Wipers - Youth of America (Park Avenue, 1981)




By TC

Ok, so my bff lives in Portland, hometown of the Wipers. She recently went to see a fairly popular touring act and the singer of the group mentioned something about Greg Sage, singer/songwriter/guitarist from the Wipers. She was shocked when the packed house of hipster douchebags glanced at each other shrugging their shoulders, looking as though they had no idea who this person/band was. I found it hard to believe that such a great band could be relatively unknown in their hometown, especially this band, but what the hell do I know?

'Youth of America' is the group's sophomore release, coming out just a year after the fantastic 'Is this Real?' I would be remiss to say that YOA sounds completely different than 'Is this Real?'; it's not like the band changed thier sound, but it seems like the song writing process was handled in a different manner. Six songs in 30 minutes was definitely not the punk rock norm at the time and the production is some of the best i've heard on any record of any genre.

The original lps are pretty hard to find these days and they're quite expensive when you do. Thankfully they have been re-released on greg sage's zeno records. The albums were re-mastered by Sage himself from the original tapes and they sound fucking fantastic!