Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be

Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be is the debut studio album by American punk rock musician GG Allin, recorded and released in 1980 on Orange Records. The first three songs on the album which were recorded in 1978 and released as a single in 1979. The songs "Cheri Love Affair" and "1980's Rock 'N Roll" were first recorded and released as a single in 1979, but were re-recorded for this album.

Always Was, Is And Always Shall Be
Studio album by GG Allin
Released	September 1980
Recorded	1978–80
Genre	Punk rock
Length	22:07
Label	Orange Halycon (rerelease)
Producer	GG Allin The Jabbers
GG Allin chronology
Always Was, Is And Always Shall Be (1980) No Rules (1982)
Reissue cover
The reissue cover art is a picture of Allin from 13 years after the album's original release, taken backstage on the Jerry Springer set in the last year of his life.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Most notable, Allin's singing voice had not yet deteriorated. The music is of much higher quality in terms of both sound recording and playing than Allin's later output. The New York Dolls and The Stooges-influenced music itself is a mix of power pop and hardcore punk, like most of Allin's early material up until the mid-1980s.

Thematically, while the lyrics are often intentionally lewd and snotty, these songs do not represent the extreme anti-social behaviour and violent tone of Allin's later releases from the mid-1980s onwards. Although he is credited with playing drums on this album (credited as Kevin Allin), it is not known for which of the tracks he did.

Reception

Steve Huey, reviewing for AllMusic, gave the album two stars out of five. He wrote that the band was proficient at hard rock-punk in the vein of The Stooges and Allin's vocals were "tuneful", making it some of the best music he ever recorded. The main failing according to Huey was the misogynistic lyrics on nearly every song: "Amazingly enough, the violent hatred, sexual and psychological degradation, and staggering stupidity only hint at the heights (or depths) Allin would reach later."

Reissue

The reissue cover art is a picture of Allin from 13 years after the album's original release, taken backstage on the Jerry Springer set in the last year of his life. Release dates vary as to whether it was 1995, 1997 or 1998. The information directly relating to Halycon indicates 1995 as the correct date.

Track listing

1. "Bored to Death"
2. "Beat, Beat, Beat"
3. "One Man Army"
4. "Assface"
5. "Pussy Summit Meeting"
6. "Cheri Love Affair"
7. "Automatic"
8. "I Need Adventure"
9. "Don't Talk to Me"
10. "Unpredictable"
11. "1980s Rock 'N' Roll"

Personnel

• GG Allin – vocals, drums (credited as Kevin Allin for drums)
• Jeff Penny – guitar, backing vocals
• Johnny (Riot) Fortin – guitar
• Peter Henault – guitar
• Rob Basso – guitar
• Merle Allin – bass on “Bored To Death”
• Dan Penny – backing vocals
• Ava Electris – backing vocals
• David Peel – backing vocals
• Johnny Voo-Doo – backing vocals

“Beat, Beat, Beat” and “One Man Army”

• Alan Chapple – bass
• Carl Square – bass
• Tim Horrigan – piano
• Bob MacKenzie – drums

Production

• John Stewart, Larry Feeney, Tom Bartlett – engineer
• Tom Bartlett – tape editor
• Joel Raymond, Larry Feeney, Peter Suyama, Tom Bartlett – associate producer
• GG Allin – producer
• David Peel – executive producer

References

1. Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be at AllMusic