What, 2 stars?

Giving it five, though it's no classic this is a great album. I know you get most of the essentials on First Four Years but you get a much better timeline of BF here. You get to hear how some songs progressed. Ginn's guitar sounds like metal on metal, Dez's "speed"y delivery. And you get 20+ minutes of horrible commercials. How can you go wrong? I like Henery and everything but it was more his energy and stamina that made him a good fit. Chavos & company were the real deal.

When Everything Went Black was first released in 1983, Black Flag was in the middle of a backbreaking legal dispute with Unicorn Records. As a result of litigation, the band was prevented from using the Black Flag name on any records. Hence the original packaging for this album, which listed only the names of individual bandmembers on the cover (this was rectified on subsequent issues). It’s a double-album (on vinyl) compilation of previously released material and outtakes — though the European edition features a wholly different running order. The material, dating from 1978 to 1981, is excellent in places, average in others. However, only obsessives need track it down — as signified by the inclusion of two versions of several songs (including stalwarts “Damaged” and “Police Story”). The fourth side of the original vinyl issue also included a sequence of radio spots discussing forthcoming Black Flag gigs, which is entertaining stuff, but it’s more useful as a historical document than a listening experience. – Alex Ogg