The Products - Fast Music (2002, Cabeza De Tornado)

Here's another example of an album that was recorded during the halcyon days of punk/power-pop but didn't see the light of day until the twenty-first century.  In this case, San Diego's Products were discernibly more punk, albeit mid-tempo in pace, with mouthpiece Lee Larson attempting to go for something tuneful on the mic and occasionally succeeding.  Fast Music was tracked in 1981, on the heels of a now sought after 7" ep, In the Midnight Hour.  Despite the band's sunny and warm environs, their southern Cali locale wasn't enough to suppress a bouquet of blue-collar angst and pessimistic themes of alienation.  The quartet's economical execution of the ten songs comprising Fast Music lends itself more to British DIY punk than American hardcore, and Larson's Brit accent is an almost dead giveaway.  Nonetheless, it would have been interesting to hear how the Products developed had they survived beyond their first blush in the Reagan-era.   

01. Factory Town
02. Shooting Your Days Away
03. Show Np Emotion
04. The Changes to Come
05. Letter Dated December 31st
06. On Your Own
07. Punch the Man
08. Hard Word
09. Work Sketch
10. Wild Weekend

Hear