People are asking, so I guess I have to say something.
LISTEN BEFORE YOU BUY!!
This was done almost totally behind my back. Intentionally.
It was not “overseen by the band”, as their press release claims. I was deliberately locked out. Not one person from the band or the labels reached out to me at all. Nor did Chris Lord-Alge, who did the remix. I guess he didn’t care, or value anything I brought to the band at all. Without me those songs wouldn’t exist.
In fact, it took several letters from a lawyer for their “manager”, Kevin Raleigh, to cough up much detail of what they were up to.
So is it really, “adding depth without losing any of its original energy”??
Not to my ears!!
Sure, some people may like this version a little better, depending on taste. But, “incredible new clarity”? “Taking the music from 2D to 3D?”
I don’t think so! What does that even mean, anyway? I hate to say this, but to me it’s….well….kinda boring.
Sure, the sound is a little fuller, a little warmer, with a little more bottom end. But the top-end presence and power, so crucial to full-on in your face Punk, sounds rolled off and smoothed over, even muffly.
And East Bay Ray, whose ego knows no bounds, actually turned his guitars DOWN! They’re lower and a little muddier than the real thing. It just sounds weak to me, I’m sorry.
And why was Chris Lord-Alge chosen in the first place?? Sure, he’s bigtime Hollywood, as big as it gets. But there’s so many others with a better more heartfelt grasp of what Dead Kennedys really is, who I think could have done a better job.
Al Jourgensen and Geza X both told me they’d love to do it. Who did Turbo Negro’s “Apocalypse Dudes”? That would have been amazing. Matt Bayles? Andy Wallace, anyone?
Hell, I could have hooked up with one of my ace engineering partners, Matt Kelley, Kurt Schlegel, Toshi Kasai or Geza, and done a better job myself — for a fraction of the cost. They spent at least three times more money on Lord-Alge than it cost to make the original album!!
Did that make it three times better than the original?
Again – Listen before you buy.
Yes, Lord-Alge has mixed or remixed Springsteen, Madonna, Celine Dion, the Stones, Linkin Park, Donny Osmond, The Jonas Brothers, even Rascal Flatts. A closet full of Grammy awards, and patents on some serious studio gear.
Major label Pop Punk too – a Bad Religion, some Green Day, Good Charlotte, SUM 41; and our favorite OG pioneer, Avril Lavigne.
But Dead Kennedys?? Why??!? Because Raleigh and the Lord-Alge brothers go way back to Cleveland??
I admit I’d had thoughts about remixing “Fresh Fruit..” too, way back when. Catch it up to “FrankenChrist” and “Plastic Surgery Disasters”.
Then Tim (Lint) from Operation Ivy asked me what I thought of their now-classic album he gave me, hot off the presses. I said I thought it came out a little tinny, “It sounds like ‘Fresh Fruit..’” He looked me right in the eye, and said, “We like ‘Fresh Fruit.’”
Thank you, Tim Armstrong!! Lesson learned. Don’t mess with the magic. Especially when it means that much to people.
Hell, if you really want a true RE-mix album, don’t do a faithful, near-carbon copy of the original. Go all the way!!
Get Jourgensen, or get Charlie Clouser, or anyone from the Rob/White Zombie remix albums. Or better yet, get a top, interested Hip-Hop person, or even Electronic people, and really go to town!
That’s the true art of the remix to me – slice, dice, add your own beats and make it into something fresh and different.
In October, 2019, Matti Ingham from Cherry Red, along with East Bay Ray’s Facebook page, posted a remixed “Chemical Warfare”, along with a press release bragging that I thought it was “terrible”; as though that was some kind of clever genius “promotion”.
https://www.punknews.org/article/73449/dead-kennedys-remix-chemical-warfare-will-re-release-remixed-debut-in-2021
Shit-talk the heart and soul of the band, that’ll spark more interest and sales for sure!
If someone at Alternative Tentacles did something that petty and unprofessional, I would fire them on the spot.
Then a year ago, out of the blue, Cherry Red sent me a test pressing. No letter, no followup.
I listened. No, I don’t think it’s “terrible.“ But I’m not sure I’d fork over 30 bills for it either. It’s not, “Like hearing your favorite album for the first time all over again”, or anything like that.
The cool part for me is that I then went through every damn re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-Re-issue of “Fresh Fruit..” (Cherry Red again). And Boy, some of them sound WAY better than I remembered!! So full-on, sopowerful. I’m even more proud if it now than I think I’ve been in years.
It really was like, “hearing it again for the very first time”. It sounds like it was made yesterday.
Thanx in no small part to the great Oliver DiCicco (yes, the sculptor) our engineer at Mobius Music who made it all happen – and he’d never made a Punk record before. Good job, my friend!
Ray is now claiming he produced the whole thing himself, when is was actually the three of us, credited to Oliver’s wonderful and inspirational cat, Norm. He’s also claiming he originally designed the DK logo! Yeh, and Trump won the election..
So if you really want to hear “Fresh Fruit” at its best, chances are you already have. For me, the best sounding “Fresh Fruit”s are:
1) The UK remaster we made Cherry Red do when we arrived in London in 1980. From the purple-dot back cover onward, look for “A Porky Prime Cut” scratched in the grooves. That’s George Peckham, maybe the best mastering engineer I’ve ever heard.
2) The remaster George Horn and I did at Fantasy in Berkeley, when AT finally got the US license back from Cherry Red. It really holds up well. I’d thought Porky blew him away. Nope..
3) The short lived Japanese LP on Trio, way back in the early 80’s.
