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Radiation reissue!
Our take: So, this one bears some explanation. Social Distortion’s first single, 1981’s “Mainliner,” was originally meant to be a 4-song 12” EP. Posh Boy Records got as far as making a handful of test pressings for the 12” release, but scrapped those plans and pared it down to the two-song single that lovers of early 80s SoCal punk know and love. Besides the four tracks that would have been on the 12”, the band also recorded two others. Time Bomb Records compiled all six tracks on 1995’s Mainliner (Wreckage from the Past) LP, which also included the songs from the session whose songs ended up on the band’s second and third singles on 13th Story Records. So, this is basically an abridged version of the Mainliner collection, but that record is long out of print and difficult to find. It’s too bad they couldn't include the later session here, but these six songs are great, and there’s something to be said for presenting them as their own coherent release rather than part of a compilation. If you haven’t heard this early Social Distortion stuff, ignore the flaming dice vibes of their later material and give this a try. Then you’ll need everything up to and including their first LP, Mommy’s Little Monster.