In the late ‰۪70s, The Avengers established themselves as one ofåÊthe US‰۪s preeminent punk bands. Fusing incisive guitar hooks,åÊexplosive rhythms and adolescent venom, the group forged someåÊof the most in-your-face songs of the era. Their live shows wereåÊlegendary, playing up and down the West Coast and even blowingåÊSex Pistols off the stage at the latter‰۪s final performance.åÊAs Byron Coley writes in the liner notes, ‰ÛÏOf the best bands
of San Francisco‰۪s first wave in 1977, The Avengers were byåÊfar the coolest and youngest sounding. They roared without irony,åÊas though this were indeed Year Zero (and, for a moment, itåÊwas), with history being overwritten by the new. The honesty ofåÊtheir belief was carried by their sound. And it was convincing!‰åÊOriginally released in 1983, four years after the band‰۪s dissolution,åÊThe Avengers‰۪ self-titled LP is often referred to as ‰ÛÏTheåÊPink Album‰ for its magenta-hued cover design. FrontwomanåÊPenelope Houston‰۪s iconic voice and razor-sharp lyrics resonateåÊon anthems ‰ÛÏWe Are The One‰ and ‰ÛÏThe American In Me,‰
while penetrating ballads like ‰ÛÏCorpus Christi‰ reveal a trulyåÊout-of-body euphony.åÊThe Pink Album remains The Avengers‰۪ definitiveåÊstatement‰ÛÓcollecting their classic Dangerhouse EP, sessionsåÊrecorded with the Pistols‰۪ Steve Jones and a half-dozen revelatoryåÊdemos. While much has been written about The Avengers in theåÊpast three decades, rock critic Greil Marcus puts it succinctly,
‰ÛÏThe word I always come back to is mystical, and that remainsåÊalmost theirs alone.‰