Reviews	Review by Ken Shimamoto, gratefully reproduced from I-94 Bar. Here's a second volume of Farren/Deviants hits and misses, compiled from 34 years' worth of releases to coincide with the publication of Mick's memoirs, "Give the Anarchist a Cigarette" (reviewed elsewhere on the Bar). If you don't have the scratch or the availability to spring for the whole catalog (which has, for the most part, been re-released by the Japanese Captain Trip label), you could do worse than to pick up this shiny silver disc and its predecessor, "This CD Is Condemned." The early Deviants were a hippie band, alright, but one with an incredibly bad attitude, heavily influenced by Dylan, the Fugs, the Velvet Underground (an early tape of whom they heard prior to the release of the debut album) and early Frank Zappa (whose studio weirdness they emulated on their own debut, "PTOOFF!"). In their first recording incarnation, they were blessed with a guitarist (Sid Bishop) who, in spite (or is it because?) of his relatively conventional lifestyle/politics, produced a racket closer to the early Ron Asheton's than anyone else on that side of the pond, heard to best advantage here on "You Got to Hold On" and "I'm Coming Home." When Bishop was replaced (before their third album) by Canadian Paul Rudolph, an axeman in the more conventional Hendrix/Page/Iommi mode, the stage was set for Farren's ejection from his own band - largely through the machinations of manager and Rudolph's fellow-Canuck Jamie Mandelkau, who, Farren's memoirs reveal, also stole the author/evil dictator's wife around the same time, making the inclusion here of the Floydian song that bears his name from the second album, "Disposable," an act of hippie magnanimity that almost defies comprehension. From the much-maligned (mainly by Farren) 1970 debut solo album, "Mona, The Carniverous Circus" comes "Observe the Ravens," a slice of wah-laden psychedelic funk that wouldn't have sounded out of place on an early Funkadelic album. Even better are the late-seventies post-punk single tracks "All in the Picture" and "Lost Johnny," with backing by various members of the Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, and Tanz Der Youth, and the storming cover of Zappa's "Trouble Every Day" from 1978's "Vampires Stole My Lunch Money," with guitar damage courtesy of Dr. Feelgood's Wilko Johnson and Pink Fairy/Stiff Records house American Larry Wallis. Myself, I'm of the opinion that Farren's nineties work (usually in cahoots with guitarist Andy Colquhoun) is his best, and it's well represented here by a coupla previously-unreleased studio covers, Dylan's "It's Alright Ma" and Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean." Dig the wordplay on such latter-day artifacts as "Arts of Darkness" or "When the World Was Young" (the latter of which provided the title for Farren's memoirs, and features bracing solo work from Jack Lancaster and Brother Wayne Kramer) - you'll find none finer in rock'n'roll today. Dig also the evolution of Farren's vocalismo, from the malevolent insect of the spooky "Last Man" (from "Disposable") to the evil Jeremy Irons (my daughter's phrase) of the nineties (and later) tracks. Farren's still one of the great ones, in my book, even though some of his apocalyptic visions have been outdone by horror and mortal terror reality has provided us with in recent days. "On Your Knees, Earthlings!!!" makes a very functional soundtrack for the interesting days in which we live. Four Rolling Rocks
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Track list	People's Suite(Farren/Rudolph) from Deviants 3 You've Got To Hold On (Farren/Bishop/Hunter) from Disposable Trouble Coming Every Day (Zappa) from Vampires Stole My Lunch Money Observe The Ravens (Farren) from Mona: The Carnivorous Circus It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding (Dylan) previously unreleased All In The Picture (Farren/Colquhoun) single God's Worst Nightmare (Farren/Colquhoun) from Eating Jello With A Heated Fork Last Man (Farren) from Disposable Deviation Street - excerpt (Farren) from PTOOFF! Jamie's Song (Mandelkau/Farren/Hunter) from Disposable Play With Fire (Jagger/Richards) single Arts Of Darkness (Farren/Lancaster) from Eating Jello With A Heated Fork I'm Coming Home (Farren/Bishop/Hunter) from PTOOFF! Envy (Farren) from The Deathray Tapes Lost Johnny (Farren/Kilmister) single See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (Jefferson) previously unreleased When The World Was Young (Farren/Lancaster) from The Deathray Tapes That's Where All The Trouble Started radio fragment
Personnel list	As with This CD Is Condemned, On Your Knees Earthlings features most of the musicians who've played with Mick Farren over the years.