Ruin - Fiat Lux (Meta Meta Records) 1986. Probably the most ongoing request that I have seen over the years with Last Days is Fiat Lux by the Philly band Ruin. I wrote about them back in 2007. Few bands have inspired such rabid devotion amongst a fan-base as Ruin. Part of this is due to the fact that they were criminally overlooked. I mean, just a hundred miles over people were shitting themselves for a little Revolution Summer but Ruin who were doing the same damn thing at the same damn time, couldn’t get much love. They are not even on the Flex discography fer chrissakes (which by the way, looks super-good after the new makeover). Another reason why Ruin fans are super-fanatical is because Ruin were from Philly and Philly itself got no love. No local label like Dischord. No real national reputation despite its size and location and what was really annoying about this was that Philly had some amazing hardcore bands like YDI, FOD, McRad and Ruin. So you got this criminally under-rated band in this under-rated town. Finally, the third reason why Ruin fans are so rabid is because the band flat-out rocked. Their shows were transcendent experiences, they pushed the boundaries to the point where they were incorporating psychedelia, hard rock and raga while still maintaining the energy of the best hardcore punk. Fiat Lux was their masterpiece, the apex of what they were trying to do. Check it out in its entirety.
Ruin - Fiat Lux (right click and save as zip file)
You
Make Believe
Hero
Famous Blue Raincoat
Life After Life
Proof
China
Taster
White Rabbit
Ruin
Great Divide
Real Good Time
Yeah… this one just delivers on all fronts.
Glad you got around to posting it.
I’ll never really get why these guys were so overlooked.
Gotta love the penchant for Leonard Cohen covers!
There is one song by RUIN that belongs definitely in my “TOP 20 U.S.HardCore”
All-Time Favourite´s:
their song “Love Dogs” on the 1983-Philly H.C. compilation LP “Get Off My Back”! Just an amzing song that it is…
They never get old! Still the best from Philly!
Thanks a bunch for posting this, Joe! What a fantastic record and after only a few minutes I know that it’s indeed better than the previous LP (the one with the black cover and the only one I was ever able to find myself).
The only Ruin I’ve heard was on some 4 song compilation I have that I can’t even remember the name of (????). I’m excited to check this out.
These guys were awesome. We (76% Uncertain) played a show with them in Bensalem, PA. They wore all white and there we black lights on stage. Made an already wild set even better. 76% covers “Proof” more than occasionally.
Watch Ruin kick ass here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3WQ_CUlnM8
Dave76 - This Ruin video was great! Thanks man!
thank you so much! and thank you for putting it in a .zip file not a .rar file so i can open it. this is great! fuck yeah!
Man, Ruin was a great band. They rocked and scorched and lulled and ripped and scared the shit out of my girlfriend from Abington. But they were benign, were they not? Intelligent and obviously kind. Where are they now?
AW MAN… BEEN ACHING FOR THIS FOR YEARS. Some friends caught some amazing Ruin gigs in SF circa 85/86 before the rumored “acid casualty” phase and the legend was sealed. was in a band that covered Dig A Hole To China, and then I later knew the drummer Paul from time he spent in SF playing with bands including Helios Creed before moving to San Luis Obispo, but this record is impossible to find. I can’t wait to hear it…also thanx for the YouTube links up top…never knew i would get a chance to see em…shweeet…
These guys were great. I used to have their first album, with their cover of “Master Song”, but I never heard this before. It’s a good reminder of how brilliant Ruin were. I had the sense to snap some pictures of the band when they first came to San Francisco:
http://www.jneomarvin.com/scrapbook/pages/34A.htm
Thank you so much for putting all of Fiat Lux up for grabs. I had this on cassette back in the day and someone STOLE IT!! Have never been able to find a copy of it anywhere…guess i havent been looking in the right places. I cant even really blame the person that stole it from considering how great this album is!
Thanks again.