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Random super-quick album review
Jun. 24th, 2008 12:06 pmThe Sonics - Here Are the Sonics!!! (1965)
The Sonics were one of the very first bands who could be classified under the umbrella of garage-rock, a scene that didn't really hit its stride until the early 70s. Some people have tagged them as "proto-garage", but that's really just a way of saying "these guys were kind of garage before garage was a commonly accepted genre". They're also credited as being the missing link between 50s rock & roll and 70s punk.
Here Are the Sonics!!! is the band's debut. I've been listening to it for a few months now, and it's quickly become on of my favourite albums. In all likelihood, the first thing you'll notice about this album is that it really doesn't sound like it belongs in 1965. Every track is infused with an ahead-of-its-time, hard-rocking aesthetic, and the band's playing style is incredibly loose and thrashy. The vocals are sung in the typical, upbeat style of the late 50s and early 60s, only with an incredibly edgy feeling of completely reckless abandon. The singing here is completely wild, often escalating into shouts and screams and wails that just rock out so damn much.
Most of the songs are covers of well-known tracks of the previous 10-15 years, updated into The Sonics' gleefully raw play-style. There's also three originals ("The Witch", "Psycho" and "Strychnine"), and barring the group's absolutely awesome take on "Have Love, Will Travel", these originals are arguably the best stuff on the record (although the quality is very high throughout).
Believe me when I say that this is garage-rock at its absolute sexiest. A showcase of ferocious energy that's so much fun to listen to. The whole package strikes just the right balance between addictive melody and deliciously noisy mayhem.
Oh, and as a side note - if you're a fan of modern garage-rock revival bands like The Hives, then you should consider this utterly essential listening. The Sonics might as well have invented them.
The Sonics were one of the very first bands who could be classified under the umbrella of garage-rock, a scene that didn't really hit its stride until the early 70s. Some people have tagged them as "proto-garage", but that's really just a way of saying "these guys were kind of garage before garage was a commonly accepted genre". They're also credited as being the missing link between 50s rock & roll and 70s punk.
Here Are the Sonics!!! is the band's debut. I've been listening to it for a few months now, and it's quickly become on of my favourite albums. In all likelihood, the first thing you'll notice about this album is that it really doesn't sound like it belongs in 1965. Every track is infused with an ahead-of-its-time, hard-rocking aesthetic, and the band's playing style is incredibly loose and thrashy. The vocals are sung in the typical, upbeat style of the late 50s and early 60s, only with an incredibly edgy feeling of completely reckless abandon. The singing here is completely wild, often escalating into shouts and screams and wails that just rock out so damn much.
Most of the songs are covers of well-known tracks of the previous 10-15 years, updated into The Sonics' gleefully raw play-style. There's also three originals ("The Witch", "Psycho" and "Strychnine"), and barring the group's absolutely awesome take on "Have Love, Will Travel", these originals are arguably the best stuff on the record (although the quality is very high throughout).
Believe me when I say that this is garage-rock at its absolute sexiest. A showcase of ferocious energy that's so much fun to listen to. The whole package strikes just the right balance between addictive melody and deliciously noisy mayhem.
Oh, and as a side note - if you're a fan of modern garage-rock revival bands like The Hives, then you should consider this utterly essential listening. The Sonics might as well have invented them.
