The Avengers

 

The Avengers are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in San Francisco, California, United

States. The band recorded an EP, We Are the One (1977), and after opening for the Sex Pistols worked with Steve Jones, but had not released an album before breaking up in 1979.
                

After the breakup an EP with the Steve Jones-produced songs was released (The Avengers), and later an

album, Avengers, in 1983. Their lead singer, Penelope Houston, is also a folk singer who has a solo career. Since 1999 a number of other albums were released with studio and live tracks, and the band has come together for various occasions.
                 

One of the first and finest bands to emerge from San Francisco's punk scene, the Avengers were originally together for only two years, and they didn't release an album during that period. But their

passionate music and uncompromising viewpoints proved to be a major inspiration in a scene that would grow and flourish long after they broke up, and the handful of singles they left behind documented a band of uncommon power and force. Just as importantly, lead singer Penelope Houston was one of the pioneering women of American punk, proving there was a place for female artists in the new music.
                     

The Avengers came together in early 1977, not long after Penelope Houston arrived in San Francisco

from her hometown of Seattle, Washington. Houston was a new student at San Francisco Art Institute when she met Danny Furious, a recent SFAI graduate who was still a common sight on the campus. Houston was a fan of musicians like Lou Reed and Patti Smith, and she soon discovered that Furious had similar tastes.
                  

In June, the Avengers played their first show, opening for the Nuns at San Francisco's pioneering punk

venue the Mabuhay Gardens. In August, Jimmy Wisley joined the band as bassist (replacing Jonathan Postal, who went on to form the Readymades), and the Avengers' classic lineup was complete. The band soon became one of the most popular bands on California's budding punk rock scene, though at that time this limited the band to a handful of clubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
                  

In 1977, L.A.'s premier punk label Dangerhouse Records released a three-song EP from the group,

featuring "We Are the One," "Car Crash," and "I Believe in Me." In early 1978, the group scored what seemed like a golden opportunity: opening for Sex Pistols at San Francisco's Winterland on the final date of the notorious British punk band's first American tour.
             

In 1983, a San Francisco-based indie label, CD Presents, bought the rights to the Avengers' material,

and released a superb 16-song compilation (the self-titled Avengers) that collected their vinyl releases to date, along with some unreleased studio material. However, when CD Presents went out of business, the group's recorded legacy went into limbo, and for the next ten years Houston found herself questioned by fans who were eager to obtain Avengers' recordings.
                  

An album called Avengers (sometimes referred to as the Pink Album, including by Houston herself)

was released in 1983. It featured tracks recorded through the band's whole time together, and was compiled by drummer Danny Furious. The album was out-of-print for a long time due to being in "legal limbo", during which time Houston sold the album in CD-R format directly through her website. The album was re-released in 2010.
                     
 

THE AVENGERS - TEENAGE REBEL b/w FRIENDS OF MINE
                           

The Avengers – Teenage Rebel b/w Friends
Label: Superior Viaduct – SV7
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Limited Edition, Reissue, Orange
Country: US
Released: Apr 21, 2012
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk

                   

 

SIDE A.

              

             

A. Teenage Rebel

SIDE B.

             

B. Friends Of Mine

LINE - UP

Bass, Vocals – Jimmy Wilsey
Drums, Vocals – Danny Furious
Guitar, Vocals – Greg Ingraham
Vocals – Penelope Houston

NOTES

Recorded live to 2-track reel-to-reel 1978.
Mixed By [Remixed 1995] – Danny Furious, Daryl T.
Recorded By – Joey Swails
Limited edition colored vinyl. 1,000 copies only.

TEENAGE REBEL LYRICS

        

              

Everywhere I go people stare
They put me down but I don't care
(They put me down they put me down)

My mirror's telling me my face is a mess
And all my friends
They hate the way I dress

Cause I'm a rebel
Rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel
Rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel
A teenage rebel

              

Well I'm not in school and I hate work
I break all their rules and they call me a jerk
Everybody's trying to tell me how to live my life
If I hear it one more time from you baby
Gonna slit your gut with a knife

Cause I'm a rebel
Rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel
Rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel
A teenage rebel

Flac Size: 35 MB

AVENGERS - AVENGERS 1983

                

Although it was released in 1983, this collection represents just about everything San Francisco's late,

great Avengers recorded from 1977-1978. By contemporary standards, it's by-the-book punk thrash: Greg Ingraham's guitar spews up hairball after hairball of distortion, while Penelope Houston snarls in her best impression of Johnny Rotten.
         

However, contemporary standards diminish what great music this was and what a great band the Avengers were. Dozens of bands came in their wake, but few could recapture the excitement and

ferocity of their sound. Houston, who re-emerged years later as a folk-rocker, is in full fury on these 14 tracks, especially the youth culture solidarity anthem "We Are the One" and the tale of desperation "Thin White Line." A few spins of this and you'll hear how the Avengers influenced everyone from Black Flag to X. Yes, they were that good. A forgotten classic.  
                

