Details: Sudden Death Records are very happy to release this 1982 D.O.A. classic album in it's original form on CD for the first time. This was D.O.A.'s third album, coming on the heels of Something Better Change and Hardcore 81. It made a greater impression on punks and a wider swath of people than the band had ever reached before. One of the key tracks was their version of Edwin Starr's giant hit "War," (The Temptations covered this as well). This was the first time that D.O.A. had been widely played on radio across North America and Europe.
The band, in the best punk / reggae spirit, really broke open some new ground for themselves with their amazing adaptation of Ranking Trevor's "War in the East." Of course they turn the throttle wide open with songs that have become D.O.A. mainstays like: "Liar For Hire," "I'm Right, You're Wrong," "America The Beautiful," "I Hate You," "Let's Fuck" and a blazing cover of The Dils "Class War."
War On 45 further cemented their reputation as one of the best to ever come along. Jack Rabid (Big Takeover Magazine) said "D.O.A. and the Bad Brains were the best punk bands to ever come out of North America and were really only comparable to the likes of The Clash, SLF and the Sex Pistols." War On 45's stunning front cover was created by Shawn Kerri and inside the CD, the U.K. version's cover that was created by the ingenious Native American artist Clay Sampson is included. That cover depicts Colonel Custer filled with arrows at the battle of Little Big Horn which was a fitting end. War On 45 is a fitting comment on the '80s and somehow the songs still ring true today.
