Youth Youth Youth Sin LP
The sole record from early Toronto hardcore unit YOUTH YOUTH YOUTH, 1983’s Sin, was originally a seven-song EP, and it’s been remastered and re-packaged by Canadian label Blue Fog with nine additional songs to create a comprehensive archival LP. Powered by amazingly tight, rapid-fire drums, the music of the original EP has a sharp clarity and immediacy to it. Infused with the youthful energy advertised by the band’s name, the songs seem to take a lead from groups on the Dischord Records roster of the era, offering an impeccably polished take on classic DC style. Lyrically, it’s very thoughtful and intelligent, sometimes sounding like a precursor to the headiness that BAD RELIGION would be cooking up a few years later. A sophisticated effort all around, this solid debut’s actual worst “sin” might be its overarching maturity. The bonus material, spanning recording sessions from ’83–’84, mostly showcases an earlier, slightly rougher version of the band. The first of these B-side songs, “Made In England,” is outspokenly anti-British. As he wholeheartedly cheers “E-N-G-L-A-N-D sucks!,” I have to imagine that there was some context of the time to this sentiment that I am missing. Jealousy? Anyway, this collection closes out with two final tracks that are more in line with the EP. The bluesy and then blazing “Blue Stain” and spunky “Domination” are a couple of the better tracks on the album, showing promise of a future for the group that was never realized. Fortunately, they found us here on this worthwhile preservation of an important little chunk of Canadian hardcore history.
