Released September 1, 1984 Language English | Length 29:13 Label CD Presents | |
Recorded April 1984 at Hyde Street Studios San Francisco, California. Engineered at Rhythmic River Studios, San Francisco, California. Mastered at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California. Genre Hardcore punk, Hard Rock, Garage Rock, Proto-Grunge | ||
Tales of Terror was the first and only full-length self-titled album released by the Californian hardcore punk band Tales of Terror on September 1, 1984 on the label CD Presents.
Contents
Background and recording
Green River admired them and recognised Tales of Terror as worthy predecessors by covering one of their songs as a tribute. Local college radio stations would often play their songs, for instance "Over Elvis Worship".
Reviews
Al Flipside reviewed Tales of Terror for Flipside in 1984. He wrote: "Mid-tempo driving grunge rock that gets pretty chaotic. I really liked their version of "Hound Dog" from the start, but it took me a while to be convinced. There's people that swear by these guys. I'm beginning to see..."
Tim Yohannan also reviewed Tales of Terror for Maximumrocknroll in 1984. He wrote: "Totally drunken, power-chord punk rock, folks. It's straight out of The Dead Boys/Stooges school of intense, fuck-it-all, snarl and self-destruct. These Sacramento's are good at it too. Recommended."
Influence
The album is listed in Kurt Cobain's Journals at number 32 in a list of 50 and the song "Chambers of Horror" is in a list of songs.
Green River covered the Tales' song "Ozzy" renaming it as "Ozzie" on their 1987 EP Dry As a Bone. Alex Vincent, Green River's drummer, attended high school (Encina) with Magner while he was in Square Cools for two years before moving to Seattle.
In 2008, Seattle band Mudhoney released The Lucky Ones. The ninth track on this album is titled "Tales of Terror" as another tribute. Mark Arm, the lead singer of Mudhoney, was also the lead singer for Green River.
The Melvins covered the song "Romance" for their 2013 covers album Everybody Loves Sausages. Guitarist/frontman Buzz Osbourne has talked about the track and the band in various interviews and stated that it's one of if not the best record to come out of California.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Pat Stratford; all music composed by Lyon Wong, Steve Hunt, Geoff Magner, and Mike Hunter, except where noted.