Dag Nasty "Dag with Shawn"

(Dischord) I hate to open a review with an apology, but I really am not the best guy to review this. I like plenty of D.C. punk bands, but Dag Nasty was never one of them. Somehow the Brian Baker guitar that seemed so perfect on Minor Threat stuff form '81-'83 and lit up the best Meatmen album in 1984 transitioned into the mundane cookie cutter punk/sore thumb flourishes stuff he would play in 90s Bad Religion really quickly (apparently by October '85, as this release indicates). Plus they changed vocalists, which unless you're AC/DC is just asking too much of the audience. And apparently I didn't know a third of it, as they had a different vocalist for their first few months, Shawn Brown, whose previously never officially released demo is released here (Roctober readers, of which I am apparantly not one of, would know about Brown from the Black Punk Time site). I am not going to dig my "Can I Say" cassette (taped on a Certron brand cassette, if I remember correctly) out, but I think Brown's vocals might be more to my liking than the dude on the album where they re-recorded this stuff, and a few tunes here are downright awesome (particularly "Never Go Back" and "Another Wrong" which are as palatable as melodic hardcore gets). And if this was being rated on a start system I would give an extra star (or maybe two) just for the no bullshit album title.