From the snaking guitar rhythms of CLONE to the insane shock-punk-opera of THE FAGS and the multi-layered melodies of his last band SUCH, there is one common strand weaving through this retrospective: The beautiful, haunting voice of the late, great Charles 'UPCHUCK' Gerra.

Gerra was an icon of the early Seattle punk scene. His voice and bigger-than-life personality influencing anyone lucky enough have known him or to have seen him perform during his short life. This CD is a collection of the singer's work with various bands from his Seattle days in the late '70s to his time spent in New York during the late '80s until his tragic death from AIDS in 1990.

The disc starts with Gerra's earliest recordings with CLONE. 'Jacuzzi Fluzzi' is a winding catharsis mixing elements of classic rock and punk that would soon began to define the Seattle Sound. The guitar's beautiful staccato lines a strange (and perfect) complement to Gerra's vocal melodies. The singer's voice immediately strikes the listener with its' originality and sense of purpose. It is a majestic weirdness that presaged the nouveaux waves from England and sounded like it was borne from a different world. UPCHUCK didn't simply follow the trends; he took the best of many different influences and turned them into something completely original and haunting.

'After Thought,' the only other song included by CLONE, offers a roadmap to the place where Pearl Jam and Mother Love Bone were borne. Beginning with a folksy acoustic guitar, it quickly becomes an urgent discourse on the fears of living in the modern world. In this song, Gerra takes 3 chords that could easily be the riff from a thousand other rock or country songs, and turns them into something completely his own. Anyone lucky enough to have seen Stone Gossard jamming at the UPCHUCK cd release party was witness to the great love, respect, and debt Seattle's musical community feels for Gerra.

'Crown of Flowers' by SLEEPING MOVEMENT, again shows Gerra's natural instinct to mix completely different influences.The song sounds like it could have been written by Jerry Cantrell and Bryan Ferry sitting on a back porch with an acoustic guitar and a bottle of red wine. It's a beautiful, slow groove recorded with future members of Seattle icons THE FAGS. The song sounds timeless, with Gerra 'a twisted perversion of a lonely soul, searching for the untouchable one' -  mixing his deep despair with hope for some unseen happiness in the future.

The one song included by Gerra's early '80s band THE FAGS will sear itself inside your brain like the memory of a bad car accident. The song is a musical and psychic adventure that follows no rules. The guitars are descending daggers daring the singer to open his eyes and face some nightmare head-on; the urgent rolls of drummer Ben Ireland during the chorus reminiscent of Blondie's Clem Burke at his best. When Gerra screams "They're gonna lock me up!", he is a wounded banshee pleading for his life and his sanity. THE FAGS with Phreddy Vomit on vocals paid chilling tribute to the singer with their live version of the song at the UPCHUCK CD release party.

The second half of the CD is filled with songs by Gerra's late '80s band SUCH. On this project, Gerra and co-writer/instrumentalist Shlomo Sonnenfeld moved away from the more raw and dark songs of Gerra's youth. They wrote multi-layered, melodic pieces that showed a new hope and vision that belied Gerra's failing health. The five songs included by SUCH are a diverse mix. 'Backbiting' sounds like the Thin White Duke with Depeche Mode as his backing band; 'New Creation,' an innocent and beautiful cry for a new start. 'Egyptian Rat' takes the listener to a far-away place with its' Middle-Eastern modalities and beautiful other-worldly backing vocals . '(It's) 5 o'clock' sounds like a lost classic that Elton John should have written in the '80s!   

Innocence by SUCH is the album's masterpiece that brings all the elements of Gerra's experience into four minutes of musical bliss. It is all at once sad, hopeful, and beautiful. The song is a musical adventure that follows the emotional roller coaster that was Gerra's life. The feelings of fear, paranoia, and pain in the verses all giving way to a new hope of transcendence in the chorus: "Come, come my innocence, caress my life. . . let's walk hand in hand, bring together me, myself, and I." Knowing the story of the short life of this great singer, it is hard to hear this chorus without being pulled into the deep emotional place from where it came. The musical outro is one of the greatest instrumental pieces you will hear in a long time. The piano solo taking you to the edge of sanity much like David Bowie's 'Aladdin Sane;' the guitar soaring over-top with a watchful eye; and Barbara Ireland's beautiful bass lines the sweet gravity and calm that keep everything from falling into despair. If this were the only 16 bars of music Ireland had ever played, it would still have made for a great career.

The last song on the disc, 'Dance To Silence', resurrects Gerra's voice for a brief visit into the future. Gerra's friends have taken some of his long lost vocal tracks and put them to music that sounds like the late Snakefinger playing with Nine Inch Nails. It is a dance mix that will scare most people far away from the nearest dance floor! Even in death, Gerra knows how to keep people on edge.

The musical community owes great thanks to producer/promoter Dennis White (a close friend of Gerra) for taking the time and care to produce such a beautiful tribute to a much-missed legend and friend.This compilation is a must-have for anyone who wants a small but vital piece of musical history; for lovers of the Seattle scene, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Roxy Music, Bowie, glam, goth, new wave. . . If you want something completely original, beautiful, and real: "UPCHUCK: GONE BUT NOT FORGIVEN" -  RIP     

The CD is available at sites www.dadastic.com, amazon.com, cdbaby.com, and subpop.com.


To keep UPCHUCK alive in Seattle, you can request "Innocence" or any other song you want to check out at KEXP by e-mail at: dj@kexp.org. Their request line is: 206-903-KEXP. Be sure to point out the title of the CD is "UPCHUCK: GONE BUT NOT FORGIVEN."

Review by:  The Floydian Device
Contact me at:  heynowfloyd@hotmail.com