The Controllers, U.X.A., Middle Class, and the Germs were recorded at Program Recorders Studios in Hollywood, California. The Flesh Eaters' songs "The Word Goes Flesh" and "Pony Dress" were recorded at Mental Ward Studios.
Tooth and Nail was mastered by Larry Boden in May 1979 at MCA Whitney Recording Studios in Glendale, California.[nb 6]
Release
Featuring only previously unreleased material, Tooth and Nail was originally issued in mid-1979 on Upsetter Records, in 12-inchLP format.[nb 7][2][3][8][10] The record was also the debut release for U.X.A.
Reissues
In 1989, 10 years after its debut, Upsetter repressed Tooth and Nail.[nb 7][11] Since then, the album has remained out of print, although most of its tracks were later re-released separately.
Middle Class' "Love Is Just a Tool" and "Above Suspicion" were featured on their compilation album A Blueprint for Joy: 1978-1980,[nb 11]issued on CD by Velvetone Records in 1995. They were also included on their early recordings collection Out of Vogue: The Early Material,[14] released on vinyl[nb 12] and CD[nb 13] by Frontier Records in 2008. "Archetype", an outtake from the Tooth and Nailrecording sessions, was featured on both compilations.
In November 2011, Posh Boy issued the two Negative Trend tracks on Tooth and Nail, along with their five cuts, credited to Rik L Rik, on the compilation album Beach Blvd, as a downloadabledigital collection titled November 1978.
Re-recordings
The Flesh Eaters' "Pony Dress" was re-recorded for the 1982 punk rock compilation American Youth Report,[nb 14] a vinyl LP issued on Invasion Records, a sublabel of Bomp! Records.
A shorter version of U.X.A.'s eponymous song was recorded for their first album, Illusions of Grandeur,[nb 15] released by Posh Boy Records in 1981, on vinyl[nb 16] and cassette tape;[nb 17] while their song "Social Circle" was re-recorded by a reformed U.X.A., still fronted by De De Troit, for their album Tree Punks at Real School,[nb 18] issued on CD by the Belgianlabel Payola Records in 1997.
The three Germs songs on Tooth and Nail are early versions of the best known tracks of the same titles featured on (GI),[nb 19] the band's first and only studio album, released later in the same year.
Track listing
Where it is necessary, songwriting credits are listed in the format lyrics/music.
^ abcdAt the time of their debut release, the Flesh Eaters consisted solely of their founder, Chris Desjardins (pka Chris D.), backed by the members of the pioneering punk rock band the Flyboys;[2][4][7] who by that time had become a power trio because of the death of David Wilson (aka David Way) in a car accident in early 1978.
^Done at Media Art Studio in Hermosa Beach, California.
^The mastering company and engineer, and the date of production, uncredited on the cover art, can be identified via the run-out groove etchings onto the original vinyl pressings, which reads as follows: "UP-J-1 MCA/LB" (first pressing's side A), and "WR-C-2 MCA/LB 5-29-79 ♡" (side B).
^A 10-track version of Illusions of Grandeur, mixed by Alec Murphy, was put in circulation as a pre-release (without any cover art) in 1980. It was replaced, the following year, by the definitive 12-track edition mixed by David Hines (keeping the same catalog number).
