Dils Dils Dils

The Dils' studio productions, as primitive as they were, were so much better sounding than the wealth of live material that's been issued of the band that it doesn't make sense to pick up an anthology that includes most, but not all, of those studio tracks. That's what you get on Dils Dils Dils, which has six of their eight studio songs, but is missing the important debut single "I Hate the Rich"/"You're Not Blank." It's filled out by ten live cuts that are energetic but frankly tough to listen to, by virtue (if that's the right word) of their lousy fidelity and muffled lyrics. It's getting tough to keep track of what Dils cuts have appeared where with the growing number of compilations, but certainly six of the cuts do also appear on Dils, though the four songs recorded in Portland in August 1978 (including a cover of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On") don't appear on either Dils or the 1987 live anthology Live!. Now, you could buy both this and another Bacchus Archives Dils release, Class War, which does have "I Hate the Rich" and "You're Not Blank" and a whole bunch of other live stuff (and by no means all of the live stuff that's come out on the Dils). Another way to go would be to get the British CD Dils, which has all eight of the studio tracks plus 21 live songs. Whatever way you go, though, you shouldn't take this as a suitable one-stop Dils comp, as you shouldn't fail to get all eight of the studio tracks if you're going to pursue the Dils at all. ~ Richie Unterberger