Out Of The Vaults #12 - The Descendents - Hallraker Live!

Each week or so my wife will dive into our CD cabinets (The Vaults) and randomly pull out one of the thousands of CDs. The chosen album will then be given to me and I will talk about the Cd for awhile no matter how good, bad, obscure or embarrassing the chosen disc is. Where did I buy it, when did I buy it, what was my first reaction to hearing it, do I still listen to it today etc.


Out Of The Vaults #12 - The Descendents - Hallraker !

The Descendents are my ALL-time favorite band. Hallraker was the first album I ever bought by them.


It's like in Nick Hornby's book  High Fidelity when the narrator asks, "Which came first-the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music?" Are the songs on Hallraker some of my favorite Descendents songs because it was the first album I bought by them? Or is Hallraker one of my favorite albums because so many of my favorite Descendents songs are on it?

I am unsually not a fan of live albums. They just don't hold up on repeated listening. Most of the ones I have bought in the past either end up being given away or sold back to used record stores. Hallraker and its recorded on the same tour counterpart Liveage are two exceptions.


Hallraker was released because fans felt Liveage left off so many of The Descendents best songs but most people still prefer Liveage. I on the other hand favor Hallraker for a few reasons. The first being there are so many songs on the album which The Descendents rarely played live. Songs like the quick lead off burst of "Global Probing" of he faster super old songs in "Kabuki Girl" and "Hey Hey". All three originally on their1982 debut album Milo Goes To College.


There are also three of the best songs off the at the time new album ALL. The angry "Jealous Of The World", the very metal "Iceman" and the power hooks in "Cameage" were all left off of Liveage. Plus how could they have forgotten one of the songs which kept me going through many rough times, "Pep Talk"?

Hallraker also contains some of The Descendents' best "Girl" songs. The classics "Good Good Things", "Cheer" and "Christmas Vacation", all with subject matter totally relating to stuff I was going through when I bought the record at 16 years old. "Christmas Vacation" in particular has a few moments really hitting home.


The pseudo thrash of "Hurtin' Crue", the youthfulness of the always played back to back "Rockstar" and "NoFb" and the 17 second classic "I Want To Be A Bear" round out one of my ALL-time favorite live albums.


There is one more major reason why I favor Hallraker over Liveage- The "All-O-Gistics". Out of all the songs on every Descendents album including the two "Reunion" albums, "All-O-Gistics" is the only song I cannot listen too and it is on Liveage. Maybe it's the "Quan, quams" but the songs just bugs me. Totally breaks up the flow of the record.

Obviously I am not saying to forget about Liveage. If you did you would miss out on great live versions of “Bikeage”, “Silly Girl”, “Weinersnitzel”, “I Don’t Want To Grow Up”, “Suburban Home" and 13 other awesome Descendents songs.