V/A The Fifth Punk Rock BBQ cassette
What we have here is apparently the fifth cassette in a series of annual compilation tapes released to coincide with an all-day event in Detroit, MI. Such a cool idea. Thirteen different bands, mostly all within the dingy, garage-y rock’n’roll world. I really like this concept and the event seems like it is probably a blast. Hell, some of the tracks on here are really good! My big gripe is that I can’t possibly explain which bands on the tape I like because there is no track listing to be found for this release—neither on/in the physical tape case, or anywhere online that I was able to dig up. There is a jumbled list of band names on the front cover, but no song titles and no way of knowing if I am to read the names vertically or horizontally as to which bands play in which order. I assume these tapes were made in bulk as a giveaway at the event, but I would highly recommend splurging on an insert stating the band names and song titles, or at the very least including a back flap on the cassette’s J-card cover listing all of the pertinent information. In terms of printing costs, I’m not sure how many more tape covers can fit onto a sheet of paper when you only have a front cover and spine for the cassette, but it can’t be a big enough difference to justify this level of confusion.