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- Artist: Clown Alley
- Rating:
- Release Date: November 14, 2006
- Genre: Rock
Review
Another long lost chapter in the annals of underground music to be exhumed by the nostalgic folk at Southern Lord, Clown Alley's sole album, Circus of Chaos, was originally released in 1986, but had to wait 20 years to make its way onto CD. This is somewhat unbelievable, if you consider certain Clown Alley members' future ties to indie metal mavens the Melvins, and the rabid cult worship surrounding that band and all its related tendrils; but perhaps not so unbelivable if based exclusively on Clown Alley's ultra-brief lifespan, and their almost accidental association to the mid-'80s crossover movement. For, you see, although the Bay Area natives' typical songs boasted all of the genre's fundamental crossover qualities (thrashed-up hardcore punk delivered with metallic guitar heaviness -- see "The Lie," "Unplugged" "Pet of a Pig," etc.), Clown Alley seemed to exist in something of a self-contained vacuum; barely aware of the parallel work of East Coast crossover acts like Agnostic Front, Corrosion of Conformity, and the Cro-Mags -- and perhaps even San Francisco-based Texan transplants D.R.I. In any case, when faced with the musical facts, it would be unrealistic for giddy modern day analysts to retrospectively promote Clown Alley's undoubtedly stellar hardcore-based efforts to the same, groundbreaking status as these long established pioneers (although you gotta hand it to them for coming up with "Uranium Miner's Daughter" for a song title). If they had been equally as groundbreaking, there's no way that the vast majority of listeners would only be discovering the band after 20 years of obscurity. Rather, it's through their minority of slower numbers that Clown Alley's unheralded influence gains truly shocking, almost eerie significance, all these years later. Check out "On the Way Up" and, particularly, "The Grey Men," and, amid lingering bursts of frantic speedcore, you'll find haunted, slow-burning, downtuned, stop-and-start riffs capped by monotone, emotionless vocals, which appear to predate the work of both the Melvins and their avowed disciples Nirvana, in no uncertain terms. So much so that a final example of this approach, the plainly named "Theme," would eventually become a frequently interpreted item in Melvins shows before being officially covered in their Singles 1-12 collection. Fascinating stuff, and reason enough for this album's reissue, if one was still needed. Putting the cherry on top of Southern Lord's well-appointed CD package are four tracks recorded live at a local radio station; the accompanying promo for the show from which they came; and, perhaps most revealing, the follow-up, ten-minute interview which finds the band already raving more enthusiastically about the Melvins than themselves. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| The Lie | Clown Alley | (5:50) | |
| Unplugged | Clown Alley | (2:08) | |
| In the Cartoon | Clown Alley | (4:01) | |
| On the Way Up | Clown Alley | (4:24) | |
| Uranium Miner's Daughter | Clown Alley | (2:58) | |
| Pet of a Pig | Clown Alley | (3:38) | |
| The Grey Men | Clown Alley | (5:15) | |
| Envy | Clown Alley | (1:32) | |
| Theme | Clown Alley | (4:11) | |
| The Second Day | Clown Alley | (3:38) | |
| The Prey | Clown Alley | (2:30) | |
| Radio Promo | Clown Alley | (1:10) | |
| Unplugged [Live] | Clown Alley | (2:00) | |
| On the Way Up [Live] | Clown Alley | (4:04) | |
| Outro [Live] | Clown Alley | (1:30) | |
| Brains [Live] | Clown Alley | (2:10) | |
| [Untitled Track] | Clown Alley | (10:13) |