Avengers – Avengers
Label: CD Presents, Ltd. – CD007CD
Format: CD, Compilation, Reissue 1989
Country: US
Released: 1983
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk

TRAXS

                 

01. We Are The One    2:38
02. Car Crash    4:17
03. I Believe In Me    2:52
04. Open Your Eyes    2:37
05. No Martyr    3:01
06. Desperation    2:30
07. Thin White Line    3:08
08. Money, Money    2:25
09. Paint It Black (Written-By – Jagger/Richards)  2:13
10. The Amerikan In Me    3:04
11. White Nigger    3:32
12. Uh-Oh    3:04
13. Second To None    2:27
14. Cheap Tragedies    3:05
15. Corpus Christi (Guitar – Brad Kent)   3:20
16. Fuck You-Live    2:43

LINE - UP

Bass, Vocals – James Wilsey
Drums, Vocals – Danny Furious
Guitar, Vocals – Greg Ingraham
Songwriter [Songs By] – Avengers (tracks: 1 to 8, 10 to 16)
Vocals – Penelope Houston

NOTES

1 to 3: 10/23/77
4, 7, 8: 3/28/78
5, 6: 2/9/78
9 to 13: 10/12/78 (re-recorded at Secret Studios)
14: 5/13/79
15: 10/18/77
Mastered at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA.

WE ARE THE ONE

                        

We are the leaders of tomorrow.
We are the ones to have the fun.
We want control. We want the power.
Not gonna stop until it comes.

(Chorus)
We are not Jesus Christ.
We are not fascist pigs.
We are not capitalist industrialists.

                  

We are not communists. We are the one.
We will build a better tomorrow.
The youth of today will be the tool.
American children made for survival.
Fate and our destiny we shall rule.

(Chorus)
I am the one who brings you the future.
I am the one who buries the past.
A new species rises up from the ruins.
I am the one who is made to last

Flac Size: 317 MB

AVENGERS - DIE FOR YOUR SINS 1999

 
                       

THE SCAVENGERS

              

When Penelope Houston wanted to newly record some old Avengers songs in 1998, she only got Greg Ingraham from the original lineup. So she recruited California-based musicians Dan Panic and Joel

Reader to fill the lineup and called them The Scavengers. After the release of Died For Your Sins, they performed a few shows and then stopped activity so Houston could resume her solo career. A few years later, the band started up again, with Luis Illades replacing Panic, and this time went on as the Avengers.
             

Avengers – Died For Your Sins
Label: Lookout! Records – LK217CD
Format: CD, Compilation, Reissue
Country: US
Released: Feb 23, 1999    
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk

TRAXS

           

01. Avengers –Teenage Rebel    1:55
02. Avengers – Friends Of Mine    2:13
03. Avengers – White Nigger    3:24
04. Avengers – The Good And The Bad And The Kowalskis    5:01
05. The Scavengers – I Want In    2:37
06. The Scavengers – Crazy Homicide    2:02
07. The Scavengers – The End Of The World    3:35
08. Avengers – ("Fools Or Hippies" Spoken Intro)    0:29
09. Avengers – The American In Me    1:41
10. Avengers – ("Get Up!" Spoken Intro)    0:15
11. Avengers – Open Your Eyes    2:17
12. Avengers – Car Crash    3:39
13. Avengers – Tiny Pink Noise    0:23
14. Avengers – Fuck You    2:15
15. Avengers – Joker's Wild  (Written-By – Wilson, Taylor, Edwards, Bogle)   2:14
16. Avengers – Something's Wrong    2:43
17. Avengers – ("Wrong Town" Spoken Intro)    0:29
18. Avengers – Desperation    2:26
19. Avengers – I Believe In Me  (Recorded By – Jerry Harrison)   2:56
20. Avengers – Money  (Written-By – Gordy, Bradford)   2:10
21. Avengers – We Are The One    2:35

LINE - UP

Bass – Jimmy Wilsey (tracks: 1 to 4, 9, 11 to 16, 18 to 21), Joel Reader (tracks: 5 to 7)
Drums – Danny Furious (tracks: 1 to 4, 9, 11 to 16, 18 to 21), Danny "Panic" Sullivan (tracks: 5 to 7)
Guitar – Greg Ingraham
Songwriter [Songs Written By] – O'Brien, Ingraham, Wilsey, Houston (tracks: 1 to 7, 9, 11 to 14, 16, 18, 19, 21)
Vocals, Liner Notes – Penelope Houston

NOTES

1,2+4 rehearsal recorded at Iguana Studios 1978
3 recorded at Wally Heider Studios 1978
5-7 recorded at The Roof Brothers Studio 1998
8-12 recorded live at Mabuhay Gardens 1978
13+14 live at The Keystone, Berkeley 1977
15-18 live in Santa Cruz 1978
19 recorded live at The Keystone, Palo Alto 1977
20+21 recorded live at The Whiskey A-Go-Go, 1978
Tracks 15 to 17 are CD bonus tracks

THE AMERICAN IN ME LYRICS

              

           

It's the american in me that makes me watch the blood
Running out of the bullethole in his head
It's the american in me that makes me watch tv
See on the news, listen what the man said.

He said "ask not what you can do for your country
What's your country been doing to you
Ask not what you can do for your country
What's your country been doing to your mind?"

                  

It's the american in me that says
"it an honor to die in a war that's just a politicians lie"
It's the american in me that makes me watch tv
See how they burn the sla they say

"ask not what you can do for your country
What's your country been doing to you?
Ask not what you can do for your country
What's your country been doing to you?"

In the usa!
In the usa!
In the usa!

It's the american in me that makes me watch the blood
Running out of the bullethole in his head
It's the american in me that never wonders why
Kennedy was murdered by the fbi (said)

"ask not what you can do for your country
What's your country been doing to you?
Ask not what you can do for your country
What's your country been doing to you?...

Flac Size: 335 MB

I posted all I have of The Avengers. You can choose what you want.