Unknown Passage (Remastered)

Album review

The only thing more beautiful to a Dead Moon fan than the storied relationship between married couple Fred and Toody Cole is the band's recorded output. Their blistering releases starting in 1988 feel like a time capsule from the Nuggets era (and in fact Fred's previous band, The Weeds, did appear on that legendary comp). Across several records, Dead Moon's brand of melodic yet searing output was decidedly memorable, feeling like a communiqué from an unknown past about a shrouded yet legendary band. The band's approach to the music industry was similarly revered, as Dead Moon was, and is, the picture perfect definition of DIY—recording and releasing many of their own records, and becoming legends on their own terms.

Initially recorded in mono and mastered on the same Presto lathe that gave us the Kingsmen's classic "Louie Louie," Dead Moon's sophomore album Unknown Passage is nothing less than a stone-cold classic and where the band truly found the sound that would influence legions. Initially released on their own Tombstone Records in 1989, Unknown Passage is also undoubtedly Dead Moon's finest hour and the pinnacle of garage rock—an underground classic featuring some of the greatest songs ever recorded by frontman Fred Cole.

The record opens with what has become the band's de facto theme song and their most popular track, "Dead Moon Night," a sub-five minute burner that crackles with intensity while bassist Toody cooly delivers her cheerleader-like chorus of "D-E-A-D" and Fred's primitive guitar solo announces their truly unique approach by way of proto-punk garage gods like the Sonics. Featuring a cover of The Chambers Brothers classic "The Time Has Come" that has a wholly unique feel under the eye of the Oregon-based trio, the record features crowd faves like "Evil Eye" and the near-immortal "54/40 or Fight." Unknown Passage is a landmark to garage punk, and a must hear for any fan of hard-driving rock, punk, or good songwriting. It's a triumphant effort that serves as a calling card for the band, as well as a password of sorts for underground music's illuminati.

The current version of Unknown Passage was sourced from compact disc, a critique of some. Now on that monumental recording's 35th anniversary, Toody Cole, the last living member of the classic band, asked Timothy Stollenwerk, Dead Moon's preferred mastering engineer, to restore the album and additional works for digital in 24-bit Hi-Res audio. The new version gives a depth to the recordings while retaining that initial crunch and charm, making the band's finest hour even more magnetic and incendiary. It's always a dangerous prospect to tinker with perfection in  attempts to get a better result, but somehow the team at Mississippi Records have found a way to make the already great even more essential.  © Fred Pessaro/Qobuz