UNKNOWN p.28, Summer 1987
--------------------

[This fanzine article also featured a photo of the Beware bootleg 7".]

(13)THE MISFITS Evil Live (Caroline), Beware 7" EP
(Bootleg): The Misfits are such a hot item these days, it's not surprising
they keep repackaging old product.  The Evil Live EP was originally a fan
club 7" EP in '82 or so.  A few years later it was rereleased as a 12" and
even the people with the 7" bought it for the superior quality (not crammed
in like the 7").  Now here it is again, repackaged as a full length LP that
we have to buy again for the handful of previously unreleased tracks.
Grumblings aside, though, Evil Live is still a surprisingly good record.
Having seen Misfits in their various incarnations over six or seven years,
I know I"m not alone in feeling that the last few years with Doyle on
guitar were their low point as a live band and their high point as a live
act; they were more a visual experience than aural (Doyle was such a lousy
guitarist, so often out of tune, so many badly played parts and missed
notes).  So how did he play so well on Walk Among Us and on these tracks,
or did Glenn Danzig have to listen to 100 tapes befre he found quality
stuff?  Arthur Googey and Jerry Only were always a solid rhythm section, and
as he did live, Danzig steals the show here; if he isn't the modern Elvis
Presley, Lux Interior sure ain't!  Total chest-out rolling tanks of muscle,
Misfits flesh grind, a 100% "attitude" recor, and of course, H. Rollins
helps out on 'We are 138.'  We'd prefer a live recording of the Bobby Steele
or Frank Coma pre-Max's banning years, but this is an authentic '80's
document.  As for the bootleg, it's a must get 7" version of the long out
of print UK EP on Cherry Red, just the 2nd and 3rd singles (Bullet EP and
'Horror Business') with 'Children in Heat' replaced by the previously
unreleased 'Last Caress.'  As Metallica has just made this track famous on
their Garage Days EP, you'll have to have this, and this boot is the only
place you'll see it nowadays.  Besides, these two singles sell for 100 bucks
apiece these days, this is a steal if it's 20 or less!
(5 Crosby St./NY/NY 10013)