Is This Real?, Youth of America was engineered and recorded in-house; Sage's time spent in a professional setup for the debut LP frustrated him, and the fact that he's gained complete control here makes it seem as if a cork has been pulled from a bottle. The shackles are off and the group's own personality hits full bloom. Vocally, Sage sounds like a sleepless outcast loaded on an unhealthy amount of caffeine, fraught with a magnified level of paranoia and angst that needs immediate purging -- often, his life seems to be depending on it. "Youth of America" itself is a nightmare locomotive, a ten-minute chug through a persistent rhythm, screeching/careening/wailing guitars, and jarring psychedelic effects. The remaining five songs, which don't lessen the intensity very much, are solid in their own right and are generally more tuneful than the title track. The version of Youth of America to own is actually located on disc two of the three-disc Wipers Box Set, released in 2001 by Sage on his own label, Zeno. Since it runs at the cost of a single CD, there's no financial risk whatsoever. It's also remastered and corrects the completely bungled track order listed on the Restless edition. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	09/22/2009
Label:	Jackpot Records
UPC:	0723721209810
Rank:	44551

Tracks

1. Taking Too Long
2. Can This Be
3. Pushing the Extreme
4. When Its Over
5. No Fair
6. Youth of America

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Wipers   Primary Artist
Greg Sage   Piano,Guitar,Vocals
Brad Davidson   Bass
Dave Koupal   Bass
Brad Naish   Drums

Technical Credits

Greg Sage   Composer,Engineer,Producer
Wipers   Performer