Misfits – Misfits

Until being covered and cited as an influence by a high-profile section of the thrash metal and hard rock populace, the Misfits had not experienced national level exposure. In spite of a cult following and the aforementioned reverence from their infinitely more visible and appealing scions, much of the Misfits' material was only available on bootlegs or out-of-print EPs and 45s. How were music consumers in the digital era who had missed out on experiencing the Misfits' horror-inclined brand of hardcore punk supposed to expand or even gain their knowledge? A belated response to this demand reared its ugly yet welcome head in 1986, three years after the band's separation. "The Misfits", a 20-track anthology that not only boasted all the early highlights in their crude and loud original versions, highly collectible remixes, alternate takes, and re-edits, but also the inceptive digital transfers of "London Dungeon" and "Ghouls' Night Out," the B-sides of the "Night of the Living Dead" single, was one of many single-disc attempts to assimilate and draw attention to a very messy legacy.

Considering how much duplication and convolution exists in the Misfits' discography, streamlining and compaction is necessary. Only a concentrated dose of punk's daunting and macabre offshoot is liable to favourably enlighten and hold one's attention, especially for those barely accustomed to the hardcore and underground milieu. "The Misfits" filters out a variety of the treasurable and listenable pieces from several sources and arranges them reasonably congruously with improved sound quality. As jarringly manic, creepy and instrumentally amateurish as each and every track appears to be at first listen, they are in fact among the catchiest and well-executed examples of punk. From larger-than-life aural assaults "Teenagers From Mars" and "I Turned Into A Martian" to twisted classics "Die, Die My Darling" and "Mommy Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?", the prevailing warp-speed sonic murk is given an even greater melodic boost when heard in this comprehensible configuration.

Rating: 5/5

OK Misfits fiend i have owned this several times on vinyl and CD can anyone tell me on the back it says "contains previously unreleased versions" to me most of these sound identical to their counterparts on other releases I always thought of this as a kind of best of the misfits rather than rarities or unreleased maybe it's just my knacked ears and the misfits recording history is a minefield so does anyone know what the deal is is it just a best of or are these different takes of the album/EP songs?

i have got a 1 sided test pressing of this album from revolver records cant find any info on it white label with date stamp on a generic sleeve looks to be side one on the lp seem like some sort of sampler spoke to of revolver records and they said there would have been around 10 only pressed at a max may have been half that i have got someone looking into it for me but said this is extremely rare