Artist: The Sonics
Album: Here Are The Sonics!!!
Year: 1965
Prior to listening to this album, I had barely heard of The Sonics. I knew they were one of the original garage rock bands, but I was not prepared for the demented joy that this album had to offer. With a very loose definition, a claim could be made that Here Are The Sonics!!! is the first punk album.
The Sonics rip through some of the standards of the early rock canon here: "Do You Love Me," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Money," and "Good Golly Miss Molly" to name a few. They don't play their instruments particularly well, but they approach the tunes with reckless abandon to mostly entertaining results. The vocals are shouted more than sung, and little regard is given to dynamics here...like Spinal Tap, their amps are eternally cranked to 11. It's totally ahead of its time. If I had to pick a modern band that sounded similar, I'd say The White Stripes aren't too far off.
The originals on this album are positively brilliant. "The Witch," "Boss Hoss," "Psycho," and especially "Strychnine" are insidiously, menacingly catchy stompers. Just when you think you've heard it all, they even throw a few Christmas songs at you, a couple of originals that belong in any punk-rock Christmas anthology followed by a cheerfully demented take on "Jingle Bells" that feels like a Ween outtake. To think this came a full dozen years before John Lydon became Johnny Rotten is just amazing.
Rating: Worth repeated listens
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