I’m not sure Lord-Alge and Ray’s remix even cracks my Top 10. Maybe…
The Wikipedia bio describes the Lord-Alges as, “known for molding mixes for small speakers and FM radio”. If that’s your bag, this is the “Fresh Fruit..” for you.
But is it, “A revolutionary must hear experience”? You decide.
Just LISTEN BEFORE YOU BUY.
Please.
Dave Miller
July 12, 2022 (22:44)
Maybe you should have paid the rest of the band their share of the royalties you fucking hypocrite and none of this would have happened.
Philmore Graves
July 14, 2022 (10:38)
Awwww,does it hurt your feelings Dave? How bout you go defalcate into both hands & then start clapping. Go be a bitch somewhere else
Jono11
July 15, 2022 (23:00)
He should have! Doesn’t make what the band has done the past 25 years any less bullshit though
Alex
July 12, 2022 (22:54)
For me, if Jello has nothing yo do with it, don’t buy it
Frenchdude
July 15, 2022 (01:13)
Jello was invited to be the major artist ,singer and Monsieur Loyal for Damo the Musical recorded inSydney , Straya ..To me Jello is a great and lovely man , many of my mates told me he was really touched to be on stage with The Celibate Rifles singing songs in memory of Damien Lovelock ! He was a fantastic frontman for DK , saw the in NYC last century and oh my what a blast ! If Jello say this recording is lame well I do trust the man
mike brown
July 13, 2022 (03:22)
Thanks for the wisdom, Jello. I will not be touching this remix, and instead will look for one of the better re-re-re-re issues you mentioned. 😉
Peace, and long live the DK’s legend!
Cain Zek Smithers
July 13, 2022 (05:42)
Theory Vs Query
David Wall
July 13, 2022 (20:27)
Very important music of my youth, but after 42 years I can’t really see the relevance. I clearly don’t know the whole story of the rift between Jello and the band, but I certainly don’t have much interest in DK without Jello or the band. They stopped being a band it happens. Get over it. If we are still willing to spend our money on a 42 year old record there is something wrong. Might as well listen to CCR or some other shit like that.
Jello Biafra criticizes the new reissue of Dead Kennedys - News Today
July 14, 2022 (13:13)
[…] the website of alternate tentacles — the Biafra-owned label that lost the rights to the Kennedys’ discography in 2000 — […]
rabirius
July 15, 2022 (06:10)
I don’t really understand the obsession with all the remastering anyway. A lot of new masters sound quite unlike the original version. A lot of them loose the dynamics and other instruments are in the foreground, giving the music completely different feel.
That said, I will hold on to my old “Fresh Fruits…”.
Rico vanian
July 18, 2022 (19:25)
Old punks are even more annoying than old hippies
grogogoll
July 31, 2022 (17:03)
it’s logical but what does it matter monsieur nagging ?
OzColin
July 18, 2022 (22:56)
Fresh Fruit was my first intoduction to DK’s and is my fave. If anything Bedtime needs a remix and removal of all that reverb.
Aaron Lyttle
July 19, 2022 (05:16)
By the looks I’m guessing any chance of the original DKs playing live together again isn’t on the cards any time soon!?
Andrew
July 20, 2022 (05:11)
I’m sorry ( not literally) it’s not Dead Kennedy’s without Jello
Jello Biafra dit que la nouvelle réédition de Dead Kennedys a été faite "intentionnellement" dans son dos - TRENDBUDDIES.COM
August 5, 2022 (07:57)
[…] gens demandent, alors je suppose que je dois dire quelque chose”, a-t-il écrit sur Tentacules alternatives, le site Web de son label indépendant. “ECOUTE AVANT D’ACHETER […]
Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" Gets a 2022 Anniversary Remix Release 9/30 (Listen Here) - Rock Cellar Magazine
September 20, 2022 (05:13)
[…] who dropped an angry press-release via his label Alternative Tentacles insulting everyone involved. His entire release is HERE, and he eventually sums up his missive as a cautionary “LISTEN BEFORE YOU […]
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables 2022 Mix – Album Review – Punk-Rocker
September 28, 2022 (01:41)
[…] Kennedys singer, co-songwriter and head honcho at Alternative Tentacles Jello Biafra issued a caveat emptor warning in July ahead of this release. His blog on the AT website is worth reading and addresses some of my […]
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables 2022 Mix – Simply Commodities
September 28, 2022 (02:42)
[…] Kennedys singer, co-songwriter and head honcho at Alternative Tentacles Jello Biafra issued a caveat emptor warning in July ahead of this release. His blog on the AT website is worth reading and addresses some of my […]
Christopher Bickel
September 30, 2022 (06:14)
I own a crazy number of different pressings of this, one of my favorite albums. So of course I had to get the new remix. I half expected to feel ripped off, but upon first listen I’m kind of blown away by it. It edges on “too modern” of a sound, but remains pretty faithful to the original mix — except that you can hear everything a lot clearer. Especially Jello’s vocals, which surprised me a bit — I figured Ray and Klaus would have turned him down in the mix. Ray’s guitar tone sounds different to me. I wonder if Lord-Alge reprocessed it in any way or if it’s just better EQ’d. Packaged in a nice gatefold with a sort of corny insert with a lot of needless quotes from people like Dave Grohl. Nice pressing on heavy vinyl. The mix is punchy and powerful without being overmodulated. I’m kind of shocked at how much I like it since it’s not the one drilled into my brain from repeated listens. A worthy companion to the Alternative Tentacles original IMO. I hate the circumstances under which it came out with all the inter-band animosity, but I’m also just a huge fan of the music and I’m gonna wanna hear any variation. I just happen to think they did a good job with this one.