Life Time (Rollins Band album)

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Life Time

| type = studio

| artist = Rollins Band

| cover = Life Time cover.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1987

| recorded = Off Beat Studios, Leeds, UK
Kortrijk, Belgium

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Post-hardcore{{cite web | url=https://metalstorm.net/bands/album.php?album_id=105542&band_id=11187&bandname=Rollins+Band | title=Rollins Band - Life Time }}

| length = 64:07

| label = Texas Hotel

| producer = Ian MacKaye

| prev_title = Drive by Shooting

| prev_year = 1987

| next_title = Do It

| next_year = 1987

}}

Life Time is the debut studio album by the American rock band Rollins Band, fronted by ex-Black Flag singer, Henry Rollins. The 1987 album was produced by Ian MacKaye. It was reissued in 1999, 2014 and 2021.

Production

The album was recorded in 1987 at Off Beat Studios in Leeds, England.{{Citation |title=Rollins Band – Life Time |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/423934-Rollins-Band-Life-Time |language=en |access-date=June 19, 2022}} It was produced by Ian MacKaye who was active in the hardcore punk scene; as a musician and co-owner of Dischord Records. Rollins was a childhood friend of MacKaye and had worked as a roadie for MacKaye's band, The Teen Idles.

Musical style

The album has a more punk-influenced sound when compared to the band's better-known work from the 1990s. Guitarist Chris Haskett later said that, "Lifetime is our first album playing together and there are a bunch of different styles from the individual players but they haven’t combined yet."https://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/interviews/chris-haskett-rollins-band-2020/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}

Release

Life Time was originally released in 1987 and included four live tracks recorded in Kortrijk, Belgium in October 1987.

The album was subsequently re-mastered and re-released in 1999 without the live tracks but with the addition of three tracks from the Do It album; "Do It", "Move Right In," and "Next Time".

In 2014, it was reissued on Dischord, including the original live tracks but not the 1999 bonus tracks.{{Cite web |title=Henry Rollins Twitter post |url=https://twitter.com/henryrollins/status/526764135820705792 |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Twitter |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Rollins Band Treat 'Life Time' to First Vinyl Reissue in Decades {{!}} Exclaim! |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/rollins_band_treat_life_time_first_vinyl_reissue_in_decades |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=exclaim.ca |language=en-ca}}

In 2021, the album had a digital and limited vinyl release.{{Cite web |title=Life Time, by Rollins Band |url=https://rollinsband.bandcamp.com/album/life-time |access-date=June 19, 2022 |website=Rollins Band |language=en}}

Reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = Allmusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev2 = Alternative Press

| rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}p.97-8, 4/00

| rev3 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev3score = 5/10{{cite book|chapter=Henry Rollins|first=James|last=Hannaham|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide|editor1-first=Eric|editor1-last=Weisbard|editor2-first=Craig|editor2-last=Marks|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1995|isbn=0-679-75574-8|pages=335–336}}

}}

In an AllMusic review, Chris True says "When Henry Rollins emerged from the breakup of Black Flag, many thought he couldn't be successful without guitarist Greg Ginn. If nothing else, Life Time proves the detractors wrong. With Ian MacKaye of Fugazi in the production chair, Rollins Band was able to distance themselves from Black Flag with a tight, visceral, and sometimes bluesy album. While more abrasive than later Rollins Band releases, this is worth picking up to better understand the progression of Rollins Band's unique style of emotional funk metal.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/life-time-mw0000652491 |title=Life Time Review |last=True |first=Chris |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=November 1, 2022}}

Track listing (1987)

= 1987 original, 2014 vinyl reissue =

  1. "Burned Beyond Recognition" – 2:56
  2. "What Am I Doing Here?" – 3:21
  3. "1,000 Times Blind" – 2:57
  4. "Lonely" – 4:16
  5. "Wreck-Age" – 5:33
  6. "Gun in Mouth Blues" – 8:57
  7. "You Look at You" – 3:31
  8. "If You're Alive" – 2:42
  9. "Turned Out" – 5:57
  10. "What Am I Doing Here?" – 3:20
  11. "intro" – 1:19
  12. "Burned Beyond Recognition" – 2:51
  13. "Move Right In" – 8:34
  14. "Hot Animal Machine II" – 8:36
    – Recorded live in Kortrijk, Belgium (October 16, 1987)

= 1999 reissue =

  1. "Burned Beyond Recognition" – 2:56
  2. "What Am I Doing Here?" – 3:21
  3. "1,000 Times Blind" – 2:57
  4. "Lonely" – 4:16
  5. "Wreck-Age" – 5:33
  6. "Gun in Mouth Blues" – 8:57
  7. "You Look at You" – 3:31
  8. "If You're Alive" – 2:42
  9. "Turned Out" – 5:57
  10. "Do It" – 2:43
  11. "Move Right In" – 7:27
  12. "Next Time" – 3:20

Personnel

;Rollins Band

References

{{Reflist}}