The 1981 Listening Post - Agent Orange - Living in Darkness

 Agent Orange - Living in Darkness

#540

November 19 1981 LISTENING POST ADMIN DISCOVERY

Agent Orange

Living in Darkness

Genre: Rock

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Too Young to Die

Everything Turns Grey

No Such Thing

A big discovery for me has been Agent Orange. Yes, I admit it. I was not an AO fan before this project. I had never heard them. I don’t know why or how they escaped my suburban jewish kid grasp.

This record is a laser focused assault that defies the year it was released. 

There isn’t a bad track on it and the cover of “Miserlou” is so unrecognizable that I would have thought they wrote it.

“No Such Thing” is a Strawberry Alarm Clock tune on amphetamines and that’s what this is. Steeped in late 60s psychedelia but updated in a way to sound fresh in 1981 and 2021.

It’s short. It’s 20 minutes. But that just means I get to play it twice and not feel like I’ve got to get to the next album.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/living-in-darkness-40th-anniversary-edition/168416188

The 1986 Listening Post - Agent Orange - This is the Voice

Agent Orange - This is the Voice

#81/1248 LISTENING POST ADMIN DISCOVERY

March 1 1986

Agent Orange

This is the Voice

Genre: Paisley Punk

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

It’s In Your Head

Fire in the Rain

In Your Dreams Tonight

Tearing Me Apart

This is Not the End

This is terrific. Twangy Byrds/Ventures like guitars with just enough snarl and drive to give contemporaries a run for their money. 

It’s not a revelation like Dramarama but it’s sure damned good. Take the edge off Husker Du and make it more melodic and that’s kind of what I hear here. 

Honestly, I thought Agent Orange was a hardcore band. I’m pleasantly surprised by the musicality and the stretch outside the genre. Green Day will be hailed for this exact type of stretching. They just did it better (and stole more unabashedly).

A great record. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/this-is-the-voice/162540059