This weeks album comes as another old favorite and a favorite in my collection. This band goes back to the late-80’s and in my opinion they brought one of the greatest mixes of hardcore punk and ska that still stands out today. Operation Ivy was a band that did not last too long. But without Op Ivy, we would have no Rancid as Rancid front man Tim Armstrong and bass guitarist Matt Freeman started with Op Ivy.
The album featured is a self-titled compilation that was released after the band broke up and consists of tracks from their Hectic & Energy albums and two songs from Turn It Around! (a compilation album released by Maximumrocknroll). This Op Ivy may be easier to find today and it was the first one that I got from the music store back in the mid-90’s. I later went on to acquire harder to find albums Lint Rides Again and Seedy. Lint Rides Again was their their last show at the famous Gilman St. in Berkeley, CA (a common punk rock scene). The album Seedy is some of their unreleased tracks and when listening to this it has the scene of 4 young guys in a garage, yelling in the mic and playing their instruments as hard as they can for the love of the music and not the money…great stuff all-around.
“The Crowd” – A favorite track off Energy that belongs in any dingy-dirty gym
