L7 “Best of the Slash Years” 2000/2019 reissue, limited edition on green vinyl. This comp of hard-rocking, grungy punk/alt-metal songs pulls tracks from L7′s three albums on Slash Records: Bricks are Heavy (’92, produced by Butch Vig), Hungry for Stink (’94) and The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum (’97). It starts out with one of the greatest riot grrrl anthems ever, “Pretend We’re Dead,” from Bricks are Heavy which went to #8 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart in ‘92 and hit #21 on the UK singles chart. Also from Bricks are Heavy are “Mr. Integrity,” “Monster” and “Everglade.”  I love Hungry for Stink and pulled from that LP are “Andres” (#20 US Alternative Songs chart and #34 UK singles chart), one of my favorites “Fuel My Fire” as well as “Freak Magnet” and “Can I Run.” I’m not as familiar with The Beauty Process – I’m not sure we have it in our collection – but the tracks from that album are almost as brutal, a tad more melodic than L7′s earlier work and also a bit heavy on the drinking theme: “Bad Things,” “Off the Wagon,” “Moonshine” and “Bitter Wine” (OK, “Moonshine” isn’t actually about the contraband liquor but the titles’ trajectory does work nicely for a boozing narrative).