Dead Moon

Echoes of the Past (Sub Pop)

Fred Cole has been in a lot of bands: the Nuggets-friendly Weeds and Lollipop Shoppe, the whiskey-swilling Zipper and King Bee, and the pregrunge Rats. Dead Moon, including drummer Andrew Loomis and bassist Toody Cole, his wife of nearly 40 years, is the most prolific, a perfect speedball of all those bands. Echoes of the Past, a rousing 2-CD, 49-song retrospective of the Clackamas, Ore., trio’s knotty, dirty, garage punk up through 2001, was compiled by Cole himself, and Dead Moon’s perennial themes are all there: desperation, being on the run, time, cigarettes, love. “Dead Moon Night,” a live “54/40 or Fight,” and “Johnny’s Got a Gun” are pure one-two-let’s-go, while the pummeling backbeat of “Area 51” and “Psychodelic Nightmare” are both more effective than trucker speed, Fred’s electric falsetto and Toody’s husky growl often interchangeable. Yet it’s the love songs, namely “I Won’t Be the One” and “Point of No Return,” that define Dead Moon as truly rock & roll, especially for a band bent on nightmares and graveyards. It’s about time for this collection – punk that’s pure, unrepentant, and on their terms for nearly 20 years.

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This article appears in December 15 • 2006.

